Amazon Launches Fire TV Set-top Box for US$99
Amazon Launches Fire TV Set-top Box for US$99
Amazon has just launched the Fire TV, its first attempt at a TV set-top box. The new set-top box will complement Amazon's video streaming services, such as Prime Instant Video, and will retail for US$99.
Aside from Amazon's Prime Instant Video, Fire TV will also support other popular video streaming subscription services such as Netflix, Hulu and more via apps.
Speaking of apps, Fire TV runs a heavily modified version of Android and will be powered by a quad-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon 8064 processor with 2GB of RAM and will also have a dedicated GPU.
In terms of connectivity, it will offer Bluetooth 4.0 and dual-band 802.11n. Thanks to these beefy specifications, Amazon claims its Fire TV will be around three times faster than a Roku, Apple TV or Chromecast.
Watching videos aside, the Fire TV can also be used to play games, and Amazon is offering a US$40 wireless gaming controller that closely resembles that of the Xbox's. Amazon also said that most games for Fire TV will be priced under US$2 and that over 1,000 titles will be available for free. An optimized version of Minecraft is one of the hot titles that will be coming to Fire TV.
Source: Amazon