Fire TV Cube, Hands-free streaming device with Alexa, 4K Ultra HD, includes Alexa Voice Remote

I ordered my Mom the 50" Toshiba 4K Fire TV (1st model), because of the new technology & integration to make it easier on her (she's 68). Ever since she's owned it it's had issues with slowness (honestly it was simply under powered for what it was doing), quirky things etc. (Completely expected in a 1st Gen product). When I saw the new Fire TV Cube go on sale for $89.99, it peaked my interest! So, being a techno geek of epic proportions, I dug into the tech specs of both the Toshiba Fire TV & the new Fire TV Cube. The hardware difference is dramatic to say the least! So, I started thinking, there's nothing wrong with the 4K display features of the Toshiba TV, the problem is the essentially a 1st Gen Fire TV Stick integrated in. Also, she has a 3rd Gen Echo in the living room that she uses for the lights, getting info etc. If I get the new Fire TV Cube I resolve several issues & greatly improve everything. It exceeded all my expectations by far! I simply plugged it into HDMI 1 & went through the Cube's guided setup. Since I selected the "link to my account" when I purchased it, setup was beyond easy. In less than 5 mins, it had joined the Wi-Fi, auto setup the switching of the Toshiba TV to the correct HDMI port, setup the remote to control the TV too & optimized the Cube for the best possible display resolution, color depth, audio output etc. All I had to do was install the apps we use (Hulu, Netflix etc) & boom! Done. Not only is it blazing fast with everything it does, it makes everything so much easier. Now Mom just says "Alexa, turn on the TV" & it turns on the Toshiba & changes to HDMI 1. Then she says "Alexa, go to Fox News" & it opens Hulu (we have Hulu+Live) & turns to Fox News. She can tell it to turn up or down the volume etc. Additionally the Cube is a full blown Echo too! So she can still control the lights etc just as before (I removed the 3rd Gen Echo Dot so the only Echo around is the Cube). Another cool feature is, since we have a Nest Hello Doorbell & Alexa works with Nest, she can say "Alexa, show me the front door" & the view from the Nest Hello Doorbell fills the TV screen! She can also control the Nest Thermostat with it as well. It's voice recognition is outstanding, it actually hears much better than the 3rd Gen Echo Dot that was sitting on an end table next to her chair, only the Cube is across the room on the bottom shelf of the TV stand! I was in the kitchen (our kitchen connects directly behind our living room, so think of it like an extension equal to the size of the living room, so essentially double the size) & the Cube still heard me just fine & I wasn't talking very loud either! Amazon has hit a massive home run with the new Fire TV Cube & I honestly highly recommend it! I'm an Amazon fanboy, I pre-ordered the 1st Gen Echo, got an Echo Spot, Echo Dot 3rd Gen, Echo Dot 3rd Gen with Digital Clock, Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick 4K, 50" Toshiba Fire TV (the 1st model), Fire HDX, Amazon HD Music subscription, Prime Member for years now etc. Needless to say, I know Amazon products very well! 😇 *Disclaimer: I do NOT work for or have any affiliation with Amazon, nor does any of my family or friends, other than being regular paying customers. I have NOT received, nor been offered anything for this review. I was NOT asked in anyway, shape, nor form to write this review. This review is 100% legitimate, honest & my own thoughts, opinions and/or experiences. Please note that I have left reviews for OTHER NON-AMAZON companies and/or products before as part of an evaluation program. However, I ALWAYS state that disclosure in the review clearly. 03/05/2020

I upgraded my 1st gen Fire TV small black device (not stick) to the new Fire TV Cube, hands-free with Alexa built in, 4K Ultra HD, streaming media player in Oct 2019. PROS: -super easy plug and play setup. Was able to get the cube setup within 10 mins. -really love the interface of the platform -tons of apps like HBO, Hulu, Netflix, CNN, local TV channel apps like CW in the Los Angeles area. This comes in handy when the weather is super windy and your satellite signal is terrible. I can just use the CNN or my local TV channel app to watch without any signal issues. -best streaming experience with Netflix app compared to Apple TV. Steaming Netflix on Apple TV constantly crashes and glitches out. Especially if I fast forward or rewind a huge chunk of time like going back or forward 30 mins of the content. Fire TV cube including 1st gen Fire TV streams Netflix without any glitches even forwarding or rewinding 30 mins or more of the content. -love that I can add other devices so I can use my FireTV remote to turn on/off and switch to other devices. For example, once I've added all of the different equipment device in the settings like my Denon amplifier, my TV, Nintendo Switch, 3rd party media streaming player. I can use the remote to speak my command like "switch to game console" and FireTV cube will switch from FireTV to my Nintendo Switch, my amp will switch to the correct input, my TV will also switch to the correct input. I only have to set this up once in the settings. -able to set the "home" icon button on the remote to automatically take you back to the FireTV streaming interface if you are using another input mode like DVD, game console, etc. This is super handy. -for the cord-cutters out there. There is an upgrade option...The FireTV Recast. I purchased the FireTV Recast to watch Over The Air (OTA) local channels for free which is great. The Recast is also a DVR so I can schedule and play my