Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Review
With 4K HDR, Amazon Alexa, and very peppy performance, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is the best media streamer you can buy for under $50.
Design and Voice Remote
The Fire TV Stick 4K is slightly larger than the standard Fire TV Stick, measuring 3.9 by 1.2 by 0.6 inches (HWD). It's a simple rectangular matte black plastic bar with a male HDMI connector on one end and a micro USB port on one side. If it's slightly too large to fit comfortably in a port on your TV, a short, flexible HDMI extender lets you reposition it at a different angle.
Amazon has updated its Alexa Voice Remote with some new tricks. The second-generation remote is still a slim rectangular wand with a prominent circular navigation pad and a pinhole microphone near the top for using Alexa. It still has menu and playback controls, and now power and volume buttons join them. The Fire TV Stick 4K can directly control your TV's power and volume, letting you jump directly into watching streaming media without picking up a second remote. It currently only adjusts volume and toggles power, so you can't navigate your TV's menus or change inputs, but if your Fire TV Stick is the primary device you're going to watch, it's a very useful upgrade.
Setup
Setting up the Fire TV Stick 4K is simple, and works just like setting up any other Fire TV device. Plug it into your TV, plug in the power adapter, then follow the instructions on your TV to connect the stick to Wi-Fi. After that, you can log in with your Amazon account and you're set.
You don't need a paid Amazon Prime account to use the Fire TV Stick 4K; a regular, free Amazon account will work. If you have Amazon Prime, though, you'll automatically get access to streaming media through Prime Music and Prime Video.