Amazon has launched its own range of 4K TVs. The company has preinstalled its software on sets made by companies like TCL and Sharp before, but these are described as the first "Amazon-built TVs".
Not only that, it's launched a new Fire TV Stick too.
The TVs are split into two ranges: the Amazon Fire TV Omni Series and Amazon Fire TV 4-Series. The Omni is the higher-end range, boasting Dolby Vision, HDR 10, HLG, and Dolby Digital Plus, as well as hands-free controls using the Alexa voice assistant. This is always on, even when the TV is off. And as well as finding something to watch, you can use it to adjust volume, brightness, and switch inputs.
The Omni Series has smart home features, like picture-in-picture for checking your home video cameras, and a Ring doorbell feed that pops up when someone is at the door (Ring is owned by Amazon). It will also get a smart home dashboard before the end of the year for more comprehensive controls.
The Omni Series comes in 43-, 50-, 55-, 65-, and 75-inch sizes, but only the 65- and 75-inch models have Dolby Vision (the others have to make do with HDR10).
Step down to the 4-Series, and you still get 4K picture quality, HDR 10, and Dolby Digital Plus. It too has voice controls, but you'll need to press the button on the remote control (the Omni Series has far-field mics built into the TV itself, so you don't need to use the remote).
The 4-Series only comes in 43-, 50- and 55-inch sizes.
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There are some other features coming soon, too. Say "Alexa, what should I watch?" and the voice assistant will serve up recommendations. Say "Alexa, play something" and it'll activate the 'Play something' feature from Netflix, while "Alexa, play TikTok" will launch the video-based social media app. These will come to the Amazon TVs as well as its Fire TV Sticks.
Both TVs support Alexa home theatre audio mode, which lets a pair of Echo speakers act as its stereo speakers.
The TVs have only been announced for the US at the moment. Pricing is as follows:
They both lack 4K@120Hz, but they do have auto low-latency mode (ALLM), which will mostly benefit gamers.
(Image credit: Amazon)
Amazon has also announced a new Fire TV Stick. The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max has more power, more memory and a quicker Wi-Fi-6 connection. It's apparently 40 per cent faster than the standard Fire TV Stick 4K, thanks to its new quad-core 1.8GHz processor and 2GB of RAM. There's also a new faster 750MHz GPU and ALLM for the gamers. It also uses 15 per cent less power in low power mode than the Fire TV Stick 4K.
Unlike the TVs, it's available in more countries than just the US. It costs £54.99 ($54.99, AU$TBC) and will ship on 7th October.
Joe has been writing about tech for 20 years, first on staff at T3 magazine, then in a freelance capacity for Stuff, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine (now defunct), Men's Health, GQ, The Mirror, Trusted Reviews, TechRadar and many more. His specialities include all things mobile, headphones and speakers that he can't justifying spending money on.
