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Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote

4.2 out of 5 stars 20,636 ratings

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  • Fire TV Stick, our best-selling streaming media stick, now comes with a voice remote. Find all your favorites just by speaking into the remote.
  • Now with Alexa, use your Fire TV Voice Remote to check local theater times, sports scores, the weather, play music, and more - just ask
  • Just plug into your HDTV and start streaming in minutes. The easiest way to enjoy over 4,000 channels, apps, and games including access to over 250,000 TV episodes and movies on Netflix, Amazon Video, HBO GO, Hulu, and more.
  • Cutting the cord? Watch the best of live TV on NBC News, NBA, and Sling TV, which includes ESPN, CNN, HGTV, AMC, A&E, Cartoon Network, and more.
  • A powerful streaming media stick with 4x the storage and 2x the memory of Chromecast plus a dual-core processor, 1 GB of memory, and ASAP so the Amazon movies and shows you like start instantly
  • Never miss out. Bring Fire TV Stick with you to watch your favorites away from home, even in hotels and dorm rooms.
  • Amazon Prime members get unlimited access to Amazon Video, including original programming like Transparent, plus over 1 million songs with Prime Music. Now get a subscription to apps like Showtime and STARZ to watch TV episodes, movies, and sports, without cable.

Top Brand: Amazon

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Technical Details

Technical details

Fire TV Stick

Size

3.3” x 1.0” x 0.5” (84.9 mm x 25.0 mm x 11.5 mm)

Weight

0.9 oz. (25.1 g)

Processor

Broadcom, Dual-core 2xARM A9 up to 1 GHz

GPU

VideoCore4

Storage

8 GB internal

Memory

1 GB

Wi-Fi Connectivity

Dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi (MIMO); supports 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi networks

Bluetooth

Bluetooth 3.0 with support for the following profiles: HID, SPP

Voice Support

Yes, with Fire TV Voice Remote (included) or free Fire TV Remote App (available for download on Fire, Android, and iOS)

Game Controller Support

Yes, optimized for Amazon Fire TV Game Controller and most games are compatible with other Bluetooth controllers

Cloud Storage

Free cloud storage for all Amazon content

Ports

HDMI output, Micro USB for power only

Audio Support

Dolby Audio, 5.1 surround sound, 2ch stereo, and HDMI audio pass through up to 7.1

Content Formats Supported

Video: H.264,
Audio: AAC-LC, AC3, eAC3 (Dolby Digital Plus), FLAC, MP3, PCM/Wave, Vorbis,
Photo: JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP

Output Resolution Supported

720p, and 1080p up to 60fps

System Requirements

High-definition television with available HDMI input, Internet connection via Wi-Fi, a power outlet.

TV Compatibility

Compatible with high-definition TVs with HDMI capable of 1080p or 720p at 60/50 Hz, including popular HDCP-compatible models from: Hitachi, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, NEC, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Toshiba, Vizio, Westinghouse, and others.

Warranty and Service

1-year Limited Warranty and service included. Optional 2-year and 3-year Extended Warranty available for U.S. customers sold separately. Use of Fire TV Stick is subject to the terms found here.

Regional Support

Certain services may not be available outside the U.S.

Closed Captioning

Watch videos and TV shows with closed captioning displayed. Captions are not available for all content.

Included in the Box

Fire TV Stick
Amazon Fire TV Voice Remote
5' USB cable and power adapter
HDMI adapter
2 AAA batteries
Quick Start Guide

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
20,636 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the Fire TV Stick works well and is easy to set up and use, considering it worth the money. The voice feature receives positive feedback for its excellent voice recognition, and customers like the overall device. The device's performance and WiFi connectivity receive mixed reviews - while some find it responsive and have strong internet connection, others report lag and frequent disconnections. The voice remote functionality is also mixed, with some finding it awesome while others report it being useless.

6,736 customers mention "Functionality"5,447 positive1,289 negative

Customers find that the Fire TV Stick works well.

"...Able to add Kodi or TV Addons to the stick for more features. Works great!!..." Read more

"...Great product...." Read more

"...Once setup, however, works great and I like that it includes the same Alexa app that I use with my Echo and really enjoy...." Read more

"The Fire TV stick is a great product if you live within the United States to enjoy all of Amazon's content which is huge...." Read more

3,842 customers mention "Ease of setup"3,375 positive467 negative

Customers find the Fire TV Stick easy to set up and use.

