Amazon Announces Fire TV Stick, Chromecast Alternative‏

The best selling electronic device on Amazon.com is the Chromecast, but Amazon is looking to change this with their own inexpensive streaming dongle.

Named the Fire TV Stick, Amazon is looking to package all of the goodness from the Fire TV in a $39 HDMI-stick. Amazon has worked hard to make the Fire TV Stick a better version of the Chromecast, with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage – double the Chromecast.

The Fire TV Stick has a dual-core processor and dual WiFi bands (2.4GHz and 5GHz), while the current Chromecast only has 2.4Ghz WiFi band. Amazon also ships a remote with the Fire TV Stick – this remote does not feature the voice commands available on the Fire TV remote.

Users will be able to watch videos on ESPN, Hulu Plus and Prime Instant Video, alongside music from Pandora. Amazon’s Fire TV Stick has one significant disadvantage against the Chromecast, that being the lack of tab-to-TV functionality available on Chrome.

The Fire TV Stick may be able to communicate with the cast-tab-to-TV, the same way some smart TVs are able to, but it will not be first party developed. We doubt Amazon will be making their own app on the Chrome Store to make the Fire TV Stick capable of this.

Other than this issue, the Fire TV Stick looks like an interesting competitor, offering everything from the Fire TV, apart from the games part, in a cheaper package. At $39, it is a bit more expensive than the Chromecast, but Prime subscribers can get it for $19.