Amazon’s Fire TV internet-connected TV and gaming box has come to the UK, taking the fight to Google’s Chromecast, Apple TV and Roku.
For the first five days, you’ll be able to snap up Amazon’s TV adapter, to be unveiled at the giant IFA consumer technology show in Berlin, for £49 for Prime customers. The little black box with otherwise go for £79.
You’ll be able to stream Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Sky News, YouTube out of the box as well as rent the thousands of titles available from the Amazon Instant Video library. You can also stream music from Spotify, TuneIn Radio and Amazon Music.
There’s no word on whether the BBC will port iPlayer to Fire TV and whether Amazon can win over the likes of Blinkbox, Now TV, Wuaki, ITV Player, Demand 5 and 4oD.
We’re also looking forward to test driving Fire TV’s Siri-style voice search and ASAP, which cues up content it expects you’ll want for instant streaming.
Fire TV also stands apart from other broadband TV dongles by its gaming support and launches with Minecraft: Pocket Edition, The Walking Dead, NBA2K14, Asphalt 8, Riptide GP2, many of them supporting the wireless Amazon Fire Game Controller.
Games on average cost £1.07, with premium titles like SevZero, developed specifically for Fire TV, costing £4.99. The Game Controller costs an extra £34.99 and runs on two AA batteries, which provide 55 hours of gameplay.
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