"...The remote control is very intuitive and easy to use...." Read more

"...Easy to use and it really is remotely controlled. You can even download the app to use your phone as a control for the stick...." Read more

"...PRO's - Easy to install but it does help to use a PC or laptop for all of the set-up and log-in's The remote makes it easy to navigate..." Read more

"...When I finally got it, I was really excited about it. It was easy to install, and easy to set up...." Read more

1,868 customers mention "Value for money"1,460 positive408 negative

Customers find the Fire TV Stick to be well worth the money and consider it a wonderful product, with one customer noting it's better than Roku.

"...Great item, but don't let kids use it unless you have managed to turn that stuff off first. It would be easy for adults to screw up, too." Read more

"...The fire stick fills that hole nicely and at a great price. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because the interface is poorly thought out...." Read more

"...Switching between apps and shows is more difficult with this. Great price. Remote is difficult to open to change batteries...." Read more

"...having said that, this product is a disappointment and I feel a waste of money...." Read more

1,248 customers mention "Voice control"887 positive361 negative

Customers like the voice feature of the Fire TV Stick, with excellent voice recognition and effective voice commands.

"...All in all, I do like the voice control which is very nice and accurate. The remote is a nice size and easy to use...." Read more

"...I love the voice control, again, exceptional technology and this feature works very well...." Read more

"...In fact, my only complaint is the voice feature. Don't get me wrong, it functions great...." Read more

"Works great, remote is simple to use, especially with voice command...." Read more

1,011 customers mention "Fire stick"947 positive64 negative

Customers love the Fire TV Stick.

"Excellent. The only reason it's not 5 stars is because its prone to overheat." Read more

"Love the fire stick. Bought it for the PS Vue app and now I can watch two different things at the time on different TVs...." Read more

"I love the fire stick. It's easy to use. My remote sometimes seems delayed and I have to get really close to use it. That's my only issue...." Read more

"Love the Fire Stick! I feel like I don't need cable or satellite TV anymore with this fantastic product...." Read more

1,644 customers mention "Voice remote"728 positive916 negative

Customers have mixed experiences with the voice remote: some find it nice and awesome, while others report it being useless or defective.

"...im reading a lot of comments from ppl saying that the remote doesn't work for them either. The reg and the voice one...." Read more

"...I recommend getting the voice remote. I got it because my roommate is legally blind and it makes life easier for him, but I also use it all the time...." Read more

"...-Not fast. Takes a little while to get up and running, and remote does not work until absolutely everything is finished loading...." Read more

"...what's the weather? how many tablespoons are in a cup? etc. I love the voice remote, and I can't imagine not having it...." Read more

1,250 customers mention "Slackness"504 positive746 negative

Customers have mixed experiences with the Fire TV Stick's responsiveness, with some finding it very responsive while others report it being very slow and laggy.

"...It is still slow, requires rebooting if not used for a few days. It takes nearly 5 minutes to "warm up" and find its way to the home screen...." Read more

"...The best thing is that it is fast and takes up very little space. I ordered this product for full price for my own home use." Read more

"...-1 Star - Slow, very slow - Amazon touts how much CPU prowess the Fire TV stick is than the Chromecast from Google...." Read more

"...Intuitive interface. - Fast and performant streaming. - Easy setup. - Good price. Cons: -..." Read more

857 customers mention "Wifi connectivity"271 positive586 negative

Customers have mixed experiences with the Fire TV Stick's WiFi connectivity, with some reporting strong internet connection and easy setup, while others experience frequent disconnections and issues with Netflix streaming.

"...-Seems to have connectivity issues. -Ergo friendly The Service..." Read more

"...Bottom line, it works great but may have connection issues based on distance from your router." Read more

"...Really fixed buffering issues, & disconnect issues👍🏼😊 Really easy to connect, & use...." Read more

"...nothing is happening. my TV will not recognize it at all. no signal...." Read more

A great way to bring a bunch of content to your TV!
5 out of 5 stars
A great way to bring a bunch of content to your TV!
A nice way to add a bunch more content to your TV. Purchased this because it recently became medically necessary for me to keep my legs elevated as much as possible. If I'm not walking or sleeping (well, of course when I sleep my legs are up, but besides that..) I have to be kicked back, legs up. This presented a bit of an inconvenience for me, being that I'm really not that impressed by the programming available on cable. I rely on my computer for entertainment, one stop shop for all. So I caught the Amazon's ad for the Fire TV Stick models at the top of the page and decided to give it a looksie. Glad that I did. This thing is NICE. Makes it possible for someone who doesn't have a Smart TV to bring a lot more content to their TV anywhere in the home. With appliations like YouTube, HBO GO (for my Game of Thrones addiction), Netflix, History Channel and of course Amazon's library of content, either purchased content or the Prime Videos/Music. There seems to be an application for almost any entertainment platform and most of them are usually free. I believe there are some apps that require you to pay for them, but I haven't checked them out yet. Mostly those are the games and such that are available on the Fire TV Stick platform. And I don't need to play games on my TV with a little remote control. When I game, I'm on my PC playing Dishonored, Elder Scrolls and the like. Not a huge fan of the mobile like games available on the Fire TV Stick. That being said, you CAN purchase the optional controller for the Fire TV Stick, but it wasn't really worth it for me, so I opted not to. I believe it's around $40 or so. Originally I was going to purchase the original Fire TV Stick model for $39.99, without the voice search function, as I really thought I'd have no need for it. I don't mind manually using the remote to navigate Right, Left, Up and Down to select the individual letters, numbers and such for the fewer times when I need to enter something specific to search for. Also, the Fire TV Stick is compatible with Bluetooth devices such as keyboards, so I'm going to pick up one of them for cheap sometime soon and that will be the end of that. Also, I didn't really like the way the remote for the Voice model, with it's rounded back. I thought that when placed on the table that it would rock back and forth. BUT, come to find as I was going to purchase the Fire TV Stick, the original model for $39.99 was indeed available but would require 2-3 days extra to process. For whatever reason, maybe they were running low or something, who knows. Well I'm an "instant gratification" type of person, hence my Prime membership (free two-day shipping and cheap one-day shipping is AWESOME!), especially when it comes to online shopping. So that wasn't going to fly. So I settled and just purchased the more expensive "2015" model that features Voice Search built into the remote. Come to find out, one of my worries was put to ease, as even though the back side of the remote is rounded, it doesn't wobble back and forth on the table. Of course, I don't rest it on the table and try to press the buttons, so I couldn't say whether it's stable enough to allow for that, but placing it down and bumping/moving the table around doesn't cause it to have a hissy fit on the table top. Which is nice... But one of my fears, that the voice search function would be of zero use to me rather than being of "little" use to be actually came to be true. You see, the voice search function for the Fire TV Stick as it stands currently (I say as it stands currently because it seems that a simple software/firmware update MIGHT be able to help later on down the road if Amazon decides to do that) really doesn't do all that much at all. Here you have the Fire TV Stick with all of it's capabilities, applications, games and whatnot, and the voice search is extremely limited. When using the voice search, you will only be returned with results provided from Amazon's library, whether that the movies you've purchased and Prime Video/Music. That's all. You can't for example, press and hold the button and say "Open HBO GO" or "Play Game of Thrones on HBO GO". That's a no go. All you can do with the voice search function is search Amazon's library of media, check the whether, re-purchase something you've already purchased and add something to a "To Do" list. As for searching Amazon's library of media, that's fine and all. I do enjoy some of the titles on Amazon but it's not the only service that I use. So when I'm sitting there with my remote in hand and suddenly I need to search for something that Amazon provides, I'm not going to say "Oh hey! I'm looking for an Amazon title, NOW I can use the voice function, let's do it!". No, I simply bring up the regular ole' search feature. And this will be made even more unnecessary by my Bluetooth keyboard. Heck, even now it's really not needed if you have a smartphone, because you can download the Amazon Fire TV Stick app which allows you to use your smartphone as a remote for the Fire TV Stick, this gives you the voice search function AND allows you to bring up a keyboard on your phone to enter searches... As for the weather, it's pretty much the same thing. I'm not going to be sitting there watching the Fire TV Stick and suddenly say "Hey, wonder what the weather is, oh wait, I can do a VOICE search for that. DO IT MIKE!". And as for the re-purchasing items that I previously purchased, I'm not about to leave my credit card being charged for any amount be determined by the sophistication of today's voice search technology. I'll wind up subscribed to a yearly bulk shipments of Dynarex Black Nitrile exam gloves or something. Ain't happenin'. And lastly, as for the To-Do list. Well it all goes back to the same thing. I have other things for that. Now that I've touched on the minor inconvenience of this device, I would like to touch on it's biggest flaw in my opinion, and this is important because it could REALLY have an effect on someone's satisfaction with the unit and whether or not they are even able to use it without having to spend $50-$200 extra JUST to use a little $40 Fire TV Stick that they got because it was convenient and cheap. That issue is......... This unit's wifi reception. It's NOT that great, at all. Could be because this unit relies on or prefers to use the 2.4 GHz band, which is apparently more susceptible to interference, and having this device butted up right against the back of a huge wide electronic device doesn't add favorably to the mix. Or it could simply be because the wifi reception is weak in this device, maybe due to an inferior antenna within the device. Either way, all I know is that I have a pretty bangin' internet service and network in my home consisting of an internet connection that provides me with a steady 90 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload speeds along with a decent quality D-Link dual band wifi Wireless-N router. Of course it's not the latest and greatest AC series of wifi, but with absolutely anything else I use it with I have zero problems. Heck, I even get FULL signal strength outside of my home, all the way on the other side of my house when I have my phone or laptop connected up to the wifi. yet for some reason the Fire TV Stick will only give me Marginal (one bar on the icon displayed) signal strength when I have it simply plugged into the back of the TV as people usually do, without using the provided HDMI adapter and a separately purchased HDMI cable to extend the device. Though, I recently DID purchase a 3 foot length of HDMI cable and utilized the HDMI adapter provided with the Fire TV Stick. Sticking velcro to one side of the HDMI adapter (NOT the Fire TV Stick device itself) and sticking the corresponding pieces to various places behind the TV. Such as at the top of the backside of the mount that the TV mounts to on my TV stand, the wall behind the TV and on the back of the TV itself, but higher up at the top, so that I can have the device exposed over the top edge of the TV should I choose to... Doing this and having it stuck to the backside of the mount, away from the immediate backside of the TV and elevated some, I found that the signal strength did indeed improve. Now usually I'll have a "Good" signal strength, which is three bars on the little icon displayed. This does me just fine. And actually, believe it or not, so long as you don't lose connection with your network completely, which did actually happen quite a few times when I first hooked up the device for some reason, don't know why, regardless of whether you have a "Fair" signal strength or a perfect full bar signal strength, the system performs very nicely. Nothing that I would consider sluggish by any means. So I say, as long has you have a decent wifi signal available to you, you should be able to work out just fine with this device and I wouldn't worry about it too much. Plus, if come to find that you don't get any signal at all with the device, Amazon's customer service is amazing and there's no reason that you wouldn't be able to get a refund. So there's not much risk in the purchase at all. All in all, regardless of the short comings, I would say that this is an AMAZING unit. And if you're looking for something like it, definitely give it a try. This lets you do it all with tons of great applications, Amazon's selection of content and more. You can even mirror content from your laptop/smartphone to the Fire TV Stick just as you would with something like Google Chromecast. PLUS you get the benefit of all the applications and Amazon's service! It's a win-win.... If you want to see in better detail how I have mine set up, simply check out photos I submitted to the Customer Images section. I tossed a few up there. Maybe it'll help you out and give you a few ideas on how to set yours up should you need to find alternate methods of mounting the device for whatever reason, be it clearance/space issues or like me if you're having issues with signal strength. Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2016
    A nice way to add a bunch more content to your TV.

