Amazon Fire TV Cube (Newest gen), Hands-free streaming media player with Alexa, Wi-Fi 6E, 4K Ultra HD, find TV programmes faster with Alexa+

There is so much that is great about the all new Cube and with continuing regular updates it is one of the best streaming devices on the market... it's lightning fast with a USB interface and Ethernet, although it is disappointing that these connections are somewhat outdated. Ethernet is only 10/100 so it could be a struggle to stream your own content from a home server (Plex, Emby, Kodi etc.) without transcoding the video/audio. However, the WiFi 6 implementation is a welcome addition and bypasses the problem, assuming you have the Network capability so it's something to bear in mind when buying. I think my advice to amazon going forward would be anyone paying £140 for the device would have probably paid £160 for Gigabit ethernet and Superspeed USB. The new look is great, and it's now uniform with the rest of the Echo range (No more fingerprints to clean!!) Prime Video has seen lots of updates, I'm now experiencing excellent streaming quality with the correct resolutions and adaptive HDR setting activating with the correct refresh rates and audio bitstreams. I've seen a few negative postings about the super resolution upscaling. However, when I play a native 1080p and the screen resolution of the content video matches the native video display resolution - the upscaling really kicks in and works brilliantly!! All apps I have tried are now bit-streaming Dolby signals at DD+/Atmos, but under the guise of pcm/multi dds. A very welcome recent update has allowed True HD signals to be encoded and I'm getting Dolby signals and DTS X Bit-streamed from these audio codecs. I'm hearing a clarity of sound I've not experienced on a Fire device before and it will suit most cinephiles with half decent AV/Soundbar setups!! Tip for anyone wanting to pass through... Be aware that the cube is quite capable of processing all the codecs while keeping the voice assistant audible and features when watching on plex/vlc/kodi. You're going to see PCM-multi on your display but from my most recent experience and testing it's because the cube takes it all in and outputs it at a raw (pcm multi level) format to be able to cooperate with the alexa voice responses but I've noticed no difference when passing through directly except alexa responses won't happen when doing it this way.... brilliance from the amazon team and more people need to be aware of its function. The Cube Prime music is pretty decent although casting from the mobile app will play through an Alexa screen card as opposed to the native music app, which makes sense since different devices will have different audio capabilities in a group speaker setting... Although if I send music to the group where my TV cube is from somewhere else it plays through the the music app and all becomes a little confusing and disparate at times. It’s worth noting that there has been some customer pushback about the new way music selection/playback for prime subscribers now works with certain caveats on listening choice so research this if buying. It’s not personally an issue as I have always subscribed to prime music in addition, and may I say it's worth every penny if you have an Atmos/Spatial audio setup as more and more tracks are being added in these formats). I'm experiencing 24/192 playback Ultra HD when available in the music app and atmos/3d tracks sound amazing. It would be nice if I could add a song to my playlist via voice in the amazon music app... but apparently no music is playing when attempting the command... even a button selection to add the current song to playlist would be helpful in the app. On that note, the ability to play Amazon music from the mobile phone app to devices/multiroom music groups can now can be minimised for background play... so you can still browse other content of some apps without it stopping playback and is a welcomed feature. When using this playback mode, you can also add songs to playlist via voice command. It also behaves this way for multi-room music which is great if someone is also listening somewhere in the house while you're browsing around content, although again some apps do take control of the system audio on launch which will cut the music off (such as BBC Iplayer, ITVX, and Channel 4 Apps..... however, browsing home screen content, prime video, YouTube and silk web browsing is fine). Hopefully, Amazon is aware of this and going forward they could request app publishers not to take audio control on app launch, but rather on selecting an item for playback within their app. The HDMI IN for a set-top cable/satellite TV box or other HDMI Device is brilliant. I have a PC going through and is comfortably handling 4K resolutions @ 60HZ - it's an amazing feature that really makes it stand out from other devices and Alexa overlays for info cards/cameras is such a great feature. I only wish it had perhaps even an extra one or two HDMI In ports, but who's to say Amazon couldn't introduce their own HDMI switcher to add additional ports, maybe? Since the device is compatible with Hdmi 2.1 it would also be great to see 120hz vrr handled in the future of the device. On balance, I really recommend this product, especially if you have an existing Alexa ecosystem in your smart home. It is regularly maintained and updated by the Fire TV team, who have listened to feedback and responded with some great work and it has really gone from strength to strength - so well done guys! Would be nice to see the fire TV ambient screen option come to this device since the new 2023 fire TV 4k stick will be getting it, I'm sure this device is capable. Keep up the great work!

