Amazon Fire TV Stick Gets Upgraded With Alexa Voice Remote, Goes Up for Pre-Orders in India

Amazon Fire TV Stick has received a new upgrade that comes bundled with an all-new Alexa Voice Remote. The new Fire TV Stick model comes months after Amazon brought the Fire TV Stick 4K with the new Alexa Voice Remote. As its name suggests, the Alexa Voice Remote allows you to use Alexa skills directly on your HDTV by using your voice. It also combines Bluetooth and multidirectional infrared (IR) technology alongside using a proprietary cloud-based service from Amazon to let you control your TV and Fire TV Stick simultaneously - without using the native remote controller of your TV.

The new Amazon Fire TV Stick along with the all-new Alexa Voice Remote comes with a price tag of Rs. 3,999 ($39.99 in the US). It will go on sale through Amazon.in and Amazon.com starting January 23. Meanwhile, the online marketplace has started taking pre-orders for the new offering.

Unlike the original Fire TV Stick that had a regular Voice Remote, the new Fire TV Stick comes with the all-new Alexa Voice Remote that arrived with the Fire TV Stick 4K version back in October. The Alexa Voice Remote allows you to use Alexa skills to view live camera feeds, check sports scores, order food, book a cab, or stream songs using your voice. The new Voice Remote also has Bluetooth and IR sensors to enable controlling of your TV and Fire TV Stick simultaneously.

You can also use the Alexa Voice Remote to watch your content directly using your voice. For instance, you can say, "Alexa, find comedies", to watch a comedy show on your TV.

There are dedicated power, volume, and mute buttons on the Alexa Voice Remote that let you control your TV, soundbar, or other AV equipment - alongside the iconic voice button and other Fire TV Stick controls. There is also a far-field technology that lets you pair any Echo device with the Fire TV Stick to control your entertainment using your voice.

Aside from the Alexa integration and the ability to control TV functions, the new Fire TV Stick comes with Firefox or Silk browsers to let you visit websites such as YouTube, Facebook, or Reddit. You can also access services such as Amazon Prime Music, Saavn, Gaana, and TuneIn.

Amazon has offered HD (720p) and full-HD (1080p) resolution support on the new Fire TV Stick with up to 60fps frame rate. There is also a 1.3GHz quad-core SoC, coupled with 8GB of onboard storage. In terms of connectivity, the Fire TV Stick has dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1 (LE), and an HDMI port. The new model also has Dolby Audio support.

In contrast, the Fire TV Stick 4K that comes at Rs. 5,999 offers up to 4K content delivery with up to 60fps frame rate. The 4K model also has support for Dolby Vision, HDR, HDR10, HLG, and HDR10+ alongside Dolby Atmos audio technology.

However, design-wise, the new Fire TV Stick looks similar to the Fire TV Stick 4K and the original Fire TV Stick that was launched in India back in April 2017 with the same price tag of Rs. 3,999. Existing Fire TV Stick users can purchase the all-new Alexa Voice Remote separately at Rs. 1,999 to add the ability to control TV functions and Fire TV Stick using a single remote. For a limited period, the all-new Alexa Voice Remote is available with a discounted price of Rs. 999.