    Purchased this because it recently became medically necessary for me to keep my legs elevated as much as possible. If I'm not walking or sleeping (well, of course when I sleep my legs are up, but besides that..) I have to be kicked back, legs up. This presented a bit of an inconvenience for me, being that I'm really not that impressed by the programming available on cable. I rely on my computer for entertainment, one stop shop for all. So I caught the Amazon's ad for the Fire TV Stick models at the top of the page and decided to give it a looksie. Glad that I did.

    This thing is NICE. Makes it possible for someone who doesn't have a Smart TV to bring a lot more content to their TV anywhere in the home. With appliations like YouTube, HBO GO (for my Game of Thrones addiction), Netflix, History Channel and of course Amazon's library of content, either purchased content or the Prime Videos/Music. There seems to be an application for almost any entertainment platform and most of them are usually free. I believe there are some apps that require you to pay for them, but I haven't checked them out yet. Mostly those are the games and such that are available on the Fire TV Stick platform. And I don't need to play games on my TV with a little remote control. When I game, I'm on my PC playing Dishonored, Elder Scrolls and the like. Not a huge fan of the mobile like games available on the Fire TV Stick. That being said, you CAN purchase the optional controller for the Fire TV Stick, but it wasn't really worth it for me, so I opted not to. I believe it's around $40 or so.

