Streaming Services.
Premium:
Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, Redbox Instant, M-Go, HBO Go, HBO Now, Showtime, AMC, UFC, Hallmark Movies Now, Boomerang, Dailyburn, Stingray Qello, Netflix, Sling TV, Tidal, NBC Sports, nick, Discovery Go, TUBI, MUTV, Popcorn Flix, CNBC, philo, SHUDDER, IFC, Daily Motion, Outside TV
Other:
YouTube, Pandora, Spotify, Picasa, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, and more
Description. This Amazon Fire TV Cube is a small box sized media player with the full Alexa digital assistant experience. The unit contains a power port, one HDMI input, one microUSB port, an optional Ethernet jack dongle and a IR Blaster extender port. The Fire TV Cube comes with a relatively simple remote that operates via Bluetooth rather than infrared (IR). It has a circular navigation control, a built in mic, and a dedicated button to go to the voice search/digital assistant.
Setup. This player is generally easy to set up. There is an onscreen setup guide the first time you power up the player that syncs the Bluetooth remote and then automatically scans for available Wi-Fi networks. Since you are buying it right from Amazon, if you have a Prime account, your account information and any content stored in the Amazon Cloud Drive or Amazon Music services will be automatically loaded onto the player. Setup steps may also involve adding support for the connected TV, a soundbar, cable box, AV Receiver. We found updating the player's firmware was easy thanks to automatic prompts.
Ease of use. For everyday use the box is generally easy to use:
Interface. The main home screen uses a list to go through the main categories (home, movies, TV, apps, etc.) and graphic tiles divided into sub-sections (most popular, recent, new releases, etc.). All of the movie and TV content displayed on the home screen is from Amazon Instant Video and will load almost instantly. It allows manually organizing your apps which makes it easier to use to get to a favorite app. If used often it will stay in the "Recent" section of the home screen. It also has a very responsive voice search function that will search a few of the video streaming services and your Amazon Music account for content. The voice search now uses the Alexa digital assistant, Amazon’s answer to Apple’s Siri, to add to shopping and to-do lists, find out the current weather and news, and other information. We found this player's response to be noticeably fast, which made navigating the menus and content pleasing.
Remote control. The provided remote is very simple, with few buttons. The buttons' size and labeling is good, with high enough contrast that they can still be seen in a room with low light conditions. The remote uses a Bluetooth connection so it doesn't require line of sight to control the box. It also has a built in mic and a dedicated button to easily bring you to the voice search.
Picture quality. This player supports 4K UHD and HD output. In general we found the streaming picture quality to be excellent, better than standard DVDs but not quite as sharp or detailed as from a 4K UHD Blu-ray disc. However, the quality of the video that you'll get is largely dependent on the speed of your wired or wireless network.
Audio. This player will output multichannel digital audio via its HDMI output.
Connections. It supports the latest Wi-Fi standard (802.11ac), which supports dual-band: 2.4Ghz and 5GHz networks. DLNA is supported allowing access to play music, photos, or videos directly through the player but will require App download to gain access to content. It lacks support for "casting" from a mobile device such as a smartphone and it lacks support for screen mirroring, so you can't mirror the screen of any Android, Fire OS, or Windows device on to your TV via the player.
Miscellaneous. Nothing significant.
Firmware Version. All players are evaluated using the latest firmware version available at the time of testing.
Firmware version for the Amazon Fire TV Cube is: Fire TV OS 6.2.2.1 (NS6221/1536)
