I have tested the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2023) and I have no doubt that it is the only one you should buy
Amazon has sold so many millions of Fire TV Sticks around the world that has become one of the most comfortable and useful smart home devices on the market. A simple “stick” that you connect to your television and makes it smart. At least smarter than many SmartTVs. With the review for 2023 of this Fire TV Stick 4K MaxHas Amazon achieved something different?
It’s not that we have much news and, honestly, I couldn’t tell you how often you should update a product with these characteristics because I’m sure that even versions from 3 or 4 years ago still work well.
But Amazon continues to update, and rightly so, this device to make it one of the multimedia centers in your home along with its Echo speakers.
- Features Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2023)
- Performance: more speed in every way
- Ambient background, a new passive screen mode for times when you are not using it
- Amazon and its love for integrated advertising
- Conclusion, is it worth buying a new Fire TV Stick 4K Max?
Features of Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2023)
More speed in every sense
The model before this Fire TV Stick 4K Max incorporated a slightly faster processor and Wi-Fi 6 connection. With these two features they provided you with a stick capable of playing streaming videos from practically all platforms, with the best speed.
In 2023 we have an update to the Fire TV Stick 4K Max with another slightly faster processor, 16 GB of storage, plus Wi-Fi 6E connection support.
They are two important details, but are they important enough for you to update yourself?
If you already have a Fire TV Stick 4K or even the previous Max model, I don’t think you’ll notice any difference in performance. Streaming applications open quickly, yes, but there is a practically imperceptible difference.
Application loading times are faster, but if you have a router compatible with Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E, which at this point if you don’t have it you should ask your operator, or better yet, buy one of these routers Wi-Fi 6 that we recommend.
In a world where its main competitor, Chromecast with Google TV from Google, is very fast and contains an interface with information with content that may be interesting to you, Amazon offers an alternative as good as Google.
The interface of Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max has not changed compared to the previous generation. Amazon usually makes some changes, but when they do they reach other versions, including previous ones – to a certain extent.
The biggest point in favor of this Fire TV Stick 4K Max is Wi-Fi 6E, which, having a compatible router, allows you to load 4K content faster. There doesn’t seem to be any other reason to include this improvement. More 4K content, with HDR10 and better sound. And those videos, although they are delivered in small packages little by little, are not easy to move and increasingly require more bandwidth.
With my 600 Mbps fiber connection I reach, without problem, a speed of more than 550 MbpsYes, my router uses Wi-Fi 6 and is placed very close.
Amazon adds Dolby Vision and Atmos supportperfect for those who have a TV compatible with 120Hz video or a sound system or sound bar that is compatible with Dolby Atmos.
This Fire TV Stick, like the rest, still using Fire OSthe Android-based operating system with a great layer of customization from Amazon, which could be one of the last because an operating system change is rumored.
Amazon seems to be getting ahead of things and has released this faster Fire TV Stick 4K Max for a future software update. Maybe they have something new ready for us that requires more performance and internet connection speed.
Where I don’t see any changes is in the remote control, which for me is one of the best in players of this type. Yes, the Chromecast controller is simpler, but it lacks many buttons to make quick changes.
On the other hand, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max controller has everything you need, including the button to talk to Alexa4 shortcuts, including one that goes directly to the applications, audio and channel control, playback and even a button to watch live TV on streaming channels.
Ambient background, a new passive screen mode for times when you are not using it
One of the great novelties, for now exclusive to this model, is the environmental background.
Amazon has taken what may be one of Samsung’s best ideas on its televisions The Frame and has incorporated it as his own. The ambient background is actually an interface very similar to that of your Echo Show 15, one of its speakers with a screen designed to hang on the wall. It has a very similar interface with a background image, with some widgets that show information about the weather, your agenda, roads… everything that you give Alexa access to.
This mode is only activated after at least 5 minutes of inactivity. You can choose photos from your Amazon Photos account, or better yet, a collection of framed art that, as much as possible, tries to turn your TV into a kind of painting.
The settings are quite simple in customization, apart from the photos and the frame, there is little else you can do for a mode that could offer much more.
If you are one of the people who always has your television on, it will give you information and if you have your television mounted on the wall, it can give it a very interesting style to display elements such as works of art.
Amazon and its love for integrated advertising
We must talk about the elephant in the room, the growing advertising on Amazon’s Fire TV. The good news is that These Fire TV Sticks are very cheapeven high-end models like this Max. The bad news is that this price is subsidized with some ads.
As a user of a Google Chromecast, I am used to seeing ads in its recommendations, but Amazon goes further with the playback of trailers for its series on Amazon Prime Video.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but this is something you should keep in mind. And Amazon does not seem to be reducing the number of ads on its platform for televisions.
Conclusion, is it worth buying a new Fire TV Stick 4K Max?
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max
See analysis
If you are looking for a streaming video player to renew your old television, this Fire TV Stick 4K Max is undoubtedly worth it. It’s more, I would tell you that it is the only Fire TV Stick model that you should buy of all those available because even if you want to use it for a 1080p television, you are saving yourself to use it on another television or, why not, take it on a trip.
Performance improvements when opening apps, improved internet speed and a new theater mode, as well as compatibility with [incluir característica que me falta].
Its price is 69.99 euros, but it is so common to find it on sale, like on Black Friday, that you can surely find it with a great discount on your next purchase.
