The Amazon Fire TV Stick Plus: A Comprehensive Review

As technology continues to advance and streaming services become increasingly popular, consumers are faced with an overwhelming number of options when it comes to choosing a device for their entertainment needs. In this review, we'll delve into the features and capabilities of two popular streaming sticks: the Roku Streaming Stick Plus and the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K.

One of the main differences between these two devices is their approach to content discovery. The Roku Streaming Stick Plus uses a more traditional approach, with a focus on simplicity and ease of use. According to our test user, "You're constantly going to be having an ad down in this lower banner." This suggests that the Roku device may not offer as many ad-supported options as its Amazon counterpart.

On the other hand, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K comes with Amazon's own streaming service, which offers a unique set of features and capabilities. One of these features is the ability to access local channels through the Amazon Fire TV 4K's built-in DVR box. As our test user noted, "We can DVR your local TV stuff as we have done and access that at anytime." This feature is not available on the Roku Streaming Stick Plus.

Another advantage of the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is its integration with Amazon Alexa. According to our test user, "You have the full power of Amazon's Alexa at your disposal," which allows for advanced voice control capabilities. For example, users can use Alexa to search for content, fast-forward or pause videos, and even control other smart devices in their home.

However, this level of integration also comes with some limitations. As our test user noted, "If it's Amazon specific stuff you want then you want the Fire TV 4K stick." This suggests that users who prefer a more agnostic experience may find the Roku Streaming Stick Plus to be a better option.

In terms of pricing, the two devices are relatively similar, with the Roku Streaming Stick Plus costing $60 and the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K costing $50. However, as our test user noted, "You do get a lot more voice interaction functionality" on the Amazon device, which may be worth the extra cost for some users.

Overall, both devices offer excellent streaming capabilities and ease of use. However, the choice between them ultimately comes down to personal preference and specific needs. If you value simplicity and don't mind giving up some features in favor of a lower price point, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus may be the better option. On the other hand, if you're invested in the Amazon ecosystem and want advanced voice control capabilities, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is worth considering.

Using the Fire TV Stick with Alexa

As our test user noted, "You can use that to search let's try searching orange is the new black which as we know is a Netflix property but as before we would see where we could watch that in Roku let's see if this does the same yes it's now putting Netflix first and foremost you can scroll over get to more ways to watch and then it's going to show you just like the Roku did where you can get it but only at Amazon all those other options are not here so the search is kind of restricted to where you can watch it for free and then just Amazon the only paid option."

This highlights one of the unique features of the Fire TV Stick 4K: its ability to prioritize content from Amazon's own streaming service. According to our test user, "You'll notice that Netflix comes first... but you also have access to other services like Hulu, HBO, and more." This suggests that users who are already invested in these services may find the Fire TV Stick 4K to be a convenient option.

However, as our test user noted, "There's going to be an ad down in this lower banner sometimes every once in a while there's going to be a pre-roll ad and there's really nothing you can do to skip it." This highlights one of the limitations of the Fire TV Stick 4K: its reliance on advertising revenue. While this may not be a deal-breaker for some users, others may find it annoying.

On the other hand, our test user noted that they were "finally going to be watching The Matrix" and was pleased with the device's performance. According to our test user, "The Matrix is currently coming through in HD... but this does support 4K HDR in fact check this out your home screen is in 4k and Dolby vision if your TV supports it or HDR if it supports just that format."

This highlights one of the key benefits of the Fire TV Stick 4K: its ability to deliver high-quality video content. According to our test user, "It's got a very nice interface to it." This suggests that users who value ease of use and a polished interface may find the Fire TV Stick 4K to be an excellent option.

Controlling Content with Alexa

As our test user noted, "Fast-forward 45 seconds and fast-forward 45 seconds... You can use Alexa to control your video playback in all sorts of ways." This highlights one of the key benefits of the Amazon Echo and other Alexa-enabled devices: their ability to integrate with streaming services.

