Amazon Fire TV Unveiled with Voice Command, Gaming and More Features

Amazon has been bringing its latest technologies to its customers faster than expected. Just yesterday, competing against the likes of Apple TV and others, the company announced its Fire TV. It is a smart box that will connect to various web video services and offer users access to Netflix, Prime Instant Video and Hulu etc. The device will cost $99 (approx. Rs. 5,955) for interested users in the US. However, there are no details about the device's availability in other markets including India.

The Fire TV can help you download videos through services like Amazon Instant Video. Google last year came out with a small device called Chromecast that allowed users to stream videos from YouTube and several other services on to their TVs using an Android tablet or phone. Thus with the advent of these new devices, the TV viewing experience has been immensely augmented.

"Tiny box, huge specs, tons of content, incredible price - people are going to love Fire TV," said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. He further added, "Voice search that actually works means no more typing on an alphabet grid. Our exclusive new ASAP (advanced streaming and prediction) feature predicts the shows you'll want to watch and gets them ready to stream instantly. And our open approach gives you not just Amazon Instant Video and Prime Instant Video, but also Netflix, Hulu Plus, and more."

The remote of Fire TV has a microphone in which a user can speak the name of the show he wants to watch and the TV will switch to that show. The Fire TV has parental control features and allows parents to create different viewing profiles for up to four children. The TV can also stream music from services like Pandora and TuneIN radio.

Moreover, Amazon will also sell an Amazon Fire game controller along with Fire TV. The controller will cost $39 and allow consumers to play casual games on their TV using Fire TV.

In terms of specs, the Fire TV is powered by a quad-core processor running at 1.7GHz. It has 2GB RAM and 8GB internal storage. It weighs 281 grams.