Along with refreshing its lineup of Echo smart speakers, Amazon today took the wraps off of some new Fire devices that plug into your TV.
The new Amazon Fire TV Stick is more powerful, featuring a 1.7GHz quad-core processor that's 50 percent more powerful than the previous Fire TV Stick model. It supports 1080p video at 60 frames per second with HDR support and Dolby Atmos for more immersive sound.
The internals of the new Fire TV Stick also include 5GHz Wi-Fi support. And as before, there's an Alexa Voice Remote to let you control the Stick with your voice, plus dedicated power, volume, and mute buttons.
Pre-orders for the new Amazon Fire TV Stick are now live for $39.99, with orders shipping on September 30.
If you're looking to add smarts to your TV on the cheap, the new Fire TV Stick Lite is now available for pre-order at $29.99 and it'll begin shipping on September 30, too. Amazon touts that the Fire TV Stick Lite is 50 percent more powerful than the previous Fire TV Stick and that it includes HDR support, too.
Also included is an Alexa Voice Remote Lite that'll let you control the Stick with your voice, but doesn't include support for controlling your TV like the regular Alexa Voice Remote. It also lacks Dolby Atmos support, though it does have regular Dolby Audio.
Amazon also revealed a new Fire TV user interface to go along with its new hardware. This updated UI aims to be more intuitive and simple, with a main menu that lets you jump directly into a streaming service or scroll through apps to peek at what's inside.
There are improved Alexa voice controls to help you get to content more quickly by saying things like "Alexa, go to Live" to jump to live TV or "Alexa, go to Find" to browse shows. User profiles offer a personalized experience with recommendations, viewing history, watch lists, and more for up to six people. And you can switch profiles by saying "Alexa, switch to my profile" and having Alexa recognize your voice.
Finally, Amazon has updated the Fire TV search experience to let you make broad and specific searches. For example, you can search for something based on genre, categories like "free" and "sports", and more.
This redesigned Fire TV software will begin rolling out globall later this year. It'll be available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