local TV content saving storage room from my DirecTV DVR unit for cable recorded shows. Once you have the FireTV Recast connected to the FireTV cube, you will be able to see what is currently playing live in the FireTV home screen. This feature will be integrated with the rest of the FireTV home features like movies, recommended TV shows, etc. CONS: -CAN NOT RENAME EQUIPMENT DEVICE IN SETTING. This is a huge issue for me because when you have a family, they only know of the names of the actual devices being used like DirecTV, Nintendo Switch, Turntable, etc. Expecting my wife and kids to say the command "switch to satellite doesn't make sense", it's more intuitive to say "DirecTV". Allowing me to rename the equipment device will help my kids and wife to ask for commands like "switch to Nintendo Switch" instead of "switch to game console". My family will not know the Amazon equipment device default setting for DirecTV is "Satellite". Also being able to rename the equipment device will allow the possibility to add older devices like turntable and allow me to rename the default equipment device name of DVD to "Turntable". So Amazon please please please allow renaming equipment device. This will be a game-changer feature especially for anyone who has the typical entertainment setup with an amplifier, game console, DVD/Bluray player, turntable, etc. -FireTV cube remote control is too limiting and doesn't have the number keypads. It would be great to be able to learn my other device's IR signal so I can just use the FireTV remote to switch the channel when watching DirecTV. All and all, one of the best streaming device in the market.

I purchased this device not knowing what to expect other than I have tried just about every streaming device available and have been disappointed with most of them. I still have two Roku Ultra 2020's, the new Chromecast with Google TV, and two Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K's. I have tried the Tivo Stream 4K, The newest Apple TV 4K, (which I though would outdistance all of them in performance but it does not) and the Nvidia Shield TV, not the Pro unit. The Nvidia's, TV & Pro, both have the same specs other than storage so performance for overall basic streaming is the same. They all had specific problems for me that may have been just my system and their compatibility, but for what the heavy hitters cost, I would think that would be worked by someone other that the public as beta testers. My system is a Samsung 50" 4K HDR TV, not an expensive one, and a Nakamichi sound bar which I cannot say enough good things about. I also have a Samsung Q70R sound bar and had similar problems with it testing these devices, so that helps eliminate me as the compatibility culprit. The Fire TV Cube is simply outstanding! Thanks to my children and grandchildren, we have many services to choose from including Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, Discover+ and HBOMax and of course YouTube and Pandora. The performance is incredible. When I try a new device the first app I go to is HBOMax which for some reason is the most difficult for devices to navigate without stumbling, pausing and sometimes locking up. Maybe it's due to the icon designs and the number of them, but the Cube works fine. The Nvidia would just stop moving through the HBOMax app at which time I have to unplug the device to restart. I spent a little time researching why and all I got was the he said, she said finger pointing result so I asked my self; why should it be up to the consumer to finish the testing the product? I would rate the Roku Ultra 2020 a close 2nd and then the Amazon Fire TV stick 4K, which I got for $25.00/each! I definitely rate the Fire TV Stick 4K's as the best bang for the buck when on sale, especially the $25.00 per sale! I have seen some benchmark testing and on paper, the Nvidia Shield Pro is rated at two times, that is 2X faster than the Fire TV Cube! All that means to me is that the Nvidia Shield Pro is rated at those numbers running on the system tested. In other words, unless you have the same components as the tester, you are still taking your chances on a device that works for you. Some devices would not let my TV go to sleep. I just happened to notice that the led on the bottom of my tv would be blinking. I isolated it to the Apple TV and the Nvidia Shield. This was during two separate testing sessions since I did not have both concurrently. I did double check that issue by making sure all the apps were exited out of, at least the ones that give you that option. The Fire TV Cube works great for me. I haven't had any issues that were not generated by me, and it looks as though I will be keeping it. Everything that I have works with it and it does help to have owned another Amazon streaming device so the configurations are almost the same. I am not a huge Alexa fan, but its simplicity with the Cube may start me using it. The Voice function with the remote works great, of course all the ones I have tried worked well too. Never any buffering issues, before or now. I always hardwire when I can and leave the wi-fi for the mobile devices such as phones, tablets, family coming over using their devices and so on. I realize that comparing $50.00 streaming device with a $180.00 streaming device is not fair at all and I agree, but, I am not comparing these devices's capabilities, I am just looking for one that works without having to troubleshoot problems and sift through things that I can and/or cannot do without. Thanks for taking the time to read and sorry for the length. I hope this saves someone a little time finding a streaming device for themselves.

