For years, Amazon has been selling countless Apple TVs, Roku boxes, and a slew of other types of streamers. Now, they're ready to cut out the middleman.
Today, Amazon introduced Fire TV, the company's first media streamer. The actual box includes a quad-core processor, a dedicated Adreno 320 graphics engine, 2GB of memory, and dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi. It also has support for full 1080p high-definition video, as well as Dolby Digital Plus surround sound.
Like a lot of other streaming set-top boxes out there, the Fire TV plugs into your HDTV via HDMI. (It also has options for optical audio, Ethernet and USB.) Once connected, users can enjoy access to Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, Amazon MP3, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and much more. That translates to more than 200,000 TV episodes and movies, as well as thousands of songs, right out of the box.
However, one way Amazon is making the Fire TV stand out is through voice search. Instead of scrolling and clicking one letter at time, the Fire TV will actually respond to voice commands, allowing users to speak the title, actor, or genre, all right into the included remote control.
Another interesting perk is something called "ASAP," a feature that promises to predict what movies and TV shows you want to watch -- and will get them ready to stream instantly. After all, does anyone really enjoy buffering?
The Fire TV also includes options to play games such as Minecraft,The Walking Dead, Monsters University, and the Amazon exclusive Sev Zero. The company promises 100 titles at launch, with thousands more coming soon. The average price of the paid games is only $1.85, with several free games also available.
"Tiny box, huge specs, tons of content, incredible price -- people are going to love Fire TV," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and CEO. "Voice search that actually works means no more typing on an alphabet grid. Our exclusive new ASAP feature predicts the shows you'll want to watch and gets them ready to stream instantly. And our open approach gives you not just Amazon Instant Video and Prime Instant Video, but also Netflix, Hulu Plus, and more. On Fire TV you can watch Alpha House and House of Cards."
The Fire TV is currently available on Amazon, selling at a competitive price of $99.
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