    Originally I was going to purchase the original Fire TV Stick model for $39.99, without the voice search function, as I really thought I'd have no need for it. I don't mind manually using the remote to navigate Right, Left, Up and Down to select the individual letters, numbers and such for the fewer times when I need to enter something specific to search for. Also, the Fire TV Stick is compatible with Bluetooth devices such as keyboards, so I'm going to pick up one of them for cheap sometime soon and that will be the end of that. Also, I didn't really like the way the remote for the Voice model, with it's rounded back. I thought that when placed on the table that it would rock back and forth. BUT, come to find as I was going to purchase the Fire TV Stick, the original model for $39.99 was indeed available but would require 2-3 days extra to process. For whatever reason, maybe they were running low or something, who knows. Well I'm an "instant gratification" type of person, hence my Prime membership (free two-day shipping and cheap one-day shipping is AWESOME!), especially when it comes to online shopping. So that wasn't going to fly. So I settled and just purchased the more expensive "2015" model that features Voice Search built into the remote.

    Come to find out, one of my worries was put to ease, as even though the back side of the remote is rounded, it doesn't wobble back and forth on the table. Of course, I don't rest it on the table and try to press the buttons, so I couldn't say whether it's stable enough to allow for that, but placing it down and bumping/moving the table around doesn't cause it to have a hissy fit on the table top. Which is nice... But one of my fears, that the voice search function would be of zero use to me rather than being of "little" use to be actually came to be true. You see, the voice search function for the Fire TV Stick as it stands currently (I say as it stands currently because it seems that a simple software/firmware update MIGHT be able to help later on down the road if Amazon decides to do that) really doesn't do all that much at all. Here you have the Fire TV Stick with all of it's capabilities, applications, games and whatnot, and the voice search is extremely limited. When using the voice search, you will only be returned with results provided from Amazon's library, whether that the movies you've purchased and Prime Video/Music. That's all. You can't for example, press and hold the button and say "Open HBO GO" or "Play Game of Thrones on HBO GO". That's a no go. All you can do with the voice search function is search Amazon's library of media, check the whether, re-purchase something you've already purchased and add something to a "To Do" list.

    As for searching Amazon's library of media, that's fine and all. I do enjoy some of the titles on Amazon but it's not the only service that I use. So when I'm sitting there with my remote in hand and suddenly I need to search for something that Amazon provides, I'm not going to say "Oh hey! I'm looking for an Amazon title, NOW I can use the voice function, let's do it!". No, I simply bring up the regular ole' search feature. And this will be made even more unnecessary by my Bluetooth keyboard. Heck, even now it's really not needed if you have a smartphone, because you can download the Amazon Fire TV Stick app which allows you to use your smartphone as a remote for the Fire TV Stick, this gives you the voice search function AND allows you to bring up a keyboard on your phone to enter searches... As for the weather, it's pretty much the same thing. I'm not going to be sitting there watching the Fire TV Stick and suddenly say "Hey, wonder what the weather is, oh wait, I can do a VOICE search for that. DO IT MIKE!". And as for the re-purchasing items that I previously purchased, I'm not about to leave my credit card being charged for any amount be determined by the sophistication of today's voice search technology. I'll wind up subscribed to a yearly bulk shipments of Dynarex Black Nitrile exam gloves or something. Ain't happenin'. And lastly, as for the To-Do list. Well it all goes back to the same thing. I have other things for that.