To begin, I don't use the Alexa features, so I can't comment on any of that. I also own and use the latest and greatest version of the 4K Roku box, which I purchased on Amazon, so I'll be offering my observations on how it compares to the Fire TV Cube. I also have Dish Network satellite receiver with a Genie 3 DVR, and a smart Samsung Blu-ray player, which I also purchased on Amazon. Our TV is a smart 60" LG 1080P Plasma TV. We're big sports fans, and nothing is better than a plasma TV for sports. Everything is connected via HDMI and either coax or fiberoptic cable (for audio) to a Marantz AV receiver. The HDMI #1 video output from the Marantz receiver is plugged into the HDMI #1 input port on the LG TV. ALL video/audio sources are connected to and switched by the Maratz AV receiver. The streaming video and audio quality is outstanding, as is the overall quality and functionality of the user interfaces. I like the Roku interface better, primarily because of its simplicity, and because it is somewhat customizable. The Fire TV Cube is neither simple nor customizable, in any meaningful way. I can live with the Fire TV Cube user interface, but I really don't like it. It's just WAY too busy, overly repetitive, and I DON'T like all the ads. The Fire TV Cube user interface is very much like the Netflix, Amazon Prime, and just about every other streaming service app user interface, NONE of which I like. I like the Roku box user interface, which is incredibly clean, simple, fast and easy to navigate. Both the Fire TV Cube and the Roku box are hard wired via CAT5 cables to a GB network switch, which is connected via CAT5 to one of the ports on our GB router. The last time I ran Speedtest (we're on Charter/Spectrum) it measured a bit over 180MB/sec, which is more than sufficient for streaming 1080P. We don't have a 4K TV, so our video reference is 1080P. If you didn't know, the Fire TV Cube uses a USB to Ethernet adapter, which I'm not crazy about, because if you use it, you lose the ability to add a USB storage device. While we use our WiFi network for all our wireless devices (cellphones and tablets), we don't use it for anything else. The Roku box has a built-in Ethernet port, and it allows you to add storage via an SD memory card. I added a 64GB SD card to my Roku box. Speed-wise, the Fire TV Cube is seat of the pants noticeably faster than the Roku box. It never slows down or freezes up, unlike the Roku box. I've had to hard reset my Roku box and reboot it more times than I'd care to admit, but (knock on wood) not once have I had to even reboot my Fire TV Cube. It is stone-axe reliable and as stable as my Android cellphone. My ONLY annoyance with the Fire TV Cube is its inability to switch HDMI source inputs on my Marantz AV receiver. That capability is just not supported. I can switch HDMI inputs on my LG TV through the Fire TV Cube, but given that the ONLY input used is occupied by the HDMI output cable from my Marantz AV receiver, what would be the point? The only useful Marantz AV control I have is power and volume. Nothing else. The ONLY inputs I'm offered to configure on my Marantz AV receiver is the CD player input and the phono input. That's it. Since I don't own either of those two devices, it's a complete waste of functionality. So, when I want to switch sources (watch Dish satellite box, my Roku box, or a Blu-ray disc, for example), I have to pick up my Marantz AV receiver remote, switch to the input source I want to watch, and then pick up the remote for whichever device I want to watch, so I can control it. Nothing is perfect, but the Fire TV Cube comes pretty close. Now ... if they'd just let ME change the user interface the way I want it, it WOULD be perfect! Maybe some day!

