The Amazon Fire TV Stick (3rd Gen) is the successor to the Fire TV Stick (2nd Gen). Not to be confused with the Fire TV Stick Lite, The Fire TV Stick boasts Dolby Atmos Audio to the Lite’s Dolby Audio, and also power and volume controls which are conspicuously missing in the Lite.
The Fire TV Stick runs Fire OS 7 (Android 9) and is arguably one of the cheapest streamers supporting voice search. Here’s our honest review after a month with the device. But if you would like the 4K version, then read our review.
Pros
- Affordable price; one of the cheapest ways to make any TV smart.
- Full HD 1080p streaming with HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG support.
- Fast boot-up and smooth streaming performance for its class.
- Alexa voice remote enables voice search and smart home control.
- Broad support for major streaming apps (Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, etc.).
- Live TV and free ad-supported streaming options included.
- Ergonomic remote with premium-feeling buttons.
- Compact design and included HDMI extender for flexible installation.
- Dolby Atmos and surround sound support (on select content).
Cons
- Interface is heavily focused on Amazon content, with frequent ads and promotions.
- Only 1GB RAM, which is lower than some competitors and higher-end models.
- No 4K or Dolby Vision support (limited to 1080p).
- Limited screen mirroring/casting functionality; Miracast may not work reliably.
- Slight lag between remote input and on-screen action.
- Frequent screen saver changes can be distracting (though adjustable).
- Remote for the Lite version lacks TV controls.
Design and Build
The Fire TV Stick’s design ethos has largely remained unchanged ever since the Fire TV Stick 1st Gen came out in 2014. It’s essentially a chunky flash drive lookalike with an Amazon logo that has replaced the Type-A plug with HDMI 2.0. Due to the dongle’s size (86 x 30 x 13mm) and the tight arrangement of HDMI ports in most TVs, Amazon throws in an HDMI extender to circumvent that challenge.
Also in the box expect to find a power adapter, a Micro USB cable to plug into the TV or the mains, the Alexa voice remote (with complimentary Amazon Basics AAA batteries) and that’s about it.
As with the Fire Stick, Amazon has not drastically deviated from its initial design. Newer iterations have added Alexa here, volume controls there, and the mute button as an afterthought. The 3rd Gen Alexa remote sports a gentle curve on the back to nestle in the palm of your hand and rubber buttons which give it a premium feel.
Performance
Whatever issues you might have with the Fire TV stick’s appearance, once you plug it in at the back of your TV, it’s out of sight, out of mind. From this point onwards, it’s the brains and not the looks that attract your average user.
Related post: Fire TV Stick 4K (2nd Gen) Review: Is it worth the upgrade
On paper, the Fire TV stick packs some quiet ammo. It sports a MediaTek MT8695D 1.7 GHz quad-core processor, and IMG GE8300 GPU and 1GB DDR4 RAM. Other specs include 1080p at 60fps with HDR/HDR+10/HLG compatibility. and Dolby Atmos sound available on select Prime Video, Netflix, and Disney+ titles and compatible hardware. Connectivity is via Bluetooth 5.0 and, 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz dual band WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac reception for a quality connection.
Despite its underwhelming 1GB RAM, the Fire TV Stick boots up in 35.83 seconds as per our test. This is faster than even the Chromecast with Google TV despite having more RAM. The secret is that DDR4 RAM is roughly 3X faster than the DDR3 RAM the Chromecast uses.
On the video front, it also supports Full HD 1080p up to 60 fps. It also offers HDR 10, HDR10+, and HLG High Dynamic Range standards providing a high-quality viewing experience. However, it doesn’t support Dolby Vision, one of the popular HDR standards.
Of course, to take full advantage of these standards, your TV must support these HDR standards as well.
Othe audio front, The Fire TV Stick 3rd Gen supports Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital+ surround sound, and HDMI Audio passthrough for Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital+, Dolby Atmos.
Given that the dongle’s main purpose is to browse and stream content, it’s got more than enough firepower to ensure a smooth experience. You will notice that other than navigation, it takes a second or two between fiddling with your remote and seeing any action on the Fire TV Stick. It’s not really a deal breaker for me, because the price more than makes up for it.
Interface and Content
Amazon takes product placement to a whole new level with the Fire TV Stick. It makes one wonder whether this isn’t the actual business strategy and the dongle just a way to entice you to the service. Welcome to Hotel California.
As I am not in the US, my Fire TV Sticks looks a tad different from the motherland. All I get is Home, Find, and Live along with smaller tiles to popular subscriptions. The Fire TV Stick supports most major streaming apps you can think of. You get access to;
- Premium services such as Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, HBO Max, Hulu, Paramount+, Apple TV+ and more.
- Live TV streaming services such as Philo, Sling, FuboTV, and Youtube TV, and
- Ad-supported Free services such as Pluto TV, Tubi, Plex, and Youtube.
There are a number of categories in the Home tile i.e Next Up For You, Sponsored, Recently Used Apps, Sponsored: Prime Video Cinema, Sponsored Popular Movies, Rent of Buy- Movies We Think You’ll Like, Rent- New Release Movies, Kids and Family Movies, $9.99 or Less Movie Deals, et cetera.The list goes on and on. The entertainment curation on the Fire TV stick obliterates other streaming services in favor of Amazon’s own.
Being an Amazon device, you’ll see a lot of Amazon’s own streaming services and content in your face all the time. You’ll see a lot of promotions from Prime Video, amazon’s paid-streaming service, and Freevee (formerly IMDB TV) which is their Ad-supported Free Movie streaming service. You’ll see Twitch and Luna, which are gaming services from Amazon.
If all that is a little bit too overwhelming, a better place to go is the Find tab. Here you can search for a particular movie, peruse through your library or under Free labels (Free with Ads on IMDb). Further curation is under Movies, TV Shows, Kids and Family, Sports, Action Movies and Horror Movies among others. The Fire TV Stick attempts to curate content from other subscriptions (e.g. Netflix, HBO Max, e.t.c) which is a nice touch.
For a more traditional setup, Live TV does the trick. I liked the fact that I could watch Live TV with minimal hustle. It gives Fire TV Stick a freshness to it, in the face of all the canned content which I have to dish out for myself.
Related: Chromecast with Google TV vs Fire TV Stick (3rd Gen)
Alexa Voice Remote
Kudos to Amazon for developing a voice assistant every inch as capable as Google Assistant. Alexa can give you the 411 on content spanning your subscriptions without having to manually do it yourself. You can check weather, search for movies and TV shows, by title or by actor. With Alexa, you can also control Amazon’s smart home devices like the Echo. To speak, press and hold down the Alexa button. Once you let go, the genie does your bidding.
Amazon Fire TV Stick
$39.99
Available at: Amazon
Buy on AmazonOther than the Alexa button, the other buttons I use the most comprise the power button, Home button, volume buttons, and especially the D-pad. The rest are simply bells and whistles.
Here’s our video review of the Amazon Fire TV Stick 3rd generation. You can watch it below;
Casting
Casting is dependent on apps that support the Fire TV Stick’s brand of casting. After installing apps like Spotify, Netflix and YouTube and VLC on your Fire TV Stick, you should be able to cast to them.
I also usually mirror my Android and Windows PC screen to the streaming stick using Miracast. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to work with my Fire TV stick. Well, wireless display also didn’t work for the Chromecast with Google TV, although it does with the Mi Box and the Roku Stick.
What I didn’t like
Something else I didn’t appreciate was way Amazon lathers its promotion and Ads on too thick. We know that we are in Amazon’s turf but it doesn’t mean relegating my other subscriptions to substitute players. I had to jump hurdles to watch my TV shows. Once I skip the promoted content, I have to skip the Intro and then skip the Recap before I can continue my viewing. It got more galling the more I had to do it. I come from Netflix and its binge-watch mode is a gem.
This last one is quite petty, but nevertheless hear me out. I found the screen saver refresh time to be so short. A wallpaper was changing every minute or so. I found myself distracted from my work every time by the shifting scenery, until I fiddled with the settings to slow it down.
Price and where to buy
The Amazon Fire TV Stick (3rd Gen) retails for $39.99 on Amazon, Best Buy. The base model, the Fire TV Stick Lite is $10 cheaper but lacks a remote with TV controls. If 4K streaming and Dolby Vision is important to you, then top up another $10 and get the Fire TV Stick 4K at $49.99. You can even go higher with the Fire TV Stick 4K Max if you wish to get WiFi 6 and an additional 1GB of RAM all at $54.99.
Our Top Picks for streaming devices
Amazon Fire TV Stick, sharp picture quality, fast streaming, free & live TV, Alexa Voice Remote with TV controls
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max streaming device (newest model) supports Wi-Fi 6E, free & live TV without cable or satellite
Google TV Streamer 4K – Fast Streaming Entertainment on Your TV with Voice Search Remote – Watch Movies, Shows, Live TV, and Netflix in 4K HDR – Smart Home Control – 32 GB of Storage – Porcelain
ONN Android TV 4K UHD Streaming Device with Voice Remote Control Google Assistant & High Speed HDMI Cable (100026240) Black
TiVo Stream 4K – Every Streaming App and Live TV on One Screen – 4K UHD, Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos Sound – Powered by Android TV – Plug-In Smart TV, One size
Xiaomi TV Box S (2nd Gen) 4K Ultra HD Streaming Media Player, Google TV Box with 2GB RAM 8GB ROM, 2.4G/5G Dual WiFi, Bluetooth 5.2 & Dolby Audio and DTS-HD, Dolby Vision, HDR10+
NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV Streaming Media Player; 4K HDR, live sports, Dolby Vision-Atmos, AI-enhanced upscaling, GeForce NOW cloud gaming, Google Assistant Built-In, Works with Alexa
NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV Pro Streaming Media Player; 4K HDR movies, live sports, Dolby Vision-Atmos, AI-enhanced upscaling, GeForce NOW cloud gaming, Google Assistant Built-In, Works with Alexa
Roku Streaming Stick 4K – HDR & Dolby Vision Roku Streaming Device for TV with Voice Remote & Long-Range Wi-Fi – Free & Live TV
Roku Ultra 2024 – Ultimate Streaming Player – 4K Streaming Device for TV with HDR10+, Dolby Vision & Atmos – Bluetooth & Wi-Fi 6- Rechargeable Voice Remote Pro with Backlit Buttons – Free & Live TV
Apple TV 4K Wi-Fi (3rd Generation) with Siri Remote & Apple 1 Year Limited Warranty (64 GB Wi Fi)
H96 Max M9 TV Box Android 14.0 RK3576 8GB RAM 128GB ROM WiFi6 1000M LAN BT5.4 USB3.0 Support AV1 VP9 4K 60fps H.265 HDR Box
About Sydney Mugerwa
Sydney Mugerwa is a seasoned consumer tech writer based in Kampala, Uganda, with a passion for reviewing the latest gadgets and smart devices. From smartphones and wearables to smart home products and cameras, Sydney breaks down the complexities of consumer tech, making it easy to understand through detailed reviews and how-to guides. His mission is to simplify tech jargon and help readers make informed decisions in the ever-evolving world of technology.