Amazon is out with a release trumpeting their stellar Fire TV reviews and announcing several welcome updates.
New Prime Browse
While Amazon touts blazing fast quad core Fire TV speeds, those gains are partially offset by inefficient browsing. Sure, the UI is quite attractive with box art and large icons, but good luck trying to simply find a listing of your Prime videos (as you easily can via the competing Roku pictured above). Well, good news, organization will at the very least be partially remedied in the near future via “Prime browse”
Voice Search To Expand
Voice search, via remote, is arguably Fire TV’s tent pole feature. However, at launch, only Amazon content and Vevo are officially supported. Amazon says we can expect “full catalog” Hulu, Crackle, and Showtime integration this summer. Unmentioned is Netflix … yet, as the 800lb streaming gorilla, I fully anticipate support is on the way (along with a current app) and that they warrant their very own press release.
Fire TV App
Another Fire TV complaint has been the lack of a smartphone and tablet app. Fortunately, Amazon says they’re on the way. While I 100% prefer a physical remote, with tactile feedback and easily shared, there are times when the second screen is particularly handy. Foremost, a touchscreen will solve the frustrating keyboard entry challenge of app registration and search (for all the properties yet not available via voice).