According to our test user, "You have the full power of Amazon's Alexa at your disposal," which allows for advanced voice control capabilities. For example, users can use Alexa to search for content, fast-forward or pause videos, and even control other smart devices in their home.

This level of integration is not available on all streaming sticks, however. As our test user noted, "If you're used to using Roku's remote app... it's a bit different here." This suggests that users who are accustomed to using other streaming services may need to adapt to the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K's unique interface and controls.

Overall, both devices offer excellent streaming capabilities and ease of use. However, the choice between them ultimately comes down to personal preference and specific needs. If you value simplicity and don't mind giving up some features in favor of a lower price point, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus may be the better option. On the other hand, if you're invested in the Amazon ecosystem and want advanced voice control capabilities, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is worth considering.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat's up everybody Caleb Dennison here for Digital Trends and today we're checking out the Roku streaming stick plus versus the amazon firetv stick 4k and before we do that can we just acknowledge the fact that we live in a wonderful time when you can get so much entertainment out of something like this it's kind of nuts anyway you might be wondering don't these things basically do the same thing yeah definitely you're able to access all your favorite content pretty much anywhere you want to go whether it's at your home or a hotel room or your dorm or whatever but they do it in very different ways once you get past the hardware itself all the features are totally different so figuring out which one is right for you takes a little bit of doing let's jump in okay so let's start with the sticks themselves obviously the amazon firetv stick 4k is quite a bit bigger and it's a little bit heavier that's not gonna be a problem for most people but there are some TVs out there where you can't really wedge this thing in to the HDMI port because they didn't put a deep enough relief into the TV or whatever I would like to point out that it does use micro USB for its power source so we'll look at those cables here in a second with a Roku streaming stick plus it's actually using mini USB not micro USB which is a little bit different harder to find replacement cables for that but that's actually not relevant here I'll show you why in a second otherwise a very light stick this is not going to put any stress on your HDMI port so just from a hardware perspective starting here I'm already fond of the Roku alright so your amazon firetv stick 4k your micro USB as I pointed out earlier it goes into this little adapter if you lose this not the end of the world you probably got a few of them sitting around the house and it's a good length right I think you're gonna be able to get to your stick from your wall or your power strip pretty easily with something of this length but it's worth buying a longer cable if you need to now I know you can plug these in to your TV's USB ports I suggest not doing that because when you turn your TV off unless it's got a special setting to alter this when you turn your TV off you turn off the power to the our TV stick 4 K same thing with the Roku and what happens then is you actually have to wait for it to boot up every time you turn on your TV which is why a constant power source for either one of these is a very good idea now the Roku power situation is very different and I'll just briefly step off and say because the Roku is shorter lighter thinner it doesn't really need an HDMI extension at all you're not gonna have any problem plugging this into your TV but when you do go to plug it into your TV this is how you will power it and one thing you'll notice right off the bat other than the weird mini USB is this thing in the middle that's actually the antenna which brings a lot of advantages first of all by divorcing it from the stick itself you do get better reception and that is clutch for when you're in a hotel or even a dorm and you're connecting to a centralized Wi-Fi system so I really appreciate that it's a little short though don't you think I mean you plug this into your little dongle you're definitely not getting to the wall with that with your wall adapter that is why Roku includes this extension cable so this is just a USB extension it gets you to the same length that you got with the fire TV stick 4k again they make it this small because you could plug this directly into your TV but I'm gonna advise you once again go ahead plug it in the wall give it constant power you'll be happy you did alright now let's talk two remotes pretty simple right not really there's actually some stuff going on here so the Amazon fire TV remote fire TV stick 4k excuse me remote has a little voice button up top that's for Alexa so you're gonna be able to use Alexa to scrub back and forth actually find content it's more than just voice search you can actually control the device and as a matter of fact since we're talking about Alexa sorry I keep saying it and lighting up your devices you can use any Amazon echo products so if you don't want to pick up the remote you can use your echo dot or echo spot or echo show or echo whatever to command Alexa to