The next target of Amazon? Totally dominating your TV viewing

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Fire TV Cube, an Amazon song that sings and dances, lands in the UK for the first time in the form of a new, faster, second generation camera, and frankly, it does it all. It's a Fire TV broadcast box, an Echo smart speaker, and a universal remote, though there's still work to be done on Amazon's dependence on support for voice and voice services. streaming.

The £ 110 Fire TV Cube was announced alongside 20 Fire TV products at a former Berlin dairy. It must now be pre-ordered and shipped on October 10th. We are impressed by the performance of Amazon's 4K Fire TV keys. and although it is twice the price, as usual, it is difficult to discuss the value you get here.

The Fire TV Cube supports 4K TV and 60fps movies with Dolby Vision and HDR10 + on the HDR front panel and Dolby Atmos for the audio. The main upgrade of the original Fire TV Cube specifications in the US is a hexa-core processor that, according to Amazon, is over twice as powerful and allows for a faster voice and visualization experience. Her vocal assistant Alexa is integrated with remote field pickups to allow you to speak from the couch. An Alexa Voice Remote accessory is also provided. In addition, Amazon said that US owners of Fire TV Cube use voice more than eight times more than users of other Fire TV devices.

It can also be used as a universal voice remote with HDMI CEC and multidirectional infrared technology, which means you can connect the Fire TV Cube to set-top boxes and sound bars to control everything via Alexa. In the demos, Amazon showed how to use an Alexa routine such as "Alexa, good night" to disable everything or "Alexa, play The boys", for example, to skip to a specific program or category when the TV is turned off.

For streaming services, you have access to Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube, BBC iPlayer, All4, ITV Hub, Curzon Home Cinema, and premium paid subscriptions in Prime Video such as Mubi and BFI Player.

Alongside the Fire TV Cube, Amazon announced that Fire TV edition TVs – current TVs – would arrive in the UK with JVC models at 40, 49 and 55 inches from £ 349. The three TVs will be equipped with 4K panels, HDR10, Dolby Vision and voice via Alexa Voice Remote, that is to say, microphones as far apart as in the nice edition Grundig OLED Fire TV for Germany and Germany. Austria.

We also could see – but not hear – the first soundbar of the Fire TV edition. The Nebula Soundbar is a partnership with Chinese company Anker, a smart initiative from Amazon. (An Amazon representative told us that we would not be surprised to see how much Anker is at the top of Amazon's sales, we are not surprised) The soundbar powered by Alexa is available for pre-order at the price £ 180 on 21 November.

Amazon finds itself in a strong commercial position, as well as its advantage as the world's largest distributor: Fire TV products were "among the top two" in the UK, the US and Germany at its Prime sale Day in July Amazon has now exceeded 37 million active users of Fire TV.

There are signs that Amazon still has some work to do. The Fire TV Cube is positioned as both a hub of entertainment and smart home. So it seems strange that Amazon has not yet integrated an Alexa / Echo dashboard into the Fire TV interface.

The reason for this omission is undoubtedly to ensure that each command is routed via Alexa voice commands. An Amazon representative noted that you can view all your devices and settings in the Alexa mobile app. But with the ability to display Echo Show style screens such as weather on your TV and watch a stream of ring video ringtones, for example, it seems like Amazon is missing something here.

Samsung does the same with SmartThings on its QLED Smart TVs, and the Fire TV Cube is basically an echo connected to the biggest screen in the house. Even for users who use Alexa in their home, sometimes the voice is not the proper control for all interactions and requests.

The second question is about content. On the scene, Fire TV director Marc Whitten said the questions on watching TV were "How to find this show?" And "Can I follow my favorite sports team?" – the answers are now yes and yes. Now, it's "how can I make my TV smarter?" And "how can my television do more?" It's a good argument to explain some of the features that Amazon focuses on, but it remains that the "how can I find this show? & # 39; question will not go away anytime soon.

At Samsung's press conference with IFA, European product manager Nathan Sheffield said Samsung is integrating Apple TV + on its smart TVs, with integration to research, Samsung's smart guide and its assistant Bixby voice. And in August, Disney released a list of platforms and devices for Disney Plus without Amazon's Fire TV family; There was no mention of Disney Plus on stage or on screen during the Fire TV event.

This does not mean that people will not double and buy several sticks and streaming boxes to fill the gaps in their smart TV offer, as households pay for more than one streaming service. But if Amazon wanted the success of the TVs Fire TV Edition and Fire TV Cube, it would be useful to learn from the situation now resolved with Google on the support of YouTube and Prime Video.

As for Amazon's original line-up of programming and exclusive sports streaming, it's certainly more complete than what we've seen so far on Apple TV +, but it's still far from Netflix and Disney Plus. Whitten verified The boys as a recent success and The power and James May: our man in Japan as shown in the upcoming UK. The big win, however, was the announcement of Eurosport Player on Fire TV, which will broadcast the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo in 4K.

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