Streamers can often come across as computer-like in their delivery, with rough edges and blocky colours, but the Cube is a much more sophisticated device that’s in the same league as the excellent Apple TV 4K. Kicking off with the new, second series of Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime Video, we’re impressed by the Fire TV Cube’s delivery. Importantly, it feels snappier and slicker than even the Fire TV Stick 4K. It’s a significantly more powerful device than its stick-shaped siblings, boasting a hexa-core processor as opposed to a quad-core chip, and a little more RAM, too. Right now, that’s not a big deal as there’s not much HDR10+ content to get excited about, but it could be a consideration in future. The Apple TV 4K, by comparison, doesn’t support HDR10+. The Fire TV Cube is, of course, a 4K streamer, and it offers HDR in HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision formats. Our only slight issue with the Fire TV Cube's app offering is the lack of Now TV. Since launch, the Apple TV app has been added, too, giving access to the new Apple TV+ streaming service and, much more importantly, the biggest library of pay-as-you-go 4K movies available anywhere.
All four of the UK’s major catch-up apps are here, Plex and VLC handle the playback of your own files, and music streaming is catered for by Spotify, Tidal, Deezer and Amazon Music. The app selection is strong for starters – Amazon Prime Video takes centre stage, and Netflix is on board, too. It still needs to be a capable video streamer. While all of this voice control is an excellent differentiator for the Amazon Fire TV Cube, it’s probably not reason alone to buy it over a competitor such as the Apple TV 4K.
It is all possible using only your voice. Of course, the Fire TV Cube also does everything an Echo device can, such as checking the weather, adding items to your shopping list, ordering things from Amazon, setting timers, playing specific music tracks and checking random facts from the internet.
Having always found the Logitech Harmony universal remote Alexa skill frustrating to use, we’re relieved to find it’s a different story here. This kind of thing tends to be great in theory but patchy in practice, so we’re pleased to report that its implementation here is effective and reliable. “Alexa, go to Home Screen”, meanwhile, returns you to the Fire TV Cube’s input on your system. Issue orders such as “Alexa, tune to BBC One” and it will change channels. Say ‘Alexa’ and the Cube mutes your sound system so your follow up command can be easily heard (though the Cube seems to have no trouble hearing the initial command), then simply say something such as “switch to satellite” and your Sky box is switched on and your TV and amplifier flicked to the correct inputs. HDR support HDR10, HLG, HDR10+, Dolby Vision
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