Within 24 hours of buying and owning a Hisense 50H8G TV, I bought a FireTV Cube to save me from the horrible Android implementation and cheap hardware put into the TV that makes it all but unusable without using a 3rd-party streaming device like a FireTV Cube. The TV's built in YouTube app would just sit at a buffering screen 90% of the time I went into a video. Using the FireTV Cube I have had absolutely no buffering issues whatsoever with YouYube. I've also used the FireTV Cube to stream a movie in full UHD from Prime Video with no buffering. The FireTV Cube works flawlessly with my WiFi, several rooms away form my router. A support tech for Hisense said I was having issues with the TV’s built-in YouTube app because the TV’s WiFi adapter only operates correctly at distances less than 15 away form the router, what a joke! Thankfully the FireTV Cube doesn’t have such limitations, and works like any other SANE WiFi device does, in any room of your house/apartment that receives WiFi signal. The FireTV Cube's remote control and UI interface are much, much more responsive than my TV's remote control and joke of an Android OS implementation. The difference is night and day. I went from being infuriated with the lack of response form my TV's remote and OS to actually being able to use my TV as intended once I got the FireTV Cube hooked up. And the Alexa voice search functionality runs circles around the Google Assistant voice search that came built-in to my TV. If I do a voice-search for the name of an app that isn't installed, Alexa takes me to the app store and brings up that app so I can install it. If I voice-searched for an app with my TV’s built-in Google Assistant, all I got were a list of YouTube videos on the subject I voice-searched. My only gripe with the FireTV Cube was during setup, though the setup problems I encountered could just as easily have been the fault of the cheap Hisense TV I am using. When I first hooked up the FireTV Cube, the image on the screen would flicker then go black, flicker then go black, over and over. The flickering image also wasn’t displaying in full screen, it was in the top left quadrant of the screen. After switching to a different HDMI port on the TV and unplugging and replugging-in the HDMI cable to the back of the FireTV Cube I was finally able to run and complete the setup. However once setup was complete, the FireTV Cube was only displaying at 720p. I had to go into the FireTV Cube’s settings under Display and manually force a resolution of 2160p 60Hz. The “Auto” setting would only give me 1080p or 720p, though this could be due to cheap HDMI ports on the TV I’m using. The volume control on my FireTV remote doesn’t control the TV volume like it should, but again I’ll blame that on the cheap TV I’m using, as Hisense obviously cut corners at every opportunity when it came to putting hardware into their TVs. TL;DR If you bought a cheap 4K TV with horrid connectivity issues and a horrid OS, a FireTV Cube can make that TV usable.

Mind you, while I do highly recommend it, the only reason that I rated the streaming quality as four stars, is because it is a bandwidth hog & when you have more than the cube on the same network, the very second you start to use a different device to stream videos or just to check your E-mail while the cube is running, it will occasionally glitch which is slightly annoying. Granted, the technology is still relatively new so little video hiccups or temporary video freezes during the transition from streaming a movie or TV show to switch over to a commercial, it can be a little frustrating. However, I bumped up the bandwidth today when I called my ISP company so the cube is glitching much less but still not entirely free of the video freezing up for a moment when using a second device on our network. Alternatively, my DirecTV service was too expensive to keep using it as it was for the same services now being offered on the Fire Cube & yet the cube actually requires you to have a TV service provider for some of the stations because when installing a specific application for something like Fox News or Fox sports, to sign up, you need to have a valid account sign in from a TV service provider. So I simply told the DirecTV representative that I spoke to, that I now owned a fire cube & it was capable of showing all the same shows that DirecTV was offering but for free. So, cutting your TV service provider out of the loop completely isn't really possible but I did manage to cut my TV bill down by more than $110.00 bucks a month. And that is why the cube is still totally worth the price to me because next year, the bill may have been as much as $170.00 which was totally ridiculous!! Those thieving rats were even charging me fees for services that I didn't even have such as "Whole home DVR" which implies that I have more than one receiver when I didn't! The were also charging me just for the ability to pause & record live TV which costs a total of twenty bucks a month! So, given that it has become so expensive to have something like that, I decided that a few video hiccups were preferable to all the absurd charges. So, in spite of all the negative reviews on here, if you are currently paying as much as I was until I cut down my bill today, take my word for it! You can have a less expensive bill if you get the cube & boost up the bandwidth of your ISP as a more-than-reasonable trade off to the legalized highway robbery being done on your monthly budget! But don't take my word for it, do the research to then decide if getting a fire cube is best for your budget. Although, I still swear that it is AWESOME & TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!

