Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max Review: The New Standard

The most important feature of any streaming stick is probably not listed on the side of the box. It’s not how much RAM it has. It’s not the size of the on-board storage. It’s not if it has 4K (OK, that’s more than a little bit about that), and it’s not the Wi-Fi speed or the processor. And that’s not all the apps he has access to.

The most important feature of the new Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is the price. This really is what determines its place not only in Amazon’s Fire TV line-up, but also its place in the bigger picture of things compared to its closest competitor, Roku, which has its own line-up. relatively inexpensive streaming sticks. Of course, the specifications determine the price. But tell us how much you want to spend and we’ll tell you the best streaming device to get.

And the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, although it is an iterative update (there is certainly nothing wrong with that) and although it is quite long to say (with which we have a little problem), this is definitely the Fire TV Stick to buy.

Here’s why.

What’s new in Fire TV Stick 4K Max

It’s not just the Fire TV Stick. It is not the Fire TV Stick 4K. This one is Max, who we can only assume is a cut above Plus but still below Extreme. It’s a dumb suffix added to a product which itself is mostly an iteration over an iteration. This is how these streaming sticks work. You get certain features at certain prices, so you are guaranteed to make money no matter what. More on that below.

Amazon’s own comparison chart explains it pretty well. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max ticks a few more boxes than the Fire TV Stick 4K, which at this point is three years old. And these are not unimportant boxes.

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is the first in the Amazon line-up to offer Wi-Fi 6, aka 802.11ax. This means that it will take advantage of the latest wireless standards if you have a Wi-Fi 6 router, or that it will be ready for now. You shouldn’t necessarily expect high-speed Wi-Fi, but you’ll have more than enough bandwidth to get the job done. Wirelessly connected to a Eero Pro 6 (conveniently another product owned by Amazon) I was pulling upwards of 250Mbps downstream, with ping times between 20ms and 25ms. In comparison, the previous generation Fire TV Stick 4K got around 200 Mbps downstream over Wi-Fi 5, with similar pings.

For those who say “Just take the Ethernet adapter!” – let me stop you there. You’re almost certainly going to want to go ahead and use Wi-Fi with the Fire TV Stick 4K Max on Amazon Ethernet Adapter, which is not included in the box anyway. This adapter – which provides power as well as the wired network connection – is a 10/100 device, which means it’s going to achieve a 100 Mbps connection anyway. And in my case that means getting about half the speed I was seeing over Wi-Fi, let alone not getting anywhere near enjoying my true Gigabit fiber connection.

In other words, stick with the Wi-Fi 6 built into the Fire TV Stick 4K Max. It is very good.

Elsewhere, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max comes with the latest Alexa voice remote, which was released in April 2021 and has been slightly redesigned, with a few additional buttons and features.

The Max also has a bit more RAM, which is important since it’s an Android-based device, and Android still needs all the RAM it can get. It’s not just 2 gigabytes, it’s a lot, and it’s only half a GB more than the Fire TV Stick 4K. But we’ll take what we can get. And the processor has also been updated to a 1.8GHz quad-core Mediatek MT8696. If this is the kind of thing that interests you, great for you. If this is the kind of thing you think you might notice compared to the old Fire TV Stick 4K, you’re probably lying, an engineer, or using the two devices side by side. The point is, these are important and obvious updates, but definitely not something that will change the way you watch TV on Amazon Fire TV.

In other words, it looks and acts much like the Fire TV Sticks of yore. Just a little better. If you’re like us and stupid enough to have more than one Fire TV Stick, you’ll quickly forget which is which. I was going back and forth between the 2018 Fire TV Stick 4K and the new Max and immediately had no idea what was plugged in without actively checking. In fact, the two are pretty darn close to twins in person, with the only visible difference being the “Fire TV” moniker added to the case. The old stick just has the Amazon smile. On the screen, there is really no difference.

And it now supports picture in picture, if that’s one thing you must have.