control your TV viewing experience which is pretty stinking cool so the fire TV stick 4k gets an upgraded remote this is actually the old one right here not that much difference and in fact you can use this if you want to you can even use this with an echo dot but the cool thing with the fire TV stick 4k is that it comes with both power and volume keys and unlike the Roku a mute key now the Roku remote is a whole different beast it's got a lot more going on for it first and foremost you see a power button here and volume keys that allows you to control the power and volume of your TV which is awesome let's say it's a bedroom TV you don't have cable and this is really the only thing you watch you can pretty much dish your TV remote entirely because it does everything that you needed to do since you don't need to switch inputs it also has some hotkeys two different services here Amazon doesn't do that because they just want you to stick with Amazon but with Roku being device agnostic and platform agnostic it just wants you to be able to get to your most popular services now what's on here is Netflix Hulu sling and PS view which is very cool because you've got two of the most popular live TV streaming services right there along with whoo which also does live TV but that's no guarantee that that's what you're gonna get they seem to change these depending on the partnerships that they've made so no guarantee that those are the four that you're going to get otherwise this remote works anywhere - site is not an issue it works via bluetooth so that's a really nice fancy feature and then of course you get this cute little roku tag on the bottom then nice it's that for nobody knows alright so those are the hardware differences and like I said before what you get past the hardware differences the real meaningful stuff is in how you use them so let's take a look at that okay so here you go Roku interface if you've not seen it before this is what it looks like it lays out all the apps this is app centric right and it has all them right here for you you can flip through them very quickly like you would channels right and if you want to move them you just hit the options key and hit move channel and you can put the channels in any order you wish but by default it's gonna put Netflix Prime video and Hulu up at the top since those are really popular streaming services that makes a whole lot of sense to me and then we were talking about controlling the TV with the remote before if you go into settings remotes and devices you click on this remote you can set up the remote for TV control it's a very simple process just follow the instructions on the screen and you'll be controlling your volume and being able to power on right off the bat so going back to the main screen here since the Roku streaming stick plus supports 4k and HDR and Dolby Atmos you can connect it to a TV such as this and get advantage of all of those also voice search let me show you how that works so let's pick something that is app specific Goliath so Goliath is an Amazon original series here it is we click on that it's going to show us the seasons and that it's included with subscription so I know that it's free right now let's look at something that lives on multiple platforms orange is the new black now obviously that's a Netflix original but it is available from other places and I wanted to show you this because if we click on the series we see that it's included with the subscription but you can actually buy it from these places I don't know why you would want to but this is just a great example of how roku gives you what you want and tells you when it's free and where it's free which i think is great why would you pay for something when it was available for free from some of your other apps here's another Roku feature that I really like and I think people don't use often enough it's called follow on roku and basically if you are looking for a particular TV series or movie and you want to be updated when there's new content and available that's what it'll do in this case I'm interested in knowing when into the spider-verse comes available on a streaming platform so I'll search for that into the spider-verse and when it comes up I know I'm not going to be able to watch it but it should be giving me an option to follow it right here so actually looks like you can buy it 20 bucks but it's gonna let me know when any of the channels in my Roku get updated with into the spider-verse and so that doesn't matter how many channels I have add as many as I want it's gonna follow it that's pretty slick so you've seen some of what the voice search can do for you and it uses natural language so if I say where can I watch Rocky it'll find Rocky for me it knows that's what I'm looking for I can also ask it what time is it and it'll tell us what time it is but it is not a smart assistant the way Alexa is so it's not gonna allow me to ask what the weather is like in a given City and I'm definitely not going to be able to control other devices with it the real story here is that Roku is both platform and app agnostic it doesn't care where the content is it's just going to show you where it's at and make it extremely easy to get to you can also connect this to your hotel or dorm room Wi-Fi they make it very easy by directly connecting to the Roku device and then you can just input the information for your hotel connection all in all really great experience super fast and Sippy I mean you almost don't need to step up to a Roku