Quick Summary
Amazon has launched a new entry-level Fire TV Stick – the Fire TV Stick HD.
It's currently US only at $34.99, but expect a price below £40 when it launches in the UK too.
Amazon has launched a new version of its Fire TV Stick for HD TV viewers, which is now available in the US and UK.
If you want the ultimate Amazon Fire TV Stick, this isn't the one for you: we reckon that the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is the best of its breed, and the Fire TV Stick 4K comes a close second. But the new HD version is a cheap and cheerful way to bring Amazon's streaming smarts to HD TVs.
What's new in the Fire TV Stick HD?
Like the brand's other streaming devices, it's business as usual when it comes to the design. There isn't even USB-C, just the familiar micro-USB power connector and external power supply.
It looks like any other Fire TV Stick and connects in the same way by plugging into an HDMI port, but you do get an AA battery-powered Alexa Remote included this time. That means you get voice control too.
Specs-wise you're looking at a maximum resolution of 1080p HD, and it works with HDR, HDR 10 and HDR 10+ but not Dolby Vision. You don't get Dolby Atmos either. However, the Stick does support Amazon's Luna gaming service.
Spec-wise there's Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth LE and Bluetooth 5.0, a 1.7GHz quad-core processor, 1 GB of RAM and 8GB of storage.
Amazon's platform is well established now and includes not just Amazon's own Prime Video and Freevee, but also apps for all the other key streaming services, including Disney+, Paramount Plus and, new to the service, Apple TV+. Those apps require separate subscriptions but they integrate well with Amazon's interface.
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The new, entry-level Fire TV Stick HD is $34.99 in the US, £39.99 in the UK.
Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).