Prime Members: Fire TV Cube 4K UHD Streaming Media Player w/ Alexa EXPIRED

Can someone explain to me the primary differences between this and the fire TV (both practical, ie noticable speed difference; and conspiracy theorist, ie always on and always listening)?

Quote from PerfectHybrid : Can someone explain to me the primary differences between this and the fire TV (both practical, ie noticable speed difference; and conspiracy theorist, ie always on and always listening)?

This one will sell your mundane conversations to the Chinese.

Is like prime day should be Amazon devices sale day.

Quote from PerfectHybrid : Can someone explain to me the primary differences between this and the fire TV (both practical, ie noticable speed difference; and conspiracy theorist, ie always on and always listening)?

From my understanding, the cube works similar to the Logitech harmony whereas it can control all of your multimedia devices connected to your TV. You can set it up to run a series of commands just by saying 'Alexa turn on the TV' then it'll obviously power on your TV, then power on your sound bar, cable box, or whatever else you need powered on for your personal tv watching experience. And from what I read it actually gets smarter the longer you use it, as it learns your preferences..
I.e you like your volume set to a certain level when playing ps4....Hope that kinda helps

Quote from PerfectHybrid : Can someone explain to me the primary differences between this and the fire TV (both practical, ie noticable speed difference; and conspiracy theorist, ie always on and always listening)?

Well I never used fire tv but I have one of these. It can control other devices. I can ask Alexa to switch to cable or turn on/off whatever.

Quote : PerfectHybridCan someone explain to me the primary differences between this and the fire TV (both practical, ie noticable speed difference; and conspiracy theorist, ie always on and always listening)?

This streaming hardware is the same as the 4K pendant except for internal storage (cube has 16GB vs 8GB), so the streaming capabilities are about the same. It's likely that some RAM and CPU cycles are dedicated to Alexa, so it may technically be a tiny bit slower than the pendant.

The big draw of the cube is its integration with your TV & AV setup through CEC and IR. Right now, this is basically limited to turning on and off the TV, switching inputs, changing volume, and maybe changing channels on your cable box, but it is expected that this functionality will expand over time. You can also interact with Alexa hands-free so opening up Apps and selecting videos through the Fire TV component can be done with voice. You can also do things like pause and fast forward with voice in many situations.

I'll let others respond to the "always listening" part, but the non-cynical part of me isn't too concerned.

Quote from PerfectHybrid : Can someone explain to me the primary differences between this and the fire TV (both practical, ie noticable speed difference; and conspiracy theorist, ie always on and always listening)?

This is basically an Echo Dot and a Fire TV in one package. However, and I'm going by the reviews, it seems to be a master of none. It seems like you're better off going with an Echo Dot and Fire Stick separately (again, going by the reviews).

Quote from ProductFRED : This is basically an Echo Dot and a Fire TV in one package. However, and I'm going by the reviews, it seems to be a master of none. It seems like you're better off going with an Echo Dot and Fire Stick separately (again, going by the reviews).

While I have not used the two combined, I would definitely prefer the cube over this setup. Most people are comparing it to a combined Echo Dot and 4k Fire TV pendant, which is more equivalent in terms of hardware, but that misses out on the AV control functionality. At the current setup, it's not consistently awesome, but when it works, it's pretty cool. it's also great for kids or non-technical folks who have trouble changing input, reading, or keeping track of the remote. I don't think I would recommend it to a novice right now for the full price (or even at $90), but I would definitely recommend it over an Echo Dot / Fire TV setup. I think in a year this will be a much more useful and realized product.

Quote from kuchta : While I have not used the two combined, I would definitely prefer the cube over this setup. Most people are comparing it to a combined Echo Dot and 4k Fire TV pendant, which is more equivalent in terms of hardware, but that misses out on the AV control functionality. At the current setup, it's not consistently awesome, but when it works, it's pretty cool. it's also great for kids or non-technical folks who have trouble changing input, reading, or keeping track of the remote. I don't think I would recommend it to a novice right now for the full price (or even at $90), but I would definitely recommend it over an Echo Dot / Fire TV setup. I think in a year this will be a much more useful and realized product.

Ok so besides being able to turn ON/OFF the tv and switch inputs, this sounds identical to having an echo and a firetv box, Does it to anything else than that because i can pause tv with my echo? Is it just convienece because its one device?

Quote from StarS7991 : Ok so besides being able to turn ON/OFF the tv and switch inputs, this sounds identical to having an echo and a firetv box, Does it to anything else than that because i can pause tv with my echo? Is it just convienece because its one device?

There's no extra functionality from my understanding -- It's like Echo Dot and Fire Stick had a baby. That's it. In fact, I've read it's not as good as an actual Echo Dot because it omits some basic functionality (I'd read more into it rather than taking my word on it). I've also read that certain things come out of the built in speaker, which, if you're watching TV you're not going to hear very well (Echo Dot speaker generally just gets the job done, if you know what I mean).

You can control your Fire TV from any Echo, and some Smart TVs have integration. My Samsung Smart TV will automatically turn on and switch to the right input with my Fire Stick using only the Fire Stick and Echo Dot (as in the TV is not a factor; it doesn't have any special integration).

Quote from StarS7991 : Ok so besides being able to turn ON/OFF the tv and switch inputs, this sounds identical to having an echo and a firetv box, Does it to anything else than that because i can pause tv with my echo? Is it just convienece because its one device?

​I think there are mixed beliefs as to whether or not it has a faster response time with it being the same box. The same with whether or not it is more reliable since they are both in the same box.

But yes, the major difference is in being able to control other devices. Being able to control the volume is nice. If your cable box works, you can tell it to change channels (and likely will be able to for most cable boxes in the future) and I think there are some ways of controlling DVR functionality. I think you can also currently connect it to a Tivo, but the setup isn't super intuitive.

If all you are interested in is controlling the FireTV (and not other devices), then I suspect it is pretty much the same type interaction. In fact, there are currently a few things that you cannot do on a Cube, like make calls or do streaming audio groups, so having them separated has some other benefits.

Right now, you can say something like "Play Super Wings" and it will turn on the TV, change it to the correct input and start streaming the most recent unwatched episode of Super Wings (it's sort of like Paw Patrol with planes!) from Amazon Prime TV. It's pretty cool (when it works). In the future, I expect to be able to do similar things with other apps and devices.

My question is... how does Alexa hear you once the TV is on?

I just sent in my trade in device on Saturday so I guess I will miss this. Anybody know a way around that? I would like that 35 bucks to go towards this sale price!