Didn’t I tell you Best Buy would be the place to get Amazon’s 4k Fire TV ahead of the official October 5th release? Whereas I’d assumed in-store inventory was ripe for abuse, it turns out the advantage was gained via online sales. Folks who’d pre-ordered had units shipped early on 9/30. And, as you can clearly see from the imagery below, they’ve started arriving. This slip-up isn’t on par with, say, iPhones arriving ahead of official reviews, but I can still appreciate as a gadget agent of chaos.
As for me, I continue to sit on the fence while awaiting more details on the incoming Roku 4. Although with a TiVo Fire TV app confirmed for next week, perhaps I need another.
(Thanks Crazycaddy!)
I can’t do any Best Buy online orders for shipping any more. They require a signature which isn’t unusual. But they don’t allow the package to be picked up from the local facility either. I’ve had several orders in the past get sent back because they would not authorize for the package to get picked up at the local facility where you show your ID for pickup, It makes no sense to me. In those instances I just went to the local Best Buy to pick up instead.
Now any online orders I make from BestBuy I just do in store pickup. For Amazon products I use my Amazon credit card which gets me 3x reward points. But it would have been nice to have my FireTV by now. At least with Amazon, they tell the shippers to leave packages at the door without a signature. So I only have issues when you get a delivery person that can’t read a map and delivers to a different street. Like what happens 50% of the time with LASERship.
I’m soooo jealous ;-) Until now, I’ve had a Roku 3 so am not familiar with the FireTV’s UI — is it different than the FireTV 1st-gen?
I think it’s mostly the same as far as the visuals are concerned, but lots of changes to Fire OS 5 — it’s a big Android upgrade under the hood to Lollipop and comes with Alexa voice control, for example. But most or all of the software enhancements will make their way to first gen units. (Things like support for WiFi Direct accessories won’t as the hardware isn’t present.)
“Best Buy Delivers 4k Fire TV … Before Amazon”
Well, duh. Don’t you folks follow the news at all? It was kinda a big deal. Amazon isn’t selling the Fire TV anymore because it doesn’t support Prime video.
I just wonder if it is laggy as all get out UI wise.
@aaronwt “…I’ve had several orders in the past get sent back because they would not authorize for the package to get picked up at the local facility where you show your ID for pickup…”
Both UPS and FedEx require a 1st-attempt delivery before you can modify shipper delivery instructions, like holding for pickup. Usually, they require the number from the delivery tag left on your door in order to change anything. While there may have been instances in the past where you could call in and ‘ask-nicely’, and they’d do it — it’s not like that anymore. Both carriers now offer this as a paid service. With a subscription to either, you receive an email when a shipment has been initiated to your name at an address you’ve registered, which is when you’re able to login to the carrier’s site and modify your shipments. You can change the delivery address, provide instructions like ‘back door’ or ‘leave with doorman’ as well as pre-sign for signature-required deliveries. UPS allows you to specify a delivery-window, like ‘between 12:00 and 2:00’ — that’ll cost you in addition to the annual fee, $5 a pop.
UPS charges around $50 per year for the service, per address — residential only. I.E., if you had a home in the city and a summer home in the suburbs, you could register them under 1 account, but the charge would be $50 per address.
FedEx, also residential only, has no annual fee, they charge per-use. You also need to register your address. If you want the package re-routed to a FedEx retail location — it’s free.
Both UPS MyChoice and FedEx Delivery Manager thoroughly verify the address you register. There needs to be a public record of your name associated with the address. If you’ve recently moved, it takes about 3 months for the association to show up in whatever it is they use to confirm. If you’ve been there longer, setting up the services takes a few minutes. If not, there’s nothing either carrier can do to speed things along.
UPS MyChoice: http://www.ups.com/mychoice/
Fedex Delivery Manager: http://www.fedex.com/us/delivery/
The issue with UPS is BestBuy. I never had the issue until late 2013 or 2014. I’ve been getting packages here for close to 22 years now. I went around and around with UPS and BestBuy with packages costing only $15 and packages costing $1k. In all cases UPS said that BestBuy specifically restricts this. I’ve called after the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd delivery attempt with the same result. And at one point even paid for the UPS features you talk about but it makes no difference. The package can’t be rerouted and can’t be picked up locally.
Talking to BestBuy corporate and customer service gives me the same info. They always say that this is their policy and they can’t change it. So if I’m not at home when the package gets delivered, then I can never get my package from BestBuy since it is specifically restricted from being picked up from the local facility. Even when that is the safest thing since you need to show an ID.(No ID is needed for delivery if at home which all makes no sense to me.)
I’ve received well over $150 in gift cards from Best Buy for this crap but it certainly is not worth it. So I just stopped ordering anything from BestBuy.com to be shipped to me. I either buy something in an actual store or I buy online with in store pickup. It just isn’t worth the aggravation I’ve had to go through for all of those packages that got sent back.
Some feedback from another person who received their unit early.
https://www.reddit.com/r/cordcutters/comments/3nadiq/my_new_amazon_fire_tv_arrived_a_few_days_early/cvmuiay
Other little things I’ve noticed – the remote is larger than the old one and the white light on the front doesn’t stay on – only flashes when you access the remote. The remote also sleeps faster than the old one and I have to click it once or twice to wake it up. I like Alexa – though it’s pretty limited in usefulness. Can’t look up business info and the sports scores dialect is picky. Weather is nice.
And, from Germany, no problem sideloading Kodi but some issues quick-launching. I assume developers will resolve in short order.
http://stadt-bremerhaven.de/amazon-fire-tv-2015-probleme-mit-mediencenter-kodi/
I always hit the home button to wake up my first gen FireTV. I expect to do the same with the new one.
“Other little things I’ve noticed … Weather is nice.”
Jeebus. I had no idea the Fire TV included weather control. That’s truly a killer app that should move boxes.
Other little things i’ve noticed… weather is nice jeebus i had no idea the fire TV included weather control that’s truly a killer app that should move boxes
@Chucky October 3, 2015 at 9:12 pm
“Well, duh. Don’t you folks follow the news at all? It was kinda a big deal. Amazon isn’t selling the Fire TV anymore because it doesn’t support Prime video.
You’re confused,…but keep following the news,…you might get it right next time…
“You’re confused,…but keep following the news,…you might get it right next time…”
Best Buy is buying Amazon?