Amazon Fire TV Cube (2022) Review - PCMag

The $139.99 Amazon Fire TV Cube is unsocial among media streamers acknowledgment to its hands-free dependable control. Most media hubs see immoderate signifier of dependable adjunct oregon search, but the Fire TV Cube is the lone 1 to fto you usage that adjunct without requiring a remote. The third-generation, 2022 exemplary of the Fire TV Cube looks a spot antithetic and has a fewer interior upgrades, but yet delivers the aforesaid hands-free media hub acquisition we've travel to expect. The lone existent ailment we person is that it’s astir 3 times the outgo of the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K ($49.99) and the Chromecast With Google TV 4K ($49.99). But considering its unsocial hands-free functionality, the third-gen Fire TV Cube earns our Editors’ Choice for high-end media streamers.

A Softer Cube

While it’s inactive a cube, the 2022 Fire TV Cube looks markedly much similar a spherical Amazon Echo talker than before. Amazon replaces the glossy achromatic integrative sides of the outgoing model with grille cloth akin to the benignant recovered connected its Echo speakers. The cloth softens the 3.0-by-3.4-by-3.4-inch (HWD) cube's crisp close angles and lends it a friendlier look.

The apical of the cube is inactive covered by a matte achromatic integrative sheet that hosts 4 pinholes for the far-field microphone array and a acceptable of 4 buttons including action, mic mute, and measurement up and down. A airy runs on the borderline of the panel, glowing bluish erstwhile Alexa is listening and pointing successful the absorption from which it detects your voice.

The backmost of the Fire TV Cube has a astonishing addition. The modular powerfulness adapter port, HDMI output, USB port, Ethernet port, and 3.5mm jack (for the optional $14.99 infrared IR extender) are there—and they’re joined by an HDMI input. This input lets you link different device, similar a crippled console oregon a set-top box, to your TV done the Fire TV Cube. The Cube past provides an Alexa overlay connected apical of immoderate is connected.

(Credit: Will Greenwald)

The distant is somewhat much analyzable than those of mean Fire TV Sticks. The glossy, circular navigation pad sits adjacent the top, with Alexa and powerfulness buttons and the pinhole microphone supra it. Menu and playback buttons beryllium straight beneath the pad. Farther down you'll find the measurement rocker and mute button, which are joined by a transmission rocker and past TV, settings, and caller contented buttons. Finally, dedicated work buttons for Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix beryllium adjacent the bottom.

Wi-Fi 6E Tops Spec Upgrades

Internally, the Fire TV Cube features an octa-core processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard retention that Amazon says is doubly arsenic accelerated arsenic the Fire TV Stick Max. It outputs video astatine up to 4K60, and supports precocious dynamic scope (HDR) contented successful Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+, and hybrid log gamma (HLG).

Surprisingly, it supports 6GHz Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) successful summation to 2.4 and 5GHz 802.11a/b/g/n/ac. Wi-Fi 6E is bully connected paper, but arsenic we witnessed with Wi-Fi 6 connected the Fire TV Stick Max and the comparatively humble bandwidth needs of 4K HDR video, 6E won’t noticeably amended the prime of what you ticker beyond what a Wi-Fi 5 transportation provides. Wi-Fi 6E tin perchance amended unreality gaming show (like with Amazon Luna), but with Xbox Cloud Gaming not yet disposable connected Fire TV and Stadia shutting down adjacent year, your options beyond Amazon’s ain unreality gaming work are limited.

(Credit: Will Greenwald)

The Cube besides has Bluetooth 5.0, which is simply a spot outdated astatine this point, to link headphones, crippled controllers, and different devices.

Fire TV and Hands-Free Alexa

The Fire TV Cube uses Amazon’s Fire TV media streaming platform, which is simply a powerful, feature-filled interface acknowledgment successful portion to Alexa. While it’s evidently Amazon-centric (Amazon Prime subscribers person entree to Prime Video and Music Prime via the location screen), Fire TV besides supports Apple TV, Crunchyroll, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, Paramount+, Twitch, and YouTube. It’s anemic with respect to section media streaming, however; it supports Miracast/WiDi but lacks some Apple AirPlay and Google Cast, which are easy recovered connected competing platforms. AirPlay and Cast marque it acold simpler to watercourse oregon negociate contented playback from your mobile device.

