Items tagged with Fire-TV
Late last year, Amazon announced its Luna game streaming service to compete with Google Stadia and Microsoft Project xCloud. Previously, it was an invite-only “early access” program, but after months of feedback and improvement, the gaming platform will be available to new customers. Today, Amazon announced that Fire TV customers can download the Luna app and play games with a 7-day free trial to Luna+. After the trial is up, the subscription renews at $5.99/month during the early access period. Customers can also sign up for the $14.99/month Ubisoft+ channel to access both new and old Ubisoft titles on the platform. If you do not have a Fire TV, you can still sign up and request...
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Amazon’s Fire TV experience is an all-in-one way to watch television shows, movies, and more. The platform is getting better, with a user interface update coming today. The update, announced back in September, brings a redesigned home screen, a new search experience, and user profiles to make life easier. First and foremost is the redesigned home screen, which takes the cake as the best part of this update. Amazon described it as “the single destination for you to access all of your fave content.” From here, you can bounce between TV shows or movies over to the main menu that has options such as “Find, Live, Library” and pinned apps that you want easy access. The...
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Smart TVs are hot ticket items this year for Black Friday, and it’s easy to see why. Prices have dropped dramatically on large screen panels, with 4K TVs measuring as big as 65 inches falling well below the $300 mark. This is good news for folks out there that don’t have a lot of money to burn, and just want the most bang for the buck when it comes to screen size and decent image quality. While we could spend all day laying out deals on high-end QLED or OLED panels that retail for $1,000, $2,000 or even $3,000+, we’re going to focus on budget Smart TVs offering under $500 that should still be pleasing to all but the most upper-crust pixel snobs. Insignia 32-inch Fire TV...
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Everyone wants a big, bright, high-resolution HDTV, but budget concerns prevent some consumers from pulling the trigger. Well, if you’re one of those people, Best Buy currently has a deal in place that may have you running for your credit card. There is an Insignia (Best Buy’s house brand), 55” 4K SmartTV, with HDR support and built-in Amazon FireTV (with voice remote) on sale for only $249 at the moment. That is a ridiculously low price for a 55” 4K HDR television, especially one with this one’s features and specifications that comes so highly rated. There are some crappy, cheap 4K televisions currently on the market (I should know, I have one that I hate),...
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If you are looking for another reason to cut the cord with your cable company, Philo has an announcement that you might be interested in. Philo is a streaming TV service that has been around for a while now and the service has bundles of channels that you can subscribe to that are much cheaper than traditional cable TV. Philo announced that the service has now launched on the Apple TV and on Amazon Fire TV streaming devices. Prior to launching on those two devices, the primary way to watch the service was via a web browser on your computer, Apple mobile devices, or by casting to your Chromecast. Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV support slots in alongside the support for Roku devices that has been...
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Not long ago, Amazon announced a revamped Fire TV with a handful of new and upgraded features including 4K Ultra HD video support and Alexa functionality. Although the original Fire TV which we reviewed last year had voice capabilities, those voice controls were limited to searching for content and applications. With Alexa built in, the second-generation Fire TV now has additional features, such as the ability to provide sports scores, weather and traffic information, or play music. As you’ll recall from our review of the Amazon Echo, we were impressed by the Alexa functionality and its utility in our everyday lives. A few months later, Alexa is still a common name spoken in our household...
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As new players enter the streaming media category, some in the “old guard” are finding it hard to retain their once lofty market share numbers according to Parks Associates. The market research firm’s latest analysis shows that Roku remains the number one hardware vendor when it comes to streaming devices despite tumbling from a 46 percent share in 2013 to 29 percent in 2014. Since last year, Roku has seen a few newcomers enter the fray including Google with the $35 Chromecast and Amazon with the $99 Fire TV. Amazon also started shipping the $39 Fire TV Stick to customers late last month, but we’re not sure that enough of those devices are in consumer hands to make a difference in Park Associates’...
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Google is undeterred; after brilliantly failing to wedge itself into our living rooms with Google TV (though it’s made modest inroads with the Chromecast dongle), the company is rumored to be mounting another effort by partnering with other companies to put out set-top boxes loaded with Android. According to CNET’s sources, at least one of the devices will run on the NVIDIA Tegra 4 chip, although Intel-based boxes are also expected. Presumably, this Android set-top box offers some sort of gaming features along with TV and movie streaming. It only makes sense; in addition to the presence of the Tegra 4 chip, Amazon’s Fire TV box is definitely geared toward gaming, and there have...
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Amazon confirmed today one of the worst-kept secrets in the industry, which is that the company now has its own streaming set top box. It’s called the Amazon Fire TV, and true to the rumors, it offers streaming TV and movies as well as games. “Fire TV is a tiny box that plugs into your HDTV. It's the easiest way to enjoy Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, low-cost video rentals, and more,” reads the announcement. You can also stream music from the likes of Pandora, iHeartRadio, and more. One of the Fire TV’s premier selling points is voice search; instead of doing that awful one-letter-at-a-time pecking that you have to do on most remote controls, you...
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