This was a replacement by Amazon for an earlier 2nd Generation which failed to boot, possibly after an update. I noticed it was faster than the previous one with more internal storage (16GB). In addition, it has a full HDR capability (Dolby Vision, plus HDR, HDR10, HDR10+, HLG) which is very noticeable on Netflix. A slight downside is that it doesn't come with either an IR Extender or an Ethernet adaptor. A Remote Control and Power Adapter was included and it now has an HDMI Pass Through option. --- Pitcher quality, response plus range of apps is good. The Operating System, unlike Amazon's own, is still based on Android so it is still possible to sideload other, non-blocked apps. I use Kodi (currently 21.3) as a media server combined with network NAS storage for the saved media. This is excellent and don't see why Amazon can't include the with other apps, without have to sideload? --- Although expensive, with increased performance, storage and versatility, highly recommended if you want this speed and increased storage. --- Thanks again to Amazon for replacing the previous non-bootable Cube.

Fire cube 3rd gen. Great device, very easy to setup. Picture quality is excellent, response great with no issues, would definitely recommend.

Please see my photos This is a most wonderful piece of kit, not realising just how much more responsive it is than the 4K Max TV Fire Stick, but it is. Using some of the apps like iPlayer, ITVx, Channel 4 apps etc....All very fast at loading and navigating. Great improvements there. The Octa Core processor seems to be much faster than the previous Hex Core one they had used. This is not the first Cube we have had, but it has been a very decent improvement over the older model. We very much like its Alexa integration possibilities as well as the remote having buttons for Netflix and Prime instant launch options. The Alexa integration goes as far as using voice controls to switch on and off smart sockets attached to lighting that is controlled via Alexa in our home. It will do that. Voice command support is interesting and we are beginning to appreciate that. Playing the radio etc.....all that is meant we have now freed up an Alex device in the room the Cube is in to use elsewhere, great value. Note you can't ask the Cube to play music from its internal speaker, it is not an Echo device. The TV would need to be on for it to play music and the audio for that is sent via the HDMI lead. That is why we have connected our Cube by BT to a Sony standalone speaker, to be used when needed for playing music without the TV needing to be on. The super resolution scaling is as good as what our TV could do, meaning it is very good. When running SD content, or 1080p, upscaling using the Cube looks incredibly sharp, not overly, and detail is vey much retained and, seemingly, even improved. Super Resolution set under Settings and the Display and Audio, just scroll down and enable. Setting it up was very very easy, it came linked to my account, option at purchase, and even allowed us, see photo, to synchronise the visual picture animation of a bouncing ball with the sound. That ensures both are synchronised. As noted the responsiveness of this box is faster than the Max 4K stick, whilst enjoying the integrated speaker, HDMI in, Full sized USB A and, this part not entirely useful, built in Ethernet. That leads me to the reason why I dropped a star from the review. This is the third generation Cube and it is using a 100Mb Ethernet connection. That can be problematic if being used for Plex or Emby AND you are streaming very large 4k material at very high bit rates. We have Wi-Fi 6 and we then tried going from the rather slow Ethernet connection to Wi-Fi, the router being close to where the Cube is. It is decent, well better than the Ethernet for our needs, BUT our Wi-Fi is not used just for the Cube and we have that many other devices, including Wireless VR, that the bandwidth can be limited. See applicable photo for the next part. We had a Ugreen 1GB Ethernet adapter to use, that connects to the Cube via the USB A port on it. That allows a much faster Ethernet connection than the 100Mb, but still seems to be limited by the USB port to around 350Mb. Still, faster than the Ethernet port on the Cube. For our needs that is perfect. I can also connect, low powered, devices to the adapter by its 3 onboard USB ports, in our case a Wireless adapter for our Logitech keyboard. So, overall, the DV and HDR support that this Cube offers works a treat. Sound wise, nothing exotic for us, as long as it supports DD and DTS, and that works fine also, then we are happy enough. That is passed through the HDMI lead. It has never failed to pick up the correct HDR / DV content correctly, nor the appropriate audio stream. Storage wise seems ok, if you did not need to use the USB port as I did then you could have additional storage there, with the option to move apps to it that would help to supplement the onboard storage. An excellent piece of kit, very much improved from their previous generation and what is offered works well. Whilst there have been work around for the rather pedestrian 100Mbs LAN options there should have been a 1Gbs connection fitted to this device. Recognising that the Cube is NOT and Echo device be prepared to understand its limitations on playing music etc, a described above. Perhaps the Ethernet and sound limitations could be improved on for newer generations of this device. Very much recommended and very much enjoyed. Hope this review has been helpful.

