Amazon unveils its $39 Chromecast competitor — the Fire TV Stick

BY Rajesh Pandey

Published 27 Oct 2014

Amazon_Fire_TV

After releasing the Fire TV earlier this year to take on Apple TV, Amazon has just announced its own HDMI media streamer — the Fire TV Stick — to take on Google’s Chromecast. 

Unlike Google’s offering though, the Fire TV stick packs in some serious power under its hood. This includes a dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB of storage space and dual-band Wi-Fi. Amazon boasts that the Fire TV Stick has 50% more power and 2x the RAM than Google’s Chromecast — resulting in a faster and more fluid navigation experience. Using the Fire TV remote app, you will be able to use your smartphone as a remote for the stick.

Amazon has also included a remote control with the Fire TV stick in case you are not a fan of using your smartphone as a remote. Other notable features of the stick include instant streaming thanks to ASAP (Advanced Streaming and Prediction), the ability to mirror your Android device screen to it via Miracast, X-Ray for movies, music and TV shows, and more.

Fire TV buyers will also be getting a 30-day trial of Amazon’s Prime membership giving them access to the company’s huge library of TV episodes and movies for free.

The Fire TV stick is already available for purchase on Amazon’s website for $39. If you are an Amazon Prime member though, you can buy the stick for only $19 within the next two days.

[Via Amazon]