Bought this and it was delivered thru amazon to the front door., The moment the driver drove off I got an email welcoming me to the Fire TV Stick along with basic instructions on unpacking and setting up.. Now how cool was that! obviously Amazon had me all set up for this but it got triggered once the driver set delivery as Done . Set up was easy.. but I did have a problem initially., I got all the APS.. everything.., except for one and that was the most important one Amazon Prime Video.. at first I thought it wasn't authorized for use in my country of Canada ,, but that couldn't be right as I have the ap for this on my smart phone and it works fine .. The whole reason for me buying the stick was to watch videos and movies on something bigger than my 5 inch screen .. got a hold of Tech support listed on the web site and was instructed to enter my number and Amazon would phone me back which they did in seconds ! after explaining for two minutes my problem and then waiting for another two minutes for the help desk to figure out my problem they informed me I had the USA help desk I need Canada help desk.. you can imagine my frustration at this. .They then transferred me over to a help desk personal from Costa Rica ? I had to adjust my train of thought to his accent. He himself could not for maybe 20 minutes figure out what was wrong., turns out we had to do a complete factory reset and then I had to reenter all my passwords and account info into get back to square one..Once that was done the device works perfect.. I'm very happy with all the additional aps and movie channels.! .. I'm this much closer to cord cutting as the news and weather and entertainment news is all here.. I also enjoy the screen saver after 5 minutes of sitting on the menu bar.. I'm not obver happy with the Little remote and my fat finger on the scrolling circle.. and also an area that is confusing for me is .- there is no 'Turn off' switch., you turn it off by changing from one HDMI input to another or just turn off your TV.. all in all.. very nice much fun and I'll be getting one for my daughter for her birthday coming up as she already has Prime but not this Firestick Basic Edition ..
As usual, Canadians get the old technology with limited content
Update Dec 14th:==============A little late to update this, but Google has decided to pull YouTube from Amazon Fire TV sticks, which means you now only have Netflix and Prime video (in Canada) to watch on your Fire Stick (maybe a few other?).=============================================================================This is the Amazon Fire Tv stick basic Edition. This streaming stick was released a few days ago, on November 7, 2017, in 100 countries including here in Canada.Now a quick history lesson if you're not familiar with Amazon fire tv.Amazon Fire Tv is a streaming media player, which means it lets you watch videos, listen to music, play games and use other types of apps from the internet on your TV. There are similar devices that you might have heard of Roku and Google Chromecast, but I'm not going to make any comparisons with those here. The fire TV comes in two form factors: fire TV box which is a higher and higher specs, higher video quality and also higher price. And the fire TV stick which is smaller, mid-range specs and also cheaper. Still has HD video but something like the box would give you up to 4k, while the fire sticks are full HD at 1080.The first generation of the fire TV stick was released in 2014 in the US and after that, there was the first gen with a voice remote. Essentially this is the same device but they added a microphone on the remote and it allowed you to use voice commands to control your fire stick this is done through amazon's voice assistant, Alexa.Then after that, there was the second generation fire TV stick, which had a faster processor, the same voice remote, upgraded Wi-Fi antenna and Bluetooth, and the ability to use a hardwire Ethernet cable if you didn't want to use Wi-Fi. So the second gen was actually an upgrade and it was a faster device.And that brings us to a few days ago. Amazon released a basic Edition: Which specs wise is identical to the second-generation but without the voice remote - the remote is actually the first gen remote, and is priced $10 more than the second gen. CONFUSING I know!So to recap: Three years after the initial release of the fire TV stick, Amazon took their latest Fire stick, renamed it, and took the remote from their first fire stick, packaged them and gave them to us in Canada and 99 other countries for $49.99 USD or $49.99 Canadian the price is the same on Amazon Canada and Amazon US.This is pretty much it. There is nothing new about the "new" fire TV stick basic edition other than the name and the price,however you can still read if you haven't heard of the fire TV stick before and want more details.Let's talk about the remote first: The remote is simple. It has a basic navigation pad, with a select button and the basic media buttons with the back home and menu. As I mentioned earlier, there is no voice or Alexa button. However, you can download the free Amazon fire app and get the voice control ability, in addition to many other quick access options that the remote doesn't offer. My advice would be to definitely get the app and keep the physical remote as a backup.When you first plug the stick into your HDMI port it will boot up and look for a remote to be paired with. If you bought it directly from Amazon, it will already be registered to your account and you will notice that most of the highlighted content is Amazon Prime video content because Amazon wants you to use their service. You don't necessarily need to have Amazon Prime to use the fire TV stick but you do need it if you want to accessAmazon's Prime video content.Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, HBO Go, HBO now, ABC, NBA, HGTV, ESPN and many other services and channels are available on the fire stick, but you need to have individual access to each one of those in order to use them. As it's always the case for us Canadian users I kept getting the famous this content is not available in your country in all its variations.So in reality, if you're in Canada you can use the fire TV stick for Netflix YouTube and Amazon Prime, maybe a few other apps but all the popular ones I tried did not work. If you are in the U.S. though, you will have access to all the channels if you have cable service that you can log into the app with. So for example, when you go to ESPN you will be asked to activate and to do so, you need to choose a provider and then log in with your provider's account info.The search function is helpful. You can type a name of a show for example, and the search will run across all apps and services at once. Similar to Google's Chromecast, the fire TV also allows you to stream content from your phone or tablet rather than browsing it on the screen, for example, you can find a Netflix show or a song on Spotify on your phone or tablet and then choose to cast it to your fire stick. You're also able to mirror your phones or tablets screen to your TV using the fire TV stick.So, should you buy it? It depends! If you're in Canada, or in one of the other 99 countries that this was just released in, and you only need something to plug into your TV to watch Amazon Prime video Netflix or YouTube then sure. Amazon fire tv even offers a few games and you can buy a separate game controller for that. But if you don't have Amazon Prime or prime video is not a deal-breaker for you, you can also get a Google Chromecast, which is often on sale and allows you to stream content from your mobile device and your computer as well. You also have the option to get a Roku stick, which offers similar content set as the fire stick including Amazon Prime content.If you happen to be visiting the US, or if you live in the U.S., you might as well just get the fire TV stick 2nd gen with the Alexa remote for $10 cheaper! As I mentioned earlier, you'd be getting the same specs with the voice command remote control.Check out my YouTube video for links to the full reviews of the fire TV stick 2nd gen Google Chromecast and Roku. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions.
Top reviews from Canada
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- Reviewed in Canada on January 30, 2018Verified Purchase
- Reviewed in Canada on December 22, 2018Verified Purchase
I have my hands on this device for less than 48 hours and can't stop thinking why I have wasted my time, money, efforts on Chromecast and 2 Android TV boxes...
Hold your horses before you buy a streaming device... (Including Android TV Box)
Reviewed in Canada on December 22, 2018
(***Skip ONLY this paragraph if you are not Canadian***) It all started by looking for an alternative option to avoid paying $200 and plus for a wireless HD box for an extension to watch Bell Fibe TV in the basement. The "Bell VIP2502 Wireless HD Receiver" cost $200 and plus when bought from Bell or $100 or so used ones. Then the hassle either to book an appointment with the Bell technician or make pick up arrangements with the seller for the used ones. The Bell Fibe TV app comes already on the default menu and works like charm.
Can't believe how simple and smooth it runs. The small tiny remote is just the right size to have it in your hand and to maneuver around the menus. I have the TV set right across the treadmill, operating the system with the remote instead of the bulky smartphone is a huge convenience. Comes with hundreds of APK's (apps) that opens up the pandora box just like that. Don't waste your time with Chromecast, Android TV boxes and the rest. Get this magic stick LOL and watch IP TV's, Live TV channels, Kodi, YouTube, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and many many many many many many more applications! And all for free. Don't think about it. Just get it!
Wishing you and yours a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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- Reviewed in Canada on January 25, 2018Verified Purchase
