Fire TV, or Amazon Fire TV to be more precise, is an ecosystem of streaming devices and smart TVs, that run on Fire OS. And trust us when we say, these Fire TV devices are extremely popular. By January 2022, over 150 million Fire TV devices were already sold by Amazon worldwide. This list of devices includes Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Cube, and others.
Currently, Fire TV is one of the most popular destinations for video streaming apps in the world, as it hosts around 18,164 applications, out of which 15,863 apps are free.
So, if you are looking to know a bit more about Fire TV devices and Fire OS, then you are on the right page. Keep reading this blog to know more about what is Fire TV, the origin of Fire TV devices and Fire OS, how they work, and everything else you would ever need to know!
Fire TV is a set of streaming devices, originally developed by Amazon. These small devices let you stream millions of live and on-demand video content on your TV, using the internet. Using these Fire TV devices, you can stream live sports, news broadcasts, movies, web series, reality shows, and more! You will also get access to many popular streaming applications like NetFlix, YouTube, and HBO Max.
And, do you know the best part? It can be used by any type of TV, whether it’s a smart TV or not really doesn’t matter. You just need to have an HDMI or micro-USB port on your TV, through which you can connect the Fire TV device to your TV.
Types of Fire TV Devices
There are five types of Fire TV devices, which are tabulated below.
Device Name | Pros | Cons | Pricing |
Fire TV Stick Lite | It is the best budget option with an in-built Alexa voice assistant and Bluetooth connectivity. | It fails to offer 4K or HDR streaming or ethernet connection. It also cannot control your live TV channels. | You will get it for around US$ 29.39. |
Fire TV Stick | Along with the features of Fire TV Stick Lite, Fire TV Stick also supports Dolby Atmos for surround sound audio. Its remote can control your TV channels too. | It does not offer 4K or HDR streaming or ethernet connection. | You can get this at US$ 39.99. |
Fire TV Stick 4K | It supports 4K and HDR streaming with Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. | It doesn’t connect to the ethernet. | You will need to spend around US$ 50 to get this. |
Fire TV Stick 4K Max | It supports Wifi 6, 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos. | It doesn’t connect to the ethernet. | You will have to spend around US$ 53.89 for it. |
Fire TV Cube | You can enjoy hands-free control with built-in Alexa. It also includes an ethernet adapter. | It is not portable. | You need to spend US$ 154.98 for it. |
Working with a Fire TV device is actually quite simple. You just need to connect the device with the HDMI Port or micro USB port of your TV. Once done, you need to follow the steps given below:
Once the apps get downloaded, you just need to launch an app and start streaming your favorite content.
Basically, you can see that once you connect your TV to a Fire TV device, your TV literally starts behaving like a smart TV. And this setup is powered by a very powerful connected TV operating system called the Fire OS.
Fire OS is Amazon’s in-house operating system that runs most of Amazon’s built-in devices including the Fire TV devices like Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Cube, along with Fire tablets and others.
Nowadays, Amazon has even started to build its own series of smart TVs, which will be powered by the Fire OS. Also, some other smart TV manufacturers like Hisense have started using Fire OS in some of their smart TV models.
Technically speaking, Fire OS is basically a fork of Android OS. It means that most of the Android TV apps will automatically run on smart TVs and streaming devices run by Fire OS.
Also, if you already have your Android TV app, and want to develop a Fire TV app next, you might not need to write an entirely new code. The base code of your Android TV app will run just fine for a Fire TV app too, with some slight modifications, as both these apps will use Java and Kotlin as their base coding language.
Amazon Fire TV first came into existence in 2014, when the first generation of Fire TV devices was released. Soon after, Amazon released the second generation of Fire TV devices in 2015. Since then, regular updates have been released for Fire TV.
In the beginning, these devices used to run on an operating system that was “based on the Android Open Source Project” and was developed by Amazon. It did not have any name then. But, since the third generation of Fire devices, Amazon has started calling its operating system the Fire OS.
Almost all the versions of Fire OS have been based on their Android counterparts. Some of the recent versions of the Fire OS along with their Android Counterparts are tabulated below.
Fire OS Version Name | Year of Release | Based On |
Fire OS 4 Sangria | 2013 | Android 4.4 KitKat |
Fire OS 5 Bellini | 2016 – 2020 | Android 5.1.1 Lollipop |
Fire OS 6 | 2017 – 2019 | Android 7.1.2 Nougat |
Fire OS 7 | 2019 – 2023 | Android 9.0 Pie |
Fire OS 8 | Since 2022 | Android 11 Red Velvet Cake |
Amazon Fire TV Stick is a small streaming device, usually having the shape and size of a pen drive, which can be inserted into any type of TV. It can be easily connected to the television set using either an HDMI input or a micro USB input.
