Though New York City is defined by its endless list of things to do, I will say that some of my fondest memories while living in this bustling metropolis have involved staying inside my apartment and watching TV shows with my friends and roommates.
The Fire TV Stick 4K ($49.99), Amazon's streaming media stick, has made enjoying our favorite entertainment easy — maybe even too easy. If I ever tell you I'm busy, what's really happening is I'm at home, settled into a drama, comedy, or reality show. If not for the media streamer, I'd be stuck watching it on a tiny laptop screen, or paying excessive money for a cable subscription.
The Fire TV Stick is a USB stick-sized device that you plug into your TV. It lets you access shows, movies, and music from a variety of apps and services, including Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and Spotify. It comes with a light and slim Alexa Voice Remote to navigate the menu.
Getting your Fire TV Stick set up only takes a few steps. You plug the stick into your TV's HDMI port, connect the stick to your nearest wall outlet, and then complete the set-up process on your TV screen.
Using the Fire TV Stick requires a Wi-Fi connection. The stronger and faster your connection, the better your viewing experience will be. If you experience Wi-Fi issues, you might want to use the included HDMI extender to improve reception.
Once you're on the main screen, you can sign into your various accounts (e.g. Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Spotify, etc.). The media streamer is a great accessory to own if you live in a shared space because every person can contribute their individual account information and cover all the major streaming services. In my apartment, for example, we use my roommate's Netflix and Hulu accounts, my Prime Video and Spotify accounts, and my other roommate's CBS All Access account.
All of them live on the main screen, which is easy and intuitive to navigate. You can go to individual apps and browse entertainment options there, or, if you're looking for a specific movie or TV show, you can search it directly from the homepage. The layout of all the pages and the user-friendly controls let you quickly find and watch the content you want, even if you've never used a media streaming player before. I don't consider myself a tech expert, but even I became comfortable with the Fire TV Stick after just a few uses.
As you use it, your most-visited apps will float to the forefront of all the app options, and you'll also be able to jump directly to shows or movies you recently watched or paused.
Since the remote has Alexa built in, you can control your viewing experience in fewer steps (you do still have to hold down the voice button on the remote in order to activate it). In case you temporarily lose the remote in the cracks of your couch, there's a Fire TV app that lets you control the TV through your phone.
While the original Fire TV Stick only supports Dolby Audio and up to 1080p (HD) picture quality, the Fire TV Stick 4K supports Dolby Atmos and up to 4K Ultra-HD picture quality, including HDR, HDR 10, Dolby Vision, HLG, and HDR10+. This means your videos and movies are sharper and more vivid, and the audio (on select Prime Video titles) is more immersive.
The Fire TV Stick 4K is also faster and provides a smoother experience — it has a 1.7 GHz quad-core processor versus the original Stick's 1.3 GHz processor.
Whenever I'm home, I can start watching or listening to anything on the big screen in just 30 seconds. Watching an explosion-packed action scene or tear-jerking romance heart breaker becomes that much more immersive and enjoyable because of the Fire TV Stick 4K.
The small but powerful tech accessory always goes on sale during major retail holidays such as Prime Day and Black Friday/Cyber Monday, but even at its regular price of $50, it's a worthy purchase that you'll use over and over again.
