Amazon Announces New Fire TV with 4K Video and Alexa Voice Support

[johnsnowkornar]

We called it! A week ago we shared a rumor that Amazon was soon to release a new Fire TV that would have support for the Echo's Voice AI, Alexa. We were one of the first publications to share that part of the rumor, and it turns out we were right. Along with their new Fire tablets, Amazon announced a new Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. The Fire TV includes support for the voice-assistant Alexa found in the Amazon Echo. (To clarify, Alexa on the new Fire TV will only help viewers discover content and queue up media. It can't set timers or alarms yet, but the full feature set is expected to come early next year.)

That's not all that is new on the next generation Fire TV. It will also now support 4K TVs, and has a new HEVC (high efficiency video coding) function, which provides for higher quality 1080p streams at lower bit rates. Amazon hasn't even raised the price on the new one either. The new Fire TV will still retail for $99.99; although there is a "gaming pack" version for $139.99 which comes with a Fire TV, top gaming headphone controller, 32GB microSD card and two games (Duck Tales andShovel Knight). That version is only available in the US.

We're still not finished though. Amazon has a new Fire TV Stick as well. The new Fire TV Stick now includes a Voice Remote and a new game controller with voice control and a headphone jack. It will retail for $49.99. The new Fire TV will begin shipping on October 5, and the Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote launches on October 22.

But wait! We've saved the best for last. Amazon said they will be pushing out the new Fire OS 5 to the first generation Fire TV, so that it will also have built-in support for the Alexa voice assistant! Awesome!

We called it! A week ago we shared a rumor that Amazon was soon to release a new Fire TV that would have support for the Echo's Voice AI, Alexa. We were one of the first publications to share that part of the rumor, and it turns out we were right. Along with their new Fire tablets, Amazon announced a new Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. The Fire TV includes support for the voice-assistant Alexa found in the Amazon Echo. (To clarify, Alexa on the new Fire TV will only help viewers discover content and queue up media. It can't set timers or alarms yet, but the full feature set is expected to come early next year.)

That's not all that is new on the next generation Fire TV. It will also now support 4K TVs, and has a new HEVC (high efficiency video coding) function, which provides for higher quality 1080p streams at lower bit rates. Amazon hasn't even raised the price on the new one either. The new Fire TV will still retail for $99.99; although there is a "gaming pack" version for $139.99 which comes with a Fire TV, gaming controller, 32GB microSD card and two games (Duck Tales andShovel Knight). That version is only available in the US.

We're still not finished though. Amazon has a new Fire TV Stick as well. The new Fire TV Stick now includes a Voice Remote and a new game controller with voice control and a headphone jack. It will retail for $49.99. The new Fire TV will begin shipping on October 5, and the Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote launches on October 22.

But wait! We've saved the best for last. Amazon said they will be pushing out the new Fire OS 5 to the first generation Fire TV, so that it will also have built-in support for the Alexa voice assistant! Awesome!

Has there even been any confirmation that Lollipop would run in 64bit on say the Exynos Note 4?

64bit only helps in situations where you need serious number crunching like games and post processing of photos. Maybe 2016 will usher in the need for 64bit for tablets. I still don't see it being necessary in phones even by then.