box when the streaming six-plus is so freakin powerful right now we've got the amazon firetv stick on and this is the amazon firetv interface at least this iteration and what you're quickly gonna learn is that it's really all about Amazon yes you do have access to all kinds of different apps pretty much as many as Roku but the experience is very Amazon centric first of all this stuff right up here home your videos TV our movies all that stuff all amazon all Amazon and this interesting sort of freedive IMDB freedive which allows you to watch certain shows with ads that's kind of a new addition but once you get outside of this we pop down here we do get access to stuff that we've recently viewed that's pretty handy I dig that here's the list of all the apps and channels and then after that it's 100% Amazon Prime original series some featured apps and games that it wants you to get into because you downloaded this app we do get some Netflix suggestions but one really important thing one big distinction I want to make about amazon firetv is that you're constantly going to be having an ad down in this lower banner also you can use this with Amazon's recast which is a DVR box that gives you access to all of the live TV in your area in fact we were looking at the news here earlier but can DVR your local TV stuff as we have done and access that at anytime that's something that Roku cannot do right now you have to have a completely different media server setup and use Plex and all that stuff Amazon makes that right in also as I mentioned before you have the full power of Amazon's Alexa at your disposal and so we can use that to search let's try searching orange is the new black which as we know is a Netflix property but as before we would see where we could watch that in Roku let's see if this does the same yes it's now putting Netflix first and foremost you can scroll over get to more ways to watch and then it's going to show you just like the Roku did where you can get it but only at Amazon all those other options are not here so the search is kind of restricted to where you can watch it for free and then just Amazon the only paid option Amazon now check this out I decided I wanted to watch The Matrix what am i watching right now an ad for one of Amazon's original episodes so this is another thing that you have to put up with sometimes every once in a while there's going to be a pre-roll ad and there's really nothing you can do to skip it it's just that's what's happening right now so how do you feel about that make that a point of decision making now we're gonna be finally watching The Matrix it's currently coming through an HD although this does support 4k HDR in fact check this out your home screen is in 4k and Dolby vision if your TV supports it or HDR if it supports just that format which i think is very very cool it's got a very nice interface to it now that we're watching The Matrix let's see if we can get Alexa to help us out a little bit fast-forward 45 seconds and it did exactly that fast-forward 45 minutes let's try something else pause and it's paused and of course anything else that Amazon's Alexa can do I can control anything in my house that is addressable by that system and I can also use those devices to pull up content on this TV because it has Amazon Alexa integrated into it so that's pretty slick stuff when it comes down to it though this is not as platform and app agnostic as the Roku and I think that's one of the sticking points yes you do get a lot more voice interaction functionality and if that's something that you need you need the fire TV 4k for that if you want to be able to access your local channels fire TV 4k is the way to go also if you want to integrate your HBO or Showtime subscription you can do that here you can access it from here but then again you can do that on the Roku as well it's just going into a different app instead of staying on this one home screen to access it at the end if it's Amazon specific stuff you want then you want the fire TV 4k stick but if you want a more agnostic experience head back to Roku so there you have it Roku streaming stick plus vs. Amazon fire TV stick 4k which one is right for you really depends on the kind of experience you want generally speaking I'm a fan of Roku I think it's a super simple interface that anybody can understand the second they start to use it Amazon has some unique Amazon tricks to it and that might be a consideration as well and as for price you're looking at 60 bucks versus 50 bucks right now so weigh that as you will either way going with either one of these is going to give you a great experience they they both support all the major apps and they're extremely easy to use they're very zippy they're very fast I just happen to prefer the Roku so since I have to call a winner I'm gonna call the Roku streaming stick plus the best streaming stick that you can buy hey friends thank you for watching this video we really couldn't do this without your support if you liked what you saw please hit that like button if you didn't like it what's wrong with you I'm kidding hit that thumbs down button more importantly though tell us in the comments what you liked what you didn't like and what you would like to see more of and of course ring that bell so you know when we're putting out good content it's going to come your way also to videos we thought you might want to check out right over here and as always for more information about this and any other tech topic visit digital trends calm\n"