If you want the best of the best amazon device. This is the one, no more slow downs, plenty of ram, snappy and streams like a dream

Amazing piece of kit, can sideload apps and run them efficiently. Comparing this to my old Google Streamer it was night and day. The Streamer had a pretty UI but bad performance and would crash constantly. There is a slight price difference but if price is not an object this is the better piece of kit. Would prefer the OS to be less tv-like and better automation to open on certain apps (Alexa Automations) as this currently used for my mother in law. The simplier the better.

This cube is very easy to use and much faster, compared with the original fire TV tile-sized equipment that I used to be connected with , for streaming. Plus, it has the built-in voice control system that makes programme finding so instant.

December 2022 update: A customer service rep from Amazon called me having seen my review. We tried on the phone to sort the Virgin Media issue out. We came to the conclusion that the Cube can switch HDMI to Virgin via Alexa- but ONLY if the HDMI cable from the Virgin Media box is connected to the TV directly. However, with the HDMI cable from the Virgin Box in to the Cube, Alexa does not know how to switch to Virgin. You have to manually scroll across to the Input setting and a preview of Virgin TV comes up before you select it. The Customer service rep has assured me that the issue will be passed on to their technical team. So hopefully there is an update in regards to this. Other than this- the Cube has been working brilliantly. As this was reduced to £119 on the Black Friday deal, I upgraded from the 4K Max Fire Stick. Having said that I sold my 4K Max Firestick for £21 and a Google Chromecast 4K for £20 (which Google sold for £10 to me). So essentially, I guess I only paid £78. I doubt I would pay £119 for this let alone £139! It is undoubtedly faster and smoother. The difference in terms of speed from the 4K Max is probably a couple of seconds. If saving a couple of seconds loading/scrolling time improves your life in anyway, then yeah- go for it! However, is it worth upgrading from the 4K Max Fire Stick? I would say no. So why did I? This is where I am 'sitting on the fence' (at present) The product description says that the Fire TV Cube is compatible with Virgin Media. I think this is a half baked truth. When you want to set up cable or satellite, the only options at first are Sky. You cannot select Virgin Media. It is only when you go in to the Add Equipment setting on the Cube that a whole list of other providers show up including Virgin Media. You can then set it so you can change to Virgin Media via the home screen HDMI option but not via Alexa. You also cannot change the Virgin Media channels with either the remote or via Alexa. When I read that this Cube is compatible with Virgin Media, I thought it would control it too. It does however seem to be able to control Sky TV channels but not Virgin Media. So technically, the product description is not fully accurate. Even when I do change to Virgin Media, it sometimes takes about 10 seconds for the sound to kick in. I spoke to 4 agents via chat, and 3 via phone, with the 3rd one confirming at present the Cube cannot control channels for Virgin yet. Amazon says: "Fire TV Cube lets you control your compatible cable and satellite set top box with your voice and Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote" Any person reading this, incuding myself would assume this works with Virgin Media (especially when u click the link after that quote and see Virgin Media listed. The fact it doesn't, I think this is a bit misleading. Apart from the above, the sound and picture quality is amazing and crystal clear. Streaming quality (Netflix, Disney etc)- excellent and very fast. Basic remote is included but no HDMI cable. I purchased a 2.1 HDMI cable which gives a stunning picture on both Virgin and the Cube. I have also two echo 5th Gen dots as my speakers. It also works flawlessly with my Ring Doorbell Pro 2. If you have a 4K Fire Stick already and are not fussed about connecting your sky or virgin, then no need to upgrade at all. If you just need the latest tech or want to connect sky/virgin, then get this while it is £119. I would not have got this at full price. If you want to get it to connect your PlayStation or Xbox, then don't - lags terribly. I think with a few software updates it will get better.