You tin pin your favourite six apps to a quick-launch barroom successful the mediate of the location screen. Buttons to the near let you to spot what's connected unrecorded TV crossed a assortment of services, including Freevee, Pluto TV, Sling TV, and Tubi. What you ticker volition besides aggregate successful the Recent enactment connected the location surface and tin besides beryllium brought up by pressing the Recents fastener connected the remote. Fire TV supports idiosyncratic individual profiles, truthful antithetic radical successful your household tin bask their ain favorites and viewing histories.

The HDMI pass-through diagnostic adds immoderate Alexa functionality to contented you propulsion from a secondary root done the Fire TV Cube. Information pop-ups volition appear, for example, and the TV surface volition diagnostic the glowing bluish barroom crossed the bottommost erstwhile Alexa is listening.

(Credit: Will Greenwald)

The Cube provides afloat entree to Amazon’s Alexa dependable assistant, which you tin usage without the remote. This is the Cube's biggest vantage implicit the smaller and cheaper Fire TV Sticks. The far-field microphones fto you say, “Alexa,” followed by a bid to question wide accusation oregon execute circumstantial actions. On the astir basal level, this lets you power the Fire TV Cube itself to hunt for content, unfastened apps, and adjacent navigate on-screen menus. Menu navigation via dependable is simply a spot clunky compared with utilizing buttons, but that’s wherefore a accepted distant is included; contented and app control, however, are some casual to negociate with Alexa.

All of Alexa's mean features are available. You tin marque telephone calls to immoderate modular (not toll-free, premium, oregon exigency service) telephone number, talk to immoderate Alexa idiosyncratic done their Alexa device, talk to Alexa users connected their telephone via the Alexa mobile app, and adjacent speech implicit Skype. If you person a compatible webcam, you tin marque video calls done Alexa Drop In and Skype; Zoom enactment volition beryllium added successful the future. 

(Credit: Will Greenwald)

Perhaps the astir utile facet of Alexa connected the Fire TV Cube is its quality to power your smart home. Alexa supports each large astute instrumentality brands, spanning hundreds of doorbell cameras, information cameras, astute lights, astute locks, astute plugs, and astute thermostats. Some doorbells and cameras, similar Amazon’s ain Ring products, tin adjacent nonstop video feeds straight to the Fire TV Cube erstwhile you inquire Alexa to bash so.

Quick and Sharp

We've hardly complained astir immoderate Fire TV products erstwhile it comes to performance, and the Fire TV Cube is unsurprisingly responsive. Obviously, contented loading speeds volition beryllium connected your net connection, but navigating menus, utilizing Alexa, and switching betwixt astir apps is snappy. There were a fewer seconds of waiting erstwhile loading Sling TV, but that’s astir it.

Video prime is consistently strong. 4K video successful some Dolby Vision and HDR10 loaded rapidly and reliably crossed each apps that enactment it, and some The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power connected Amazon Prime Video and House of the Dragon connected HBO Max looked great. It occasionally took up to 10 seconds for the video prime to stabilize astatine 4K portion the apps calculated if the required bandwidth was available, but aft that abbreviated hold shows looked crisp and accurate.

(Credit: Will Greenwald)

The third-generation Amazon Fire TV Cube is an awesome media streamer with amended connectivity than ever. It's speedy to navigate, includes plentifulness of features, and is inactive the lone media streamer to connection hands-free dependable control. The updated Wi-Fi vigor won’t needfully amended your viewing experience, but it makes the imaginable for unreality gaming a spot better. At $139.99, the Fire TV Cube is the astir costly media streamer presently available, costing adjacent much than the recently updated Apple TV 4K ($129). We’d inactive similar to spot it enactment Apple AirPlay oregon Google Cast (or both), but that’s the lone happening truly lacking from the level successful wide and the Fire TV Cube successful particular. With that successful mind, the 2022 Fire TV Cube earns our Editors’ Choice for media streamers. If you don’t request hands-free Alexa and privation to prevention a batch of money, though, some the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and the Chromecast With Google TV 4K are worthy exploring.