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

So my old smart tv was really struggling. Too often my TV was freezing or forcing reboots and I just had a feeling it had to do with the processor being a little old and not being able to keep up with running all my subscriptions and apps. It's a 65 inch, so replacing it entirely would be out of my budget at this time.The fire cube gave my TV a second life!Now if you've ever owned an alexa device, you probably know the first time powering on and setting up your device takes ages. Well that was especially true in my experience with the fire cube. PLEASE NOTE! it does require an ARC HDMI!! Sometimes you have to turn on ARC in your TV settings, and it's usually a dedicated HDMI port. This was my first problem.After I got that figured out, it probably took about 30 minutes to allow my cube to update and work at full capacity.But once the initial set up was done, I did have a few minor bugs for the first week. Sometimes I'd turn the TV off with the cube remote and audio would continue to play and I'd have to manually turn off the cube with it's physical button. This only happened two or three times.However, since pairing my alexa studios, this problem hasn't reoccured.Now I do have a switch that will trip my breaker if it accedntly gets flipped, and my cube and wifi are on the same breaker. So I do have to delete and repair my home theater when this happens, for some reason it completely ruins the connection and I'm not sure if it's because all my devices go offline, or if the cube can't reestablish connection on its own.Now, with all the quirks mentioned and dealt with. I love my fire cube!! Paired with my alexa studios watching TV or listening to music on my speaker group is awesome! There's one quirk about the home theater that irks me, but that's already been mentioned in my review for the studios.As for the cube itself though, I don't have any of the old issues I was having with my smart tv! Actually browsing different apps and my overall experience is much easier and intuitive! I love that I can use my voice to talk to the remote, or any of my alexa devices set to control the cube to immediately open an app or go straight to a movie or show. I got the remote Pro and I love the additional 2 custom buttons, along with the light up feature in the dark. And the "find remote" function works perfectly!! No more arguing over who lost the remote! LolMy partner was extremely skeptical about adding another alexa device to our home, he's not as tech savvy as I am, and he prefers to use his phone for smart controls. But even he has really enjoyed the fire cube! And honestly, that says a lot about this device!Initial setup may be rocky depending on person to person, but once it's running at full capacity, it's an excellent device for upgrading an existing TV that isn't smart, giving a second life to a smart TV that's having difficulty, and even for the home theater set up.If your buying a cube or fire stick for the theater set up, 1000% recommend two alexa studios. THIS WILL REPLACE ANY EXISTING AUDIO SET UP YOU HAVE THOUGH!!! theater mode cannot be paired with existing soundbars or other speakers.... Honestly not happy about that part... However!! The sound and quality I got from switching was worth it for me, though I had hoped to enhance my set up and not replace it...With that said, this is a perfect addition to your smart home journey.( would not recommend standard alexa speakers for home theater, even a cheap soundbar out performs two Alexas, but in my opinion, the alexa studios are a great trade even without the optional sub woofer.)The cube is capable of being a standalone alexa device if you don't have other devices, and on its own, the cube will play audio through a soundbar, TV, and I believe even an auxiliary audio source if you choose not to do a home theater with Alexa but don't quote me on that last one because I didn't try it.The cube can also easily pair to Bluetooth devices, so at night, I like to use my wireless earbuds without being too noisy.Like I said the cube can be a stand alone alexa device if you don't have any other alexa devices, so if your on the fence about a smart assistant, this could be a really great way to break into that, while still having a device that can do more than just being a smart assistant.

Extremely impressed and happy with this newest model of Fire TV Cube. I can connect via ethernet net as well as add external USB flash drive storage. This cube was easy to set-up connection to my internet/router and both my TV and my receiver, plus the Alexa integration has made it practically hands free operation. Functionality has been flawless - changing chanels, adjusting volume, etc. The only disappointment is that many apps are not moveable to the external drive, but that's not the fault of the cube. Those that do move do work almost as quickly as if they were loaded internally. This unit is a great new design, and I would recommend it to any fire stick user looking for more versatility and elimination of most buffering issue.

