Amazon Fire TV (1st gen. 2014)

usability, price, design, size

reliability

89% of the reviews on Amazon.com give this product a positive rating.

Colourful performance (in the right mode) ; Slick Alexa integration ; Well stocked for apps ; Fire TV Ambient Experience

Feet not the most accommodating for placement ; HDR performance could use more finesse ; Rough upscaling with 480p content ; Competition is cheaper

An ambitious 4K HDR TV that doesn’t quite fulfil its potential, but puts in an entertaining performance, nonetheless. Some care needs to be taken with its picture modes, which require fiddling with to get the best image quality, but if your home is one...

Excellent Fire TV experience Great smart home hub Adequate picture performance Fun features

Lacks HDR punch Price-to-picture performance ratio is off

“A solid mid-tier TV with the best Fire TV experience yet.”

Fast performance ; Impressive list of apps, even at launch ; Voice search is convenient, fast and accurate

Voice search doesn't work within apps ; Onscreen keyboard is offensively bad ; Inconsistent gaming experience ; Carousel UI doesn't work as well on Fire TV as it does on tablets ; Many apps and games are buggy ports from other platforms

The Fire TV is a compelling proposition, so long as you're already locked into the Amazon ecosystem. It's fast, powerful and priced in line with its higher-end competition. The addition of a single game controller for $40 gives access to gaming that...

Consistent, balanced picture performance ; Strong features for the money ; Clear sound

Slight lack of detail, particularly in shadows ; Occasionally smeary motion

While clearly not up there with flagship TVs from premium brands, the Omni QLED delivers better picture, sound and features than the price suggests

Fully integrated Fire TV smart platform ; Four HDMI inputs ; Perky picture

Cheapo build quality ; Limited HDR performance

Unrepentantly budget, this Series 4 Fire TV benefits from a seamlessly integrated smart platform, offering copious catch-up and streaming options. It’s bright enough for daytime viewing and comes with a quartet of HDMI inputs, usual at this price...

Easy to set up ; No subscription needed ; Reliable recording

Requires a Fire TV device, Echo Show, or Fire TV mobile app ; No way to watch from a computer ; Even HD broadcast television looks soft on recent 4K TVs

The Amazon Fire TV Recast adds live broadcast television viewing and recording to your Fire TV or mobile device, without a subscription.

Plenty of content ; So well priced ; Alexa works very well

You really need to have Prime

Amazon wins on picture and sound ; Apple has better voice search ; Amazon has more apps and UHD video ; Amazon features USB and MicroSD

Apple TV more expensive ; Typing is a chore on Apple

For ease of use, higher speed, lower price and the wealth of content - not to mention UHD video - this is an easy win for the Amazon Fire TV

Speedy operation Voice search Good performance and build quality

Voice search is not universal Amazon features strongly prioritised No bundled HDMI cable No USB playback

The Amazon Fire TV is mostly a success, but there’s still work to do. We love the speed and the voice search function, which genuinely makes operation a lot easier. What we don’t like is the price and app offering. For the money, we’d like more apps....

Speedy performance ; Voice search that works ; Fun games that aren't a gimmick

Voice search is limited ; Missing key apps like HBO Go ; No live TV options