Amazon Fire TV Stick: All that you need to know

The streaming device market is hotting up with Amazon launching Fire TV Stick in India

Watching streaming content has caught on big time in India. Hotstar started streaming IPL two years ago and had a viewership of 41 million which crossed 100 million in 2016 and in the latest edition of the T20 Cricket tournament, Star is targeting a viewership of more than 130 million on its platform, Hotstar.

It is this market that companies are rushing to corner. While Airtel launched its “internet tv” device last week, Google’s Chromecast has been around for longer.

The latest entrant in this field is Amazon with its Fire TV Stick being launched in India today. 

What does Fire TV Stick do?

The Fire Stick TV is a HDMI stick that converts a tv into a smart tv. It plugs into the tv’s HDMI port and allows wireless streaming of content.

What are the tech specs like?

Fire TV stick runs a MediaTek Quad-core processor clocking at 1.3GHz, 1GB RAM and Mali450 graphics. It is a complete media player in itself and does not need a laptop or a phone to play content. Unlike Google Chromecast, it is not just a connectivity device between phones, laptops and tv sets. It runs on Android operating system with Amazon’s custom interface loaded on it.

What content can we get on the Fire TV Stick?

The stick comes preloaded with apps like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube etc. One can play content on these apps using the stick itself.

In India, the stick also carries Voot, NDTV, Hotstar, Sony Liv, Gaana on it.

Amazon Prime subscribers already get complimentary access to Amazon Prime Video. Amazon Prime membership can be purchased for just Rs 499 per annum.

Why Fire TV Stick and not Chromecast then?

The advantage Fire TV Stick offers is that it is a media player in itself that comes with preloaded apps while the Chromecast device needs you to find the content using a phone or laptop and then ‘cast’ it using Chromecast. The Fire TV Stick also trumps Chromecast on processing speed and onboard memory of 8 GB compared to just 256 MB on the Chromecast. Moreover, the device also comes with a remote with voice control that allows the user to control content on the media player. All these make the Fire TV Stick the more attractive option.

What else can one do with it?

Gamers will also love the Amazon offering as the device comes preloaded with games.

What's in the box

The box comes with an Amazon Fire TV stick, a voice remote, a power adaptor for the stick, two AAA batteries and a HDMI extender cable.

What is the price?

Amazon has launched the stick with a pricetag of Rs 3,999. Amazon has announced that they will put Rs 499 into the buyer's account which can be used to subscribe to Amazon Prime. This offer is valid till May 31.

Airtel is offering over 100 GB data for Fire TV users wherein, customers purchasing the device will get free 100 GB high speed data via Airtel Broadband/Airtel 4G Home Wi-Fi. In addition, Airtel Movies, the OTT app from Airtel, will offer Airtel mobile and broadband customers access to a collection of thousands of popular Bollywood movies & premium TV shows across a host of genres.

Google’s Chromecast retails at about Rs 3,500.