My review will be very short ,all I can said is if you looking for a replacement for Nvidia Shield to do Dolby Atmos-Dts:X/Dolby Vision -Hdr10+ on your Plex server and Kodi , you search is over , for less money I can passthrough without issues all my Blu-ray rip library to plex and enjoy all the goodies of Dolby Atmos -Vision for less money vs Nvidia shield

I am a big fan of Amazon products. I have FireTV products going back to the stick. I currently use my FireTV (Gen3), FireTV Cube (Gen2), and FireTV Cube (Gen3). Comparing FireTV Cube (Gen 2) with FireTV (Gen3), I am displeased with the external speaker in Gen3--it is muffly sounding and the internal microphone is less sensitive than Gen2. Setting up my Xfinity Cable TV box with Gen3 is easier than Gen2 because Gen3 has a built-in direct HDMI input connector for the cable box but you need to select the input in FireTV Cube and be sure you change it from HDMI to Cable and FireTV Cube (Gen3) will then properly setup your cable TV box location and programming guide; sometimes FireTV Cube (Gen3) cannot passthrough the TV's Dolby audio signal and there's no sound when using Cable TV. The solution is to set the FireTV Cube (Gen3) to PCM audio. Setting up my Samsung Soundbar was better in Gen3 than Gen2 because when the soundbar model series is not found FireTV Cube (Gen3) like mine which is a new soundbar and not found by FireTV Cube the software will allow you to manually setup compatibility using the soundbar remote control but you have to go through the whole setup process before it will give you this option this is dumb and it needs to be a readily accessible option in the settings software. It also takes much longer to program this way but it works better than not having the specific soundbar model number listed in FireTV Cube. Setting up my new Sony Bravia UHD 75-inch TV was smooth and no issues there. Try not to change any software settings in your TV and FireTV unless you start having issues and work the issues one step at a time. A big disapoinment with FireTV Cube (Gen3) is that it no longer let's you sideload apps as easily as Gen2 which only required allowing unknown sources and using the Downloader App to install apps that are not in the Amazon AppStore. So far I have not seen a way to override security features in the Android-based operating system to allow third-party apps to be installed in FireTV Cube (Gen3). Making FireTV Cube (Gen3) work smoothly with Amazon Alexa Skills and the Alexa App is no fun experience either. Depending on how many FireTV Cubes and other FireTV devices you have in your home it can cause all sorts of voice command problems. The best thing to do is rename all your devices in the Alexa App to the specific FireTV location where the device is connected, for example, if you have a FireTV Cube in your family room and also in your bedroom then name the devices "Family Room TV" and "Main Bedroom TV" and do the same for your CableTV Boxes listed in the Alexa App. Alexa will eventually learn your devices and you can send voice commands without unexpected results. Nonetheless, the Alexa App software working with FireTV is a bit glitchy and needs refinement. Overall, I recommend FireTV Cube (Gen3) and I hope Amazon will push software improvements on a regular basis for the Alexa App and FireTV Cube.UPDATE 6-3-23I was able to find some compatibility settings in my Comcast Cable Box that helped fix the audio somtimes not passing through to FireTV Cube. If you have a Comcast Cable Box check that your audio is set to the advanced audio settings and make sure your HDMI is set to pass through to your TV.After having repeat problems with my FireTV Cube not properly communicating with my compatible Samsung Soundbar with FireTV Cube somtimes muting but not unmuting the sound when sending voice commands to Alexa to change the cable channel, or lower/raise the volume, or ask about anything such as weather, time, etc. while the TV and soundbar are on. The conflict in the two devices turned out to be a simple issue. If you connect your soundbar to your TV using the ARC HDMI port then you don't need to setup your soundbar with FireTV Cube because when you already setup your TV with FireTV Cube the soundbar is automatically controlled through ARC. When a voice command is sent to Alexa on FireTV Cube the TV will handle the voice commands and pass the signal to your soundbar via ARC. This was a very annoying issue and there wasn't any help on FireTV Cube to guide the customer about it.UPDATE 4-18-23Fire TV Cube Gen 3 is still glitchy at times with Alexa running slow or not responsive to voice commands and because the cable box is now connected directly to the Fire TV Cube there are sometimes glitches in the sound. These issues are not frequent but still annoying. If you want to access Developer Options you need to select in Settings > My Fire TV > About, and click on "About" several times until the Developer Options are activated. You can then turn on ADB Debugging and Unknown Sources. Keep in mind that every app you access that is used to install third-party apps will need to be approved in Developer Options, so if you use the Downloader app to access a third-party app it won't install the app you downloaded until you agree to allow Downloader to access apps from Unknown Sources. You only need to do this once. You can also install apps directly from the USB port on the back of the device. You can format the USB drive in NTFS and save the APK file from your PC to the USB drive then plug the USB drive into your Fire TV Cube to install the APK file. There is a simple File Explorer app in the Amazon appstore that works well to access the flash drive to install the APK file. You can also use ES File Explorer but this app has a lot of other features and you can get the installation done fast with the simple File Explorer app. Good luck and enjoy your Fire TV Cube Gen 3.