Fire TV Cube, with AI-powered Fire TV Search, Hands-free streaming device with Alexa, Wi-Fi 6E, 4K Ultra HD

I’ve been a loyal Fire Stick user for years, but I finally hit a breaking point with the constant lag and "loading" wheels. I decided to splurge on the Cube during a sale, and after two weeks of heavy use, I can honestly say I should have done this a long time ago. The Speed is Real: If you’re coming from a Stick, the first thing you’ll notice is how snappy it is. Apps like Netflix and Disney+ open almost instantly. There’s no stuttering when scrolling through the home screen, which used to drive me crazy. It feels more like a high-end gaming console than a little streaming box. Hands-Free Alexa (The "Magic" Factor): This is the feature I thought I wouldn't use, but now I’m hooked. Being able to walk into the living room with a bowl of popcorn and just say, "Alexa, play The Bear on Hulu" without hunting for the remote is a game-changer. It even turns my TV and soundbar on for me. It basically turned my living room into a hands-free Echo Show. Pros: • The Processor: Zero lag. Period. It handles 4K content like it’s nothing. • Connectivity: It has an Ethernet port and an extra HDMI-in port. I actually plugged my cable box into it so I can switch to live TV just by asking Alexa. • Wi-Fi 6E: My router is in the other room, but the connection has been rock solid with no buffering. Cons (The "Real Talk"): • The Price: It’s definitely an investment. If you only watch TV for an hour a week, it’s probably overkill. • No HDMI Cable: For this price, Amazon really should include an HDMI cable in the box. Make sure you have a spare 4K-rated one ready to go. • The Ads: Like all Fire TV products, the home screen is still pretty cluttered with sponsored content/ads. You get used to it, but it’s there. If you’re a "power user" who hates waiting for apps to load, or if you just want to control your entire home theater with your voice, this is the best device Amazon makes. It’s powerful, smart, and actually makes the TV experience feel "premium."

Update 11/12/25: So after having written the below review I decided I should give an update to the issues below. I've had other streaming devices since then and I have to admit that the fire tv cube beats them all. Reasons: The" best available" setting is actually the best setting. What it does is that ot converts DD+ sound to Multichannel pcm which is a lossless and uncompressed quality and passes it to the AVR. The AVR will show Multichannel 5.1 . It is the best sound you can get. I came to this conclusion after months of testing and research. Roku ultra has passthrough but it just passes the compressed format DD+ to the AVR so the AVR displays DD+. The TV turning off big is fixed. 10/4/23 update: Now another bug has appeared. When I watch on my LG C3 OLED TV the TV turns off automatically after a while. Sound continues but no picture. I initially thought it was my tv. Got another unit ,same TV, and the same issue happened. Then I decided to watch ony Roku ultra and have not had any problems so far. Tried the cube again 2 days ago and issue returned. I even turned off equipment control and reset the cube but didn't work. So now I'm not using it. It's just sitting there looking pretty. 7/23/23: Just to update that the video issue has been fixed. The audio issue not so. 11/23/22: Still no fix. Reverts to 1080p despite setting to Auto. Now noticing jitter or stutter on video when playing 4k content. Changed settings of Match frame rate to on but didn't resolve issue. Constantly checking display settings. Given up and using my other streaming device with no issues. Did not expect this from Amazon. 11/15/22: So since purchasing this there have been a number of updates installed but NONE have fixed the issue of sound and display settings as mentioned in my previous updates. This is truly disappointing and makes me want to use this device less often than I would like to. 11/9/22: Still issue with display resolution defaulting to 1080p. Always have to check before playing something. No fix. Not acceptable for a "high-end device" Update 10/29/22: Still no luck on best available sound settings outputting DD+. But now another issue. Whenever I awaken the cube the display resolution defaults to 1080p even though I set it to Auto(up to 4K). It's frustrating to have to change this every time I want to watch something. So many bugs! I've had many fire tv sticks over the years and also a 2nd Gen cube which I returned because it wouldn't play Dolby vision. Thought I'd give this a try since all the upgrades were compelling. Faster, built-in Ethernet port, HDMI in, supporting all sound and picture formats. So I set it up withy TCL tv and Sony receiver . Setup was a breeze. It recognized my TV and receiver. For some reason the picture quality in display settings was defaulted to 1080p. I changed it to upto 4K. Sound settings were "best available ". When I played content it would only play in PCM (stereo). I tried Dolby digital and Dolby Atmos content. Dolby Atmos would play as Atmos +PCM, not Atmos +DD+ as it should. I checked ally settings on the TV and receiver and all was good but couldn't get DD+. Called tech support and was told that it may be a software issue and may get fixed in a future update. Really??. All the hype about how this device is the fastest and best on picture and sound yet it can't output "best available" sound. I'm sure best available is not PCM. Tech told me to set the sound settings to Dolby digital plus. That corrected the issue but it was a let down. I'm hoping it doesn't revert back to PCM. Will see how it goes and update but so far disappointed. The super resolution setting really doesn't add much to enhance the picture quality of SD or even 720 or 1080p resolution. And that was one of the main features that enticed me to buy it. Update 7/2/23: The video resolution issue is now fixed but the audio issue still persists.

I have used one for streaming for around 6 months now and just purchased a second Fire TV Cube for another TV. This has replaced an earlier generation Fire TV unit that I often had to power cycle and could be quite slow to respond. The Fire TV cube has worked flawlessly. I power up TV in the morning and it is right there ready to go. I recently switch from cable TV to all YouTube TV (I have gigabit fibre internet) and the picture is great, no delay or picture quality issues. If you take a little time to arrange the channel icons so you frequently accessed ones are conveniently located the ease of use matches a cable box pretty well. Set up is really simple as well.