Amazon’s Fire TV Stick Lite Slashes Price of Streaming with Alexa to $ 30

With streaming more popular than ever during the pandemic, Amazon’s Fire TV family of streaming devices is getting an update. Or at least, a lower entry price.

The new Fire TV Stick Lite is now the company’s cheapest streamer at $ 30, topping last year’s $ 40 Fire TV Stick. The Lite still offers access to Fire TV’s thousands of apps and games, as well as a voice remote that lets you talk to Alexa by pressing the microphone button, to search for TV shows, launch apps, and control smart home devices. You can also pair it with an Echo speaker to hands-free TV control.

The Lite’s price allows it to better compete against entry-level devices like the Roku Express and Google Chromecast, both of which cost $ 30 as well. It’s not hard to imagine it dropping to $ 20 or even less during Amazon’s scheduled Prime Day sale. for October 13.

Amazon also announced an upgrade to the $ 40 Fire TV Stick. Unlike the Lite, your Alexa remote offers volume, mute, and power buttons that can control virtually any television, allowing you to ditch the click control on your television. Also add Dolby Atmos audio capability.

Both the Fire TV Stick Lite and Fire TV Stick are available to pre-order now in the US and will ship on September 30.

Both new transmitters are 1080p, only in Full HD. True 4K resolution is reserved for him $ 50 Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, which will remain for sale unchanged. It continues to compete against our favorite current 4K streamer, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus, and it could soon face the $ 50 Chromecast replacement rumored to be Google.

Now the confusing part: despite not having 4K, the two least expensive sticks do support for high dynamic range video, also known as HDR. Most of today’s streamers that can handle HDR will also deliver 4K, but not the newer Amazon Fire TV Sticks. HDR promises improved image quality with better contrast and color, but we’ve only tested it with 4K resolution signals so far.

Amazon claims that both new products are 50 percent more powerful than their predecessors and use 50 percent more energy. In a nod to its commitment to sustainability, the company said the new devices would have a new low power mode, a feature that could also be implemented on existing Fire TV devices.

In addition to the new hardware, Amazon is also revamping the Fire TV UI, which hasn’t fared well in CNET reviews, especially against Roku. The new “experience” includes:

• User profiles, which are now available in the Prime Video app
• Redesigned main menu and improved navigation for easier searching
• A new section called Alexa Explore with new recipes, stock reports and more
• The ability to view Ring camera signals on a picture-in-picture screen
• On Fire TV Cube, the option for a Logitech camera for Alexa video calls on a TV (Zoom and other services will be added over time)

Updated Fire TV menus will be available globally later this year and will appear first on the new Fire TV Stick Lite and Fire TV Stick.