The new Amazon Fire TV Cube doesn't try to fix what isn't broken. How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad, How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill, How to Find Free Tools to Optimize Your Small Business, How to Get Started With Project Management, Read Amazon Fire TV Stick With Alexa Voice Remote Review, The Best Media Streaming Devices for 2020. Expensive compared with smaller 4K media streamers. The interface is the same as before, so will be familiar to many. More information. A switch back to iPlayer for Seven Worlds, One Planet in UHD HLG, and it’s a beautiful, resplendent image. That’s because the Fire TV Cube does so much more than your average streaming hub. There are, though, instances where it’s confused. Of course your equipment also has to support these standards to use them, but attached to an LG OLED and Denon receiver, Jack Ryan in Dolby Vision and Atmos on Prime Video looked and sounded fantastic. Supports all major HDR formats. But for most of the time it works as advertised, whether that’s launching apps/content, switching from inputs or searching for a title. Search brings up mostly accurate results and a speedy reaction to your queries. Why Amazon continues to set it as the default is rather odd. Just say "Alexa," and ask a question or give a command. A voice remote is also included in the box. Asking it to turn the TV on led it to tell me what was showing on TV. Mindhunter on Netflix could often downgrade to a blurry picture despite having speedy connection. It’s not as much as Roku – unfortunately there is no Dog Relaxation Channel – but BBC iPlayer, All 4 and ITV Hub are available, with Prime Video (naturally), Netflix, Disney Life (Disney Plus next year), YouTube and Apple TV the main video apps, with Spotify, Tidal and Vevo offering access to music services. It can also control your entire home theater, thanks to infrared emitters on the cube itself and an included IR blaster you can run into or out of any cabinet.Read the Full Review Back to Top. While YouTube, Verve, and Pluto TV take four or five seconds to load on the old Fire TV Cube, they each open in just a second or so on the new model. Will is also a THX Level I home theater expert and ISF Level III-certified TV calibrator, which ensures the thoroughness and accuracy of all PCMag TV reviews. It is seriously irritating. Once plugged in, you’ll be asked to sign in or create an Amazon account, and through on-screen prompts Alexa will guide you through the process of setting up your TV and connecting to other audio/home cinema products. Both Dolby Vision and Atmos are supported by Apple TV, Netflix and Prime Video. The Fire TV Cube's most notable feature is its far-field microphone array for hands-free Alexa use. In terms of apps and channels, Amazon has promised a vast amount of content. Best Media Streamer$119.99 The Amazon Fire TV Cube is pricey in the world of media streamers, where $50 can buy you quality 4K HDR streaming on your TV. The combination of shiny and matt black plastic makes it stand out at first, but the 86mm-wide and 77mm-tall cube is small enough not to be distracting sitting next to your TV. And the Fire TV Cube make use of local processing so Alexa responds quicker. It works fine enough for turning on your TV for the Fire TV interface, but is inconsistent for other devices and can’t replicate enough functionality via voice that you don’t need to routinely reach for the original remote. Otherwise it’s your usual layout, with a D-pad for navigation, playback and volume controls, home button etc. By clicking on an affiliate link, you accept that third-party cookies will be set. Tell us what you think - send your emails to the Editor. The Fire TV Cube is, well, a cube. If you’re after for a streaming player that can play content from all the major apps in good quality and grants control over your home cinema set up via your voice, the Fire TV Cube ticks all those boxes. The interface is fast and responsive. The hexa-core processor powering it aims to offer a fast and fluid performance. Top-end smart TV box can’t quite live up to the promise of the voice-controlled TV commander, Thu 9 Jan 2020 02.00 EST It’s a bolder image, but not as refined. All rights reserved. One thing to note is that the Fire TV Cube needs to be placed one to two feet (around 30cm) away from a speaker. The included remote is also identical to the one that came with the first Fire TV Cube. You can also watch Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix, SiriusXM, Sling TV, Spotify, Tidal, Twitch, and YouTube, along with hundreds of others.
The Cube doesn’t look like anything else. Menu and playback controls sit below the direction pad, with a volume rocker and mute button below them. We use industry standard tests in order to compare features properly. The Amazon Fire TV Cube is an excellent smart TV box, supporting a wide selection of apps and services, video and audio standards and with snappy, lag-free performance. Available for everyone, funded by readers. The four buttons and eight built-in microphones. Strangely, BBC iPlayer was completely fine, loading UHD right from the get go. Alexa is not always the smartest assistant, and not all apps offer the same level of voice control. It’s essentially a voice-controlled Echo Dot mated with a Fire TV smart television box. The Cube puts in a pleasing performance, but you can tweak things in the settings.