Amazon Fire TV (1st gen. 2014)

usability, price, design, size

reliability

89% of the reviews on Amazon.com give this product a positive rating.

Colourful performance (in the right mode) ; Slick Alexa integration ; Well stocked for apps ; Fire TV Ambient Experience

Feet not the most accommodating for placement ; HDR performance could use more finesse ; Rough upscaling with 480p content ; Competition is cheaper

An ambitious 4K HDR TV that doesn’t quite fulfil its potential, but puts in an entertaining performance, nonetheless. Some care needs to be taken with its picture modes, which require fiddling with to get the best image quality, but if your home is one...

Sharp, bright and detailed picture ; Good sound, particularly for the price ; Fire OS is simple and app-packed

Seriously lacking black depth ; Smeary motion ; Pale colours

Proof once more TV quality doesn’t necessarily scale up and down in size as you might expect, the 43-inch Omni QLED isn’t a patch on its larger siblings

Fire TV offers a smooth streaming experience ; Hands-free Alexa voice control ; Great design for the money

Sound not great ; Tuner slow to change channels ; HDR performance could be better

The Fire TV Omni QLED Series offers a premium design, hands-free Alexa voice control, and the solid streaming experience of Fire TV. Coming in a range of sizes, this TV is a great all-rounder, giving easy access to all the major streaming services and...

Affordable price ; Simple setup ; Good overall sound

Wireless connections limited to Bluetooth ; No expansion options ; Occasionally bloated-sounding dialogue

Amazon’s first soundbar is a basic, low-cost model that’s light on features, but relatively weighty in terms of value. Although it’s sold as part of the Fire TV product family, there’s no voice control or any wireless streaming features beyond...

Balanced, consistent picture quality ; App-packed, user-friendly OS ; Surprisingly decent gaming specs

Slightly smeary motion ; Lacks the brightness of higher-end TVs

Budget TVs are hard to get right, but the 50-inch Omni QLED succeeds where others have failed thanks to a consistent, considered performance and impressive feature set

Consistent, balanced picture performance ; Strong features for the money ; Clear sound

Slight lack of detail, particularly in shadows ; Occasionally smeary motion

While clearly not up there with flagship TVs from premium brands, the Omni QLED delivers better picture, sound and features than the price suggests

Fully integrated Fire TV smart platform ; Four HDMI inputs ; Perky picture

Cheapo build quality ; Limited HDR performance

Unrepentantly budget, this Series 4 Fire TV benefits from a seamlessly integrated smart platform, offering copious catch-up and streaming options. It’s bright enough for daytime viewing and comes with a quartet of HDMI inputs, usual at this price...

Plenty of content ; So well priced ; Alexa works very well

You really need to have Prime

Amazon wins on picture and sound ; Apple has better voice search ; Amazon has more apps and UHD video ; Amazon features USB and MicroSD

Apple TV more expensive ; Typing is a chore on Apple

For ease of use, higher speed, lower price and the wealth of content - not to mention UHD video - this is an easy win for the Amazon Fire TV

Speedy operation Voice search Good performance and build quality

Voice search is not universal Amazon features strongly prioritised No bundled HDMI cable No USB playback

The Amazon Fire TV is mostly a success, but there’s still work to do. We love the speed and the voice search function, which genuinely makes operation a lot easier. What we don’t like is the price and app offering. For the money, we’d like more apps....