Today, Amazon launched its much anticipated streaming box with the Fire TV. While the tiny black box isn’t much to look at, the company did introduce a number of features that have been lacking in current streaming options such as the Roku 3 or Apple TV, its primary two competitors. It is competitively priced at just . So, is the device the one to get today or might it be better to wait for something from Roku or Apple both of which are likely to update their devices this year?

The Hardware

The Fire TV device is extremely small with a footprint not much larger than a typical CD case at just four and a half inches wide and deep and under an inch thick. It is a simple black box with the Amazon logo on the top. On the back of the device are the connectors that include HDMI output, a digital optical output, Ethernet and USB port. There is a small external power adapter that plugs into the wall. One downside is that there is no SD card slot that can expand the local storage space as it features just 2GB of internal memory which can quickly be eaten up by applications. The USB port can be used for adding external storage at least for local media files.

Amazon is touting the computing performance of their quad core chip that is in the Fire TV which is true in a sense but the one downside here is that the device is still restricted to just 1080p video streams. It would have been nice if it could have supported up to 4K for new UltraHD TVs not to mention the Amazon and Netflix original programming that is available in the super high resolution. This may be a fault for the device if Roku or Apple release 4K compatible devices later in the year.

The remote is actually longer than the Fire TV box at five and a half inches long and one and a half wide and slightly thinner than the box but with a rounded contour back. Rather than being infrared, the remote works via Bluetooth meaning that it does not need line of sight like the Roku 3 one but it does not feature the motion controls. Instead the device features a microphone.

Voice Search

One of the unique aspects to the Kindle Fire TV is the ability to search for programs with your voice. The remote includes a button and microphones that allow the user to speak in their search term such as the name of a show or an actor. The Fire TV will then execute the search and display the results based upon information from Amazon and IMDB. In demonstrations by Amazon, the searches were executed well and fast but it is hard to say how well the feature will actually work outside of the controlled environment. It certainly is much easier to do a search with one’s voice than trying to use the virtual keyboards with the remotes. This is true even if it might make a mistake from time to time.

Streaming Features

In terms of what services that Amazon will support on the Fire TV, it looks as if most of the major services will be there from the get go. Obviously, it will include Amazon’s Instant service but also included are Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube and Vimeo. One absent service that will disappoint those hoping to watch the next season of Game of Thrones is HBO GO. Audio services are also there with the likes of Pandora, iHeartRadio, Tunein and Vevo.

The Software

The operating system of the Fire TV is based upon the Android operating system and is in essence a heavily modified version of the Fire OS that was developed for the Amazon Kindle tablets. This means that much of the software written for Android can be quickly and easily adapted to the Fire TV. It is a very visual interface with the right two thirds of the screen showing the images for the various movies, shows and music. the left third of the screen is populated by the various menus for the Home, Search, Movies, TV, Games and Apps. The interface is surprisingly fast with results displays near instantly. One has to wonder if the performance of the searches might degrade once there are more users of the service.

Amazon Cloud Services

If you happen to have purchased media from Amazon’s service and store photos in Amazon’s Cloud Drive, these items are also available for streaming from the cloud. This is pretty important as the device only has 2GB of internal memory which means that you can’t really store much locally. Sadly, it does not seem to have any means for accessing media that is stored on a home network or personal computer akin to Apple’s TV ability to interface with iTunes libraries.

Gaming

Gaming was introduced to the streaming box market by Roku with the Angry Bird’s Space included with the Roku 3 device and its motion controls from the remote. Amazon’s Fire TV looks to increase the reach and capability of set top gaming in several ways. First, the hardware has much faster performance which means that it can support more demanding apps. I say apps because that is essentially what the games are, converted Android apps that have been available in the Amazon storefront for the Kindle Fire tablet devices. Titles from the likes of Disney and EA will be available at launch and the Minecraft Pocket Edition will be launching later in the month. A full list of available games can be found . Now, these games are not going to have anywhere near the graphics quality of a dedicated gaming console like a PS4 or XBox One but more akin to what is available for current Android tablets.

One of the big differences that the Fire TV will have is the optional $40 gaming remote. It looks like a traditional console game control and provides a much wider range of controls than what the standard remote provides. Included in the cost of the remote is also one thousand Amazon coins for purchasing games from their storefront. Of course, many of the games are already of the Free to Play variety.

Mirroring The Kindle Tablets

Google’s Chromecast device allowed for video and music that was being streamed on a tablet to be streamed to the larger screen. This feature also makes it into the Fire TV for those using the Kindle Fire HDX tablets. The feature can be used to push the video to the larger TV and then have the tablet act as a second screen for the X-Ray information from IMDB or controlling the video up on the screen.

Conclusions

The Amazon Fire TV is certainly a very nice streaming box as the voice search and gaming capabilities really set it apart from other set top boxes. Sadly, the lack of 4K video support I think is going to be the thing that holds back many people from going with this device. After all, if you have a Roku 3 or Apple TV, there isn’t much more hear that would make it worth it to buy to replace your existing box. If you don’t have a streaming box and are looking to get one, this is the obvious choice especially if you are a Amazon Prime member that also uses Amazon’s tablets.