Once connected to your TV, it can use the internet to stream online video and audio content on your TV, through the various streaming apps installed in it. In short, using the Fire TV Stick, you can convert your old TV into a smart TV.
Currently, it is one of the most heavily sold streaming devices across the world. It comes in four different versions, which are:
Fire TV Stick 4K and 4K Max are the most advanced Fire TV Stick devices that come with the following features:
Similar to Fire TV Sticks, Fire TV Cubes are also popular, however, there is a slight difference between the two. The first and the most obvious one is that Fire TV Cube is not portable and gets connected to your TV firmly, while the Fire TV Stick is portable. It means that when you want to use the Fire TV Stick, you will plug it into your TV. Other times, you can remove it and place it in other places.
But, the Fire TV Cube still has loads of other benefits over the Fire TV Stick. A detailed comparison of the Fire TV Sticks and Fire TV Cubes is tabulated below.
Parameters | Fire TV Cube | Fire TV Stick |
Performance | It operates on an Amlogic S922X Hexa-core processor that has four Cortex-A73 cores clocked at 2.2GHz and two Cortex-A53 efficiency cores running at 1.9GHz. Definitely, it is way beyond the league of Fire TV Sticks. | It operates on a Quad-core 1.8GHz processor which stands nowhere in comparison with the Fire TV Cubes. |
Storage | It has 16GB of storage. | It has 8GB of storage. |
Digital Assistant | Fire TV Cube comes with a hands-free Alexa assistant. | Many Fire TV Stick models do not offer a hands-free Alexa experience. |
TV and Sound System Control | Fire TV Cubes can fully control your TV and Sound System functionalities. | Many models of Fire TV Sticks cannot control your TV functions. |
Connectivity | It connects through HDMI, infrared, micro USB port, and ethernet. | Most of the Fire TV Sticks connect through HDMI and USB Ports only. |
The Fire TV App Ecosystem is growing rapidly. Currently, there are 2,305 paid and 15,876 free apps published by 7,618 app publishers. Every day, on average, around 8 apps get published in the Fire OS app store. While these apps are spread across 155 different categories, the top 5 most popular categories are Lifestyle, Movies and entertainment, Games, News, and Sports.
Some of the popular apps available in the Fire TV ecosystem are:
In the coming years, as the market size of global streaming media devices grows from US$ 27.69 billion (in 2018) to US$ 89.48 billion by 2026 at a CAGR of 15.9%, the Fire TV app ecosystem is also expected to cross the benchmark of 20,000 applications.
If you are looking to Build Amazon Fire TV App, get started with Muvi One. You can develop your own branded Fire TV app without writing a single line of code, in 7 simple and easy steps.
Now sit back and relax. Our developers will drop your app into your email inbox within a few hours.
To know more about the process, read how to develop your own Fire TV app.
We hope we were able to answer the question – “What is Fire TV” in this blog for you! As we discussed, Fire TV is one of the most popular streaming devices across the world, and it is growing rapidly too! Hence, it is the perfect time to launch your own Fire TV App, otherwise, it will be too late!
Muvi One offers you 100+ industry-leading features, using which, you can develop your own Fire TV app within minutes, without any coding. It is one of the most time-efficient and cost-efficient ways of launching your own Fire TV app. So, why wait? Sign up with Muvi One, and start developing your own Fire TV app today!
What is Fire TV?
Fire TV is a set of streaming devices developed by Amazon, that lets you stream millions of live and on-demand video content on your TV, using the internet.
What is an Amazon Fire TV Stick?
Amazon Fire TV Stick is a small streaming device having the shape and size of a pen drive, which can be connected to any type of TV, and that lets you stream live and on-demand videos on your TV using the internet.
What is the benefit of Fire TV?
A Fire TV device has many benefits, like:
Does Fire TV need smart TV?
Technically, No, it doesn’t need a smart TV. If your TV has HDMI Port or micro USB port, you can easily connect a Fire TV device to it.
Can I use the Fire TV Stick on other TVs?
You can use Fire TV Stick on any TV that has an HDMI Port or micro USB port.
Written by: Debarpita Banerjee
Debarpita is a Content Writer with Muvi. With around 2 years of experience in content creation, she has worked across industries like SaaS, EdTech, eLearning, AR-VR, and Metaverse. She believes in delivering content that can be of some value to the readers. In her free time, she likes to try her hand at website and app development.
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