Amazon Fire TV stick and Chromecast are rival in the affordable yet powerful media streaming player. Both device offer a wide range of features and ease of use as well as fast performance. If you are currently looking for a media player for your TV, go check our article below to find which device suit you the most.
In this article we are going to give you information about:
– What is Amazon Fire TV stick and Chromecast
– What Amazon Fire TV stick and Chromecast Look Like
– What Amazon Fire TV stick and Chromecast can offer to you
– Amazon Fire TV stick vs Chromecast
About Amazon Fire TV stick
Amazon Fire TV stick is a streaming media player that you can use to watch you favorite movies and shows. This media player is the Amazon second generation of affordable video streaming device. With the stick, you can stream from popular channel like Netflix, Amazon, and many other similar channels. For you who are currently looking for an affordable streaming stick and still wish to get the best result out of their purchase. However, if what you are looking is 4K streamer, this one is not for you.
Amazon Fire TV stick Design
Amazon Fire TV stick comes with the streaming stick itself and a remote, USB cable and power adapter, HDMI extender as well as 2 AAA batteries. The stick is quite small in 3.4 x 1.2 inch and look just like your average flash disk. The remote it comes with have a microphone for Alexa as well as simple buttons to operate or navigate the menus. However, you may also use the iOS and Android app to do the same thing.
Amazon Fire TV stick Features
First great thing with Amazon Fire TV stick is the simple set up. Taken from TECHRADAR what you need to do is only plug it and follow the instructions shows in the screen to pair the stick with your network. If you ever use the fire TV before, you may notice that the interface has been redesign and when you use it for a period, it will learn your habit and create the choices to better suit your preference.
The detail pages also improved with better design and more information about the program even with the IMDb part to discover more about the casts. Another great thing with the menu is now you can browse and organize your downloaded apps as well as suggested contents faster than ever. For another streaming media player, go check our previous article on Roku Premiere vs Roku Express here.
From the hardware, Amazon Fire TV stick improves their processor and connectivity. The new quad core is claimed to be 30% faster than its former version with 802.11ac Wi-fi to help you with more stable streaming or downloading and fasten the buffer. The later upgrade will be easily notice if you placed your router far from the TV. As for the RAM, this version still comes with 1GB RAM, which is enough and 8GB on board storage to store your downloaded apps and games.
Thanks to the quad core processor, browsing has been a breeze with faster loads as you going back and forth from menus and search. Another interesting feature in Amazon Fire TV stick is the Alexa in it and she is actually better than many other voice command systems out there, so you can ask her to search whatever you want, such as film name, actor or genre. You may also ask her about the weather, sport score, and checking the news.
About Chromecast
Chromecast is a streaming device from Google that you can use to access videos even when you don’t own a smart TV. Unlike those streaming device that comes with their own remote to control the device and TV, this one utilize your smartphone to give you what it can offer. When the device was first released it certainly becomes a big hit moreover, it comes in such an affordable price, so you don’t have to dig in too deep into your pocket to get the item.
Chromecast Design
As it has been said earlier, Chromecast is used with smartphone, so there is no remote control when you purchase them. The design of the device is quite uncommon and stands out from its peers for it shaped like your Google Chrome browser; circle with the logo on the surface. It also small and lightweight around 4 ounces, many people said that the size is just like your average cookies.
Chromecast Features
First great thing with Chromecast is the easy set up. What you need to do is only plug the device and install the app in your smartphone or laptop called the Home app then follow the instruction to connect the device with your network and pair it with your smartphone/laptop. What changes in the newer Chromecast is it runs with completely redesign application. Through this app, you can access all of your digital contents since it able to pull content from all the apps installed on the device that it can stream.
The most important updates with the app is now it will let you search for specific content across those installed apps and basically moving the device from just average streaming player to an all in one entertainment hub. It also support higher number of apps and Spotify is currently the biggest new addition to it since the former version didn’t let you stream music from Spotify to your TV. Another useful additions are the productivity apps like Google Doc and Polaris Office.
From the performance, Chromecast comes with 2.4GHz Wi-Fi frequency and 1.0GHz processor. It is not the best in its class, but it performs well, just make sure to not place your TV too far from the router since it may affect the streaming quality.
Comparison
Now, let’s compare Amazon Fire TV stick with Chromecast. Both streaming device works great, but they comes with some differences. The most and noticeable difference is the processor and connectivity; Amazon Fire TV stick is faster and better for it comes with 1.3GHz processor and dual band connectivity that can work between 2.4 and 5.0 GHz while Chromecast still used 1.0GHz processor and a Wi-Fi frequency at 2.4GHz.
Amazon Fire TV stick vs Chromecast
Conclusion
All in all, the decision is all yours to make. If your router is placed near your TV, Chromecast works great with the Home app from your other device as well as more affordable than its rival in this article. However, if you want smoother operation and faster streaming, we highly recommend you Amazon Fire TV stick.