What’s extra in the Fire TV Stick 4K Max

If you currently own an Amazon Fire TV Stick, you know what to expect. You’ve undoubtedly used the new Fire TV OS UI which rolled out earlier in 2021. The fact that it’s still based on Android 9 and not something newer (Android 12 is currently in the process of being upgraded). output) is a bone of contention for some, and certainly at least a slight cause for concern. But given that this is Amazon we’re talking about and not some unnamed importer who just slaps Android on hardware and calls it a day, we’re a little less worried. But, despite everything, Amazon really needs to get into the double digits ASAP, and it’s only a matter of time before our patience really starts to wear off.

The other basic specs remain the same as the old Fire TV Stick 4K. It still supports 4K resolution with Dolby Vision, HDR10 + and HLG for high dynamic range and Dolby Atmos for audio. Of course, your TV and sound system will need to support all of this as well if you intend to use it.

If you are going to use Alexa with your Fire TV Stick 4K Max, you will do so through the Alexa Remote. This is unchanged, as there is no microphone of any kind tucked away in the neck itself.

There’s nothing new on the app side either. Amazon’s Fire TV operating system still has access to all the things it has had access to, like Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV +, to name just three.

Our opinion

If you’re in the market for a new Fire TV Stick, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is the one for you. Complete stop.

I would even recommend it to the Fire TV Cube, for several reasons. First of all, it’s about half the price, which in itself should be a no-brainer. If you just need to have Alexa hands-free (like not having to press the voice button on the remote first), you can get a Max and a new Echo Dot and still have plenty of cash to buy lunch. The second is that it’s been a few years since the Fire TV Cube was updated, which means older internals. It’s not a big deal in devices like this, but it can matter over time. Newer is almost always better.

Are there any alternatives?

Sure. Anything that plugs into a TV and shows videos is an alternative. And the Fire TV Stick 4K Max’s biggest competitors are other Amazon Fire TV Sticks.

Where the Fire TV Stick 4K Max fits into the bigger scheme of cheap streaming sticks – i.e. around $ 50 – really comes down to the ecosystem. Do you want Fire TV? Or do you want Roku? Or what about the Chromecast with Google TV? Each has its merits and is in the same price range. I would generally say that Fire TV OS is the more mature and sophisticated operating system, while Roku is simplistic and easier to navigate. Both are teeming with ads and other money-spending opportunities, and both are also pushing their own ad-based video-on-demand services heavily. Amazon has IMDB TV and Roku has The Roku Channel. Choose your poison. Chromecast With Google TV is its own animal. If you are good at Android I would look here.

The biggest question I have is what happens to the rest of the Fire TV Stick space. Amazon told us it has no plans to stop selling the old Fire TV Stick 4K, which at the time of publication is $ 15 cheaper than the 4K Max when it doesn’t. is not on sale – and you will undoubtedly find it sooner rather than later. I’d say the extra $ 15 is worth it for the future-proof Wi-Fi 6 and the new remote, which alone sells for $ 30. Add the upgraded processor and memory and it makes sense. You get more for your money. And presumably, Amazon will phase out the old Fire TV Stick 4K, or maybe even revamp the entire lineup. It still has the Fire TV Stick for the same $ 40 price tag as the older Fire TV Stick 4K, which doesn’t really make sense since it hits 1080p resolution. And then there’s the Fire TV Stick Lite, at $ 30. It’s not that widespread, so don’t be surprised if Amazon consolidates things at some point.

How long will it last?

We have no idea. It’s a small piece of plastic and metal. But overall, the Fire TV Sticks lasted a lot longer than needed. Not that we’re fans of setting money on fire, but these things are cheap. They don’t have any moving parts, they probably aren’t moved around much, and they’re pretty much commodities at this point. They are impulse purchases. In the rare event that one of these fails – and it’s not something you hear about very often – there’s a good chance you’ll buy a new one without giving it much thought. For everything else, there is everyone’s favorite post on how to fix Fire TV Stick issues.

Should we buy it?

Have you read the 1700 words above? Yes. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is the one we would get.

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