Amazon announced several devices today, including two new Fire TV Sticks. There is the new Fire TV Stick, plus the brand new product that is the Fire TV Stick Lite.
These two Fire TV Sticks are very similar, and only a $10 difference in price. As mentioned, the Fire TV Stick Lite is going to cost $29.99, while the Fire TV Stick will cost the same $39.99 as the previous generation.
Amazon, surprisingly, did not replace the Fire TV Stick 4K this time around. Though that was replaced last year, with the new Alexa Voice Remote.
What is the Fire TV Stick Lite?
The Fire TV Stick Lite is a new HDMI dongle that runs on the Fire TV platform, and is their cheapest model to date. Obviously, Amazon is looking to take the competition to Roku with this model. As Roku has a number of models that are priced under $30.
It does cut a few corners, as you’d expect, to hit that price point. Mainly, it is coming with an older remote, which does not have the ability to control your TV. But for most people, that’s perfectly fine.
It also will not support Dolby Atmos, instead it is Dolby Audio (via pass-through only). Otherwise the two are virtually the same. With 8GB of storage and a quad-core processor.
The Fire TV Stick is now 50% more powerful
Amazon doesn’t disclose specs all that often, and when they do, they aren’t specific. So the Fire TV Stick runs on a quad-core processor with 8GB of storage. But according to Amazon, it is now 50% faster than its predecessor.
Which allows the new Fire TV Stick to offer 1080p at 60fps better and smoother than before. It also offers Dolby Atmos out of the box now. And it still has dual-band WiFi support for 2.4GHz and 5GHz, as well as dual antennas. So that it should never have a bad connection to your network.
All-new Fire TV experience
Amazon also announced that it has redesigned Fire TV, to make it more personalized.
The main menu is now at the center of your screen and makes it super easy to find what you want. You’ll still be able to quickly jump into your favorite streaming service, or scroll over to supported apps to see what’s new.
There’s a new Find experience, that will make it easier than ever to discover great movies, TV shows and much more. You can also tell Alexa to “go to Find” or “go to Live” making Alexa even more useful in Fire TV.
This update will begin rolling out to Fire TV devices later this year. And it will be available first on the new Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite.
Pre-orders open today
You can pre-order both Fire TV Sticks today. The Fire TV Stick Lite is going to cost $29.99, and the Fire TV Stick will be $39.99.
Both are being released on September 30. So you won’t have long to wait to get your hands on it.