Amazon's most powerful Fire TV Stick yet comes with Wi-Fi 6 and a killer price
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While Amazon is not yet ready to unveil any new Echo hardware, most likely reserving a bunch of upgraded smart speakers and/or smart displays for a product launch event later this fall, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max (yes, really) has arrived with little to no fanfare ahead of an October 7 delivery start.
The impossibly named new streaming device joins the "standard" