Amazon unveils a thinner and faster Fire TV Stick 4K

Imran Shaikh (0:00)

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Amazon unveils a thinner and faster Fire TV Stick 4K.

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Just ahead of its October Prime Day event, Amazon has unveiled a new Fire TV Stick 4K that it says is part of a new generation of Fire TV hardware that started with Fire TV Stick HD earlier this year. The company also redesigned its remote control and updated its interface and companion app to better integrate and feature Alexa Plus. And while it did roll out a new Fire TV Stick model today, Amazon is streamlining the Fire TV Stick lineup, doing away with the Select and Plus labels that previously distinguished its multiple 4K dongles. According to the company, the new Fire TV Stick 4K is fast. It's not only faster than older models, but about 20 to 40 percent faster than a similarly priced 4K stick from another leading brand. Specifically, Amazon says its newest dongle turns on faster, apps launch over 35 percent faster, and content starts playing nearly 20 percent faster. The company also said it tested the Fire TV Stick 4K against the built-in experience of three 4K smart TVs from top-selling brands. It checked to see how quickly the three most popular apps on the Fire TV platform would respond on all these devices, and says it found that on average, the Fire TV Stick 4K played content faster than all three of the TVs they tested. We haven't seen the testing methodology ourselves and can't vouch for the claims. Amazon did provide a video showing the speed comparison it described, which you can see at engadget.com. Speed aside, the new Fire TV Stick 4K is slimmer than older models, featuring a design similar to the HD model launched in April. It's also capable of drawing power directly from your TV set's USB port with the included cables, so you don't need to deal with long wires or unsightly cords just to reach a distant power outlet. If you prefer, though, you can still plug it into a wall socket, of course. Inside, the Fire TV Stick 4K has 8GB of built-in storage and a quad-core 1.7GHz processor. It supports Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and LE, as well as a variety of display standards and media formats. It can play resolutions of 2160p, 1080p, and 720p at up to 60 frames per second too. Like other recent Amazon streaming sticks, the latest model will run on Amazon's Vega operating system, come with Alexa Plus, and have the new Fire TV experience out of the box. Amazon also showed off a new remote control, and it features a curved, weighted bottom with more tactile buttons and controls. The top edge, which is the part where the power and microphone buttons sit, is flat and straight, whereas the bottom is rounded. This way, you'll be able to quickly identify which side to point at your TV.