You know I have quite a few Amazon devices and I must say that this is far superior to the fire stick. I really enjoy the hands-free controlling of the TV and it basically operates like an echo device the the only thing that I would like to express on this for Amazon to change would be the speaker itself is very crappy much like the Gen 1 echo speaker. It is an actual cube that measures approximately 3 1/2 in in all dimensions. I'm like the echo, it has one bar light on the front top of it. The app storage is much better than the fire stick I do highly recommend this to the fire stick because you can just put more on it and it does seem quite a bit faster. In addition there has been some miscommunication that I have read in regards to the physical outputs which I would like to clear up. This does have a micro USB, an infrared, an HDMI, and a power plug in the back of the unit the top of the unit is exactly like the echo and has the four buttons mimicking the echo the IR connector is for incorporating use to control an infrared device like a VCR or Blu-ray player or cable box anything that uses IR. Although this is included I do not think it's necessary if you install Kodi with the amount of free channels that are provided. Many people try and sell jailbroken fire cubes for almost double the price I do not recommend them as if you want to do it yourself there are videos on YouTube that are stupid simple. There will cause no harm to your device. What I do recommend is that you get the OTG adapter and hook up a hard disk drive for added storage. It is very simple to do and will allow you to transfer your home movies for playback on a full TV. In addition to this by holding the home button on the Alexa remote, it will bring up a menu where it will allow you to mirror a device such as a phone. I find this useful once in awhile for sharing video with others in my home streaming directly from my phone. I am currently using this with the sengled pulse audio speakers utilizing the pulse link adapter. To use the setup successfully your television must have a audio out via RCA jacks or headphone jacks so that you can plug the connection into the pulse link unit. If your television does not have any of these controls it will not hook up to this system conveniently. It can be done via Bluetooth however, you will need to disconnect the system every time you want to control the lighting which I find is rather inconvenient.

*UPGRADES from Generation 1 to Generation 2: -added HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support -added Bluetooth 5.0 support (Gen1 was 4.2) -added Local Voice Control : locally processes some frequently used voice commands, executing them faster - ie "Alexa Go Home" etc. -Fire OS 7.2.0.4 -CPU upgrade -GPU upgrade UPGRADE OPINIONS: The CPU/GPU and Local Voice Control upgrades result in a pretty big difference in speed and responsiveness between Gen 1 and Gen 2. All actions are executed right away. This is the biggest noticeable difference between Gen 1 and Gen 2. HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support are nice to have if you own a TV that supports these HD formats. The BT5.0 should result in longer range for bluetooth connected devices. I find the difference in speed to be worth the cost of a Gen 2, but that is probably personal preference. To me, saving a second or two with every command, and having access to Vision and BT5.0 seemed worth it. If you are upgrading from FireTV Stick 4K, you are getting a faster processor, 16GB storage over the Stick's 8GB, and all of the Echo functionality. --------------- OVERALL The Good: -Setup is super easy. About 10 - 15 minutes of downloading updates, then up and running! There is a check box on the right side of this page here on Amazon that says "Link to my Amazon account to simplify setup." This is usually checked by default, so when you purchase this FireTV Cube it will transfer settings like saved Wifi passwords from other Echo devices in your house. This makes setup very fast and easy. (You can uncheck this option though if you are buying this as a gift for someone else.) -FireTV Cube is great for controlling multiple devices. The ability to act as an IR blaster to control most TVs and soundbars; in addition to the regular Echo control of smart devices is very useful. Not having to use an additional remote for the TV is great. -Some regular Echo interactions are much more useful when there is a visual component; like asking about the weather, or seeing song lyrics/album covers. -I like the ability to use all of the newer Echo functions, like Drop-Ins/Calls, and multi room groups for music. These were not available initially on the Gen 1 FireTV Cube. The Bad: -Some apps have less voice control functionality than others. Navagation for Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime were all pretty great; but technically some other apps might not support all of the voice commands, and you might have to use the remote. -No included HDMI cable. This is minor, but I feel like it could've been included. TL,DR: Gen 2 is much faster than Gen 1, and has all the new Echo features. Get it if you want a much faster Cube, or Dolby Vision/BT5.0 support. **** FAQ- from some of the questions on this page: -Storage space: Specs say 16GB total. Around 3GB must be used for the OS, because my storage details indicated 12.98 GB internal storage. -Controlling devices: The Cube has an IR blaster built in that acts a universal remote to send signals to most TVs and soundbars. You can also use the IR extender attachment if you need to to reach other devices not in line of sight of the Cube. Also in your Equipment Control settings, you can choose whether Mute, Volume Up/Down, and Power signals are sent from the Cube itself, or from the Cube's Alexa Remote.