    Now that I've touched on the minor inconvenience of this device, I would like to touch on it's biggest flaw in my opinion, and this is important because it could REALLY have an effect on someone's satisfaction with the unit and whether or not they are even able to use it without having to spend $50-$200 extra JUST to use a little $40 Fire TV Stick that they got because it was convenient and cheap. That issue is......... This unit's wifi reception. It's NOT that great, at all. Could be because this unit relies on or prefers to use the 2.4 GHz band, which is apparently more susceptible to interference, and having this device butted up right against the back of a huge wide electronic device doesn't add favorably to the mix. Or it could simply be because the wifi reception is weak in this device, maybe due to an inferior antenna within the device. Either way, all I know is that I have a pretty bangin' internet service and network in my home consisting of an internet connection that provides me with a steady 90 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload speeds along with a decent quality D-Link dual band wifi Wireless-N router. Of course it's not the latest and greatest AC series of wifi, but with absolutely anything else I use it with I have zero problems. Heck, I even get FULL signal strength outside of my home, all the way on the other side of my house when I have my phone or laptop connected up to the wifi. yet for some reason the Fire TV Stick will only give me Marginal (one bar on the icon displayed) signal strength when I have it simply plugged into the back of the TV as people usually do, without using the provided HDMI adapter and a separately purchased HDMI cable to extend the device. Though, I recently DID purchase a 3 foot length of HDMI cable and utilized the HDMI adapter provided with the Fire TV Stick. Sticking velcro to one side of the HDMI adapter (NOT the Fire TV Stick device itself) and sticking the corresponding pieces to various places behind the TV. Such as at the top of the backside of the mount that the TV mounts to on my TV stand, the wall behind the TV and on the back of the TV itself, but higher up at the top, so that I can have the device exposed over the top edge of the TV should I choose to... Doing this and having it stuck to the backside of the mount, away from the immediate backside of the TV and elevated some, I found that the signal strength did indeed improve. Now usually I'll have a "Good" signal strength, which is three bars on the little icon displayed. This does me just fine.

    And actually, believe it or not, so long as you don't lose connection with your network completely, which did actually happen quite a few times when I first hooked up the device for some reason, don't know why, regardless of whether you have a "Fair" signal strength or a perfect full bar signal strength, the system performs very nicely. Nothing that I would consider sluggish by any means. So I say, as long has you have a decent wifi signal available to you, you should be able to work out just fine with this device and I wouldn't worry about it too much. Plus, if come to find that you don't get any signal at all with the device, Amazon's customer service is amazing and there's no reason that you wouldn't be able to get a refund. So there's not much risk in the purchase at all.

    All in all, regardless of the short comings, I would say that this is an AMAZING unit. And if you're looking for something like it, definitely give it a try. This lets you do it all with tons of great applications, Amazon's selection of content and more. You can even mirror content from your laptop/smartphone to the Fire TV Stick just as you would with something like Google Chromecast. PLUS you get the benefit of all the applications and Amazon's service! It's a win-win....

    If you want to see in better detail how I have mine set up, simply check out photos I submitted to the Customer Images section. I tossed a few up there. Maybe it'll help you out and give you a few ideas on how to set yours up should you need to find alternate methods of mounting the device for whatever reason, be it clearance/space issues or like me if you're having issues with signal strength.

    Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote
    Customer image
    H
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    A great way to bring a bunch of content to your TV!

    Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2016
    A nice way to add a bunch more content to your TV.

    Purchased this because it recently became medically necessary for me to keep my legs elevated as much as possible. If I'm not walking or sleeping (well, of course when I sleep my legs are up, but besides that..) I have to be kicked back, legs up. This presented a bit of an inconvenience for me, being that I'm really not that impressed by the programming available on cable. I rely on my computer for entertainment, one stop shop for all. So I caught the Amazon's ad for the Fire TV Stick models at the top of the page and decided to give it a looksie. Glad that I did.

    This thing is NICE. Makes it possible for someone who doesn't have a Smart TV to bring a lot more content to their TV anywhere in the home. With appliations like YouTube, HBO GO (for my Game of Thrones addiction), Netflix, History Channel and of course Amazon's library of content, either purchased content or the Prime Videos/Music. There seems to be an application for almost any entertainment platform and most of them are usually free. I believe there are some apps that require you to pay for them, but I haven't checked them out yet. Mostly those are the games and such that are available on the Fire TV Stick platform. And I don't need to play games on my TV with a little remote control. When I game, I'm on my PC playing Dishonored, Elder Scrolls and the like. Not a huge fan of the mobile like games available on the Fire TV Stick. That being said, you CAN purchase the optional controller for the Fire TV Stick, but it wasn't really worth it for me, so I opted not to. I believe it's around $40 or so.

