Your membership has expired

The payment for your account couldn't be processed or you've canceled your account with us.

Re-activate

Save products you love, products you own and much more!

Save products icon

Other Membership Benefits:

Savings icon Exclusive Deals for Members Best time to buy icon Best Time to Buy Products Recall tracker icon Recall & Safety Alerts TV screen optimizer icon TV Screen Optimizer and more

    You and Amazon Fire TV can now get a hotel room

    A software update lets you use Fire TV and Fire TV Stick on the road

    Published: March 24, 2015 12:45 PM

    Find Ratings

    Amazon is updating the software on its Fire TV streaming players.

    Ever think your Amazon Fire TV or Amazon Fire TV Stick would make a great traveling companion? Thanks to an upcoming software update, according to Amazon, both devices will be the first streaming media devices you can connect to Wi-Fi that requires Web authentication, which includes Wi-Fi at most hotels and some universities.

    The update to the Fire TV settop box offers a few additional advantages. These include being able to connect a USB hard drive for expanded storage for downloaded games and apps, and the ability to listen to shows, movies, and music privately thanks to support for Bluetooth headphones. (The private-listening feature on the current Roku 3 and Roku 2 players is something we've liked, though those boxes do it via a headphone jack on the remote control rather than through Bluetooth.)

    If you take advantage of the Amazon Prime Music service, you can now tap into one of a number of curated playlists directly from both the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick.

    And good news for parents with tech-savvy kids with good eyesight: A new "hidden PIN" feature hides the numbers you select when entering a PIN onscreen to confirm purchases on Fire TV or Fire TV Stick. Plus, new shortcuts can put the players to sleep or enable display mirroring using a single button on the remote.

    —James K.Willcox

    Find the right streaming media player with our buying guide and Ratings.

    Find Ratings

    Streaming Media Ratings

    View and compare all Streaming Media ratings.

    E-mail Newsletters

    FREE e-mail Newsletters! Choose from cars, safety, health, and more!
    Already signed-up?
    Manage your newsletters here too.

    Electronics News

    Cars

    Cars Build & Buy Car Buying Service
    Save thousands off MSRP with upfront dealer pricing information and a transparent car buying experience.

    See your savings

    Mobile

    Mobile Get Ratings on the go and compare
    while you shop

    Learn more