You’d be forgiven if you thought Amazon was finished announcing new hardware after last month’s massive Echo event. The retail giant has at least a few more announcements up its sleeve, starting with updates to the Fire TV line. The new TV Stick 4K and refreshed Alexa Voice Remote are up for pre-order today.
At $50, the revamped Fire TV Stick 4K features a new quad core processor, promising faster streaming and quick loading. The updated TV dongle also adds Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos and features access to 500K movies/TV episodes, an array of apps and an Alexa voice interface via remote or nearby Echo.
The news follows Roku’s recent move to bring down the cost of its 4K-ready streamers, with its new $40 and up Premiere line of players.
There’s also a new Alexa Voice Remote on the block. The new peripheral sounds like much more of a universal remote than its predecessor. The device sports Bluetooth and multi-directional infrared, letting users control TVs, AV equipment and cable boxes, among others.
There are buttons for power, volume and mute, but the voice is really the thing here, naturally. It’s compatible with just about all of Amazon’s Fire products. It ships as part of the $40 Fire TV Stick 4K package, or comes bundled with the Fire TV Cube for $120. You also can buy it solo for $30.
The Fire TV Stick 4K starts shipping on Halloween in the U.S. and Canada. It will arrive in the U.K., Germany and India in November and Japan before end of year.