    Originally I was going to purchase the original Fire TV Stick model for $39.99, without the voice search function, as I really thought I'd have no need for it. I don't mind manually using the remote to navigate Right, Left, Up and Down to select the individual letters, numbers and such for the fewer times when I need to enter something specific to search for. Also, the Fire TV Stick is compatible with Bluetooth devices such as keyboards, so I'm going to pick up one of them for cheap sometime soon and that will be the end of that. Also, I didn't really like the way the remote for the Voice model, with it's rounded back. I thought that when placed on the table that it would rock back and forth. BUT, come to find as I was going to purchase the Fire TV Stick, the original model for $39.99 was indeed available but would require 2-3 days extra to process. For whatever reason, maybe they were running low or something, who knows. Well I'm an "instant gratification" type of person, hence my Prime membership (free two-day shipping and cheap one-day shipping is AWESOME!), especially when it comes to online shopping. So that wasn't going to fly. So I settled and just purchased the more expensive "2015" model that features Voice Search built into the remote.

    Come to find out, one of my worries was put to ease, as even though the back side of the remote is rounded, it doesn't wobble back and forth on the table. Of course, I don't rest it on the table and try to press the buttons, so I couldn't say whether it's stable enough to allow for that, but placing it down and bumping/moving the table around doesn't cause it to have a hissy fit on the table top. Which is nice... But one of my fears, that the voice search function would be of zero use to me rather than being of "little" use to be actually came to be true. You see, the voice search function for the Fire TV Stick as it stands currently (I say as it stands currently because it seems that a simple software/firmware update MIGHT be able to help later on down the road if Amazon decides to do that) really doesn't do all that much at all. Here you have the Fire TV Stick with all of it's capabilities, applications, games and whatnot, and the voice search is extremely limited. When using the voice search, you will only be returned with results provided from Amazon's library, whether that the movies you've purchased and Prime Video/Music. That's all. You can't for example, press and hold the button and say "Open HBO GO" or "Play Game of Thrones on HBO GO". That's a no go. All you can do with the voice search function is search Amazon's library of media, check the whether, re-purchase something you've already purchased and add something to a "To Do" list.

    As for searching Amazon's library of media, that's fine and all. I do enjoy some of the titles on Amazon but it's not the only service that I use. So when I'm sitting there with my remote in hand and suddenly I need to search for something that Amazon provides, I'm not going to say "Oh hey! I'm looking for an Amazon title, NOW I can use the voice function, let's do it!". No, I simply bring up the regular ole' search feature. And this will be made even more unnecessary by my Bluetooth keyboard. Heck, even now it's really not needed if you have a smartphone, because you can download the Amazon Fire TV Stick app which allows you to use your smartphone as a remote for the Fire TV Stick, this gives you the voice search function AND allows you to bring up a keyboard on your phone to enter searches... As for the weather, it's pretty much the same thing. I'm not going to be sitting there watching the Fire TV Stick and suddenly say "Hey, wonder what the weather is, oh wait, I can do a VOICE search for that. DO IT MIKE!". And as for the re-purchasing items that I previously purchased, I'm not about to leave my credit card being charged for any amount be determined by the sophistication of today's voice search technology. I'll wind up subscribed to a yearly bulk shipments of Dynarex Black Nitrile exam gloves or something. Ain't happenin'. And lastly, as for the To-Do list. Well it all goes back to the same thing. I have other things for that.

    Now that I've touched on the minor inconvenience of this device, I would like to touch on it's biggest flaw in my opinion, and this is important because it could REALLY have an effect on someone's satisfaction with the unit and whether or not they are even able to use it without having to spend $50-$200 extra JUST to use a little $40 Fire TV Stick that they got because it was convenient and cheap. That issue is......... This unit's wifi reception. It's NOT that great, at all. Could be because this unit relies on or prefers to use the 2.4 GHz band, which is apparently more susceptible to interference, and having this device butted up right against the back of a huge wide electronic device doesn't add favorably to the mix. Or it could simply be because the wifi reception is weak in this device, maybe due to an inferior antenna within the device. Either way, all I know is that I have a pretty bangin' internet service and network in my home consisting of an internet connection that provides me with a steady 90 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload speeds along with a decent quality D-Link dual band wifi Wireless-N router. Of course it's not the latest and greatest AC series of wifi, but with absolutely anything else I use it with I have zero problems. Heck, I even get FULL signal strength outside of my home, all the way on the other side of my house when I have my phone or laptop connected up to the wifi. yet for some reason the Fire TV Stick will only give me Marginal (one bar on the icon displayed) signal strength when I have it simply plugged into the back of the TV as people usually do, without using the provided HDMI adapter and a separately purchased HDMI cable to extend the device. Though, I recently DID purchase a 3 foot length of HDMI cable and utilized the HDMI adapter provided with the Fire TV Stick. Sticking velcro to one side of the HDMI adapter (NOT the Fire TV Stick device itself) and sticking the corresponding pieces to various places behind the TV. Such as at the top of the backside of the mount that the TV mounts to on my TV stand, the wall behind the TV and on the back of the TV itself, but higher up at the top, so that I can have the device exposed over the top edge of the TV should I choose to... Doing this and having it stuck to the backside of the mount, away from the immediate backside of the TV and elevated some, I found that the signal strength did indeed improve. Now usually I'll have a "Good" signal strength, which is three bars on the little icon displayed. This does me just fine.

    And actually, believe it or not, so long as you don't lose connection with your network completely, which did actually happen quite a few times when I first hooked up the device for some reason, don't know why, regardless of whether you have a "Fair" signal strength or a perfect full bar signal strength, the system performs very nicely. Nothing that I would consider sluggish by any means. So I say, as long has you have a decent wifi signal available to you, you should be able to work out just fine with this device and I wouldn't worry about it too much. Plus, if come to find that you don't get any signal at all with the device, Amazon's customer service is amazing and there's no reason that you wouldn't be able to get a refund. So there's not much risk in the purchase at all.

    All in all, regardless of the short comings, I would say that this is an AMAZING unit. And if you're looking for something like it, definitely give it a try. This lets you do it all with tons of great applications, Amazon's selection of content and more. You can even mirror content from your laptop/smartphone to the Fire TV Stick just as you would with something like Google Chromecast. PLUS you get the benefit of all the applications and Amazon's service! It's a win-win....

    If you want to see in better detail how I have mine set up, simply check out photos I submitted to the Customer Images section. I tossed a few up there. Maybe it'll help you out and give you a few ideas on how to set yours up should you need to find alternate methods of mounting the device for whatever reason, be it clearance/space issues or like me if you're having issues with signal strength.

    Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2016
    We are in love with our new Fire TV Stick and Voice Remote! We've had this product for 10 days now, and have used it every day since it arrived. We enjoy being able to conveniently utilize our Prime membership through our HDTV. We also enjoy being able to easily access HULU, Netflix, IHeartRadio, etc. in our living room, without having to connect our laptop to the TV.

    In addition to our WIFI network and HDTV, everything we needed to get this set up and working was included in the Fire TV Stick package, right down to the included Amazon batteries.

    To install the batteries I did the following:
    - Held remote in my left hand, upright, with the back of remote facing me and the buttons facing the floor (I'm right handed);
    - Placed left thumb in the circular indentation at the top of the remote;
    - Placed right thumb over the arrow at the bottom of the remote;
    - Using both thumbs, I slid the entire cover directly up, in the direction the arrow is pointing;

    The whole back of the remote came off so I could install the batteries.

    When my Fire Stick arrived I was able to easily set it up (within 10 minutes) and quickly install many apps onto my new device. I was surprised by how easy and user friendly the set up process was. In 30 minutes or less I was able to install and peruse the HBOGO, Starz, Showtime, HULU, and Netflix apps right on my TV, using this product (a paid membership and/or subscription is required to view/watch videos on various apps like HULU, NETFLIX, HBOGO, etc.). It was kind of a pain having to provide account log in details for each service, but I only had to do this one time for each app I installed.

    I could cancel my cable/satellite subscription right now and just use my Fire TV Stick. It would save me about $100/mo. Various apps do require a paid membership/subscription to be enjoyed with this device, but there are some free apps and games that can be utilized.

    The voice remote is also fantastic as it makes finding apps and viewing various things like the weather, nearby locations, and Amazon order information super easy. The voice remote has quickly become my 4 year old daughter's favorite toy. She enjoys talking to Alexa and asking her to play songs, find apps, and play videos. I think my daughter would have had a much harder time enjoying our Fire TV Stick without the voice remote.

    We have not experienced any connectivity, voice recognition, or other issues when using this product. Everything works just as it should.

    Overall:
    I am extremely happy with this product and feel it is worth the price. I originally purchased this product to use while staying at hotels, when travelling. However, we use this product every day, for hours, in our living room. This seems to be a well made, high quality, and user friendly product. Our Fire TV Stick and Voice Remote is exactly as described and works well. I will be purchasing another Fire TV Stick for my bedroom TV very soon.

    I hope everyone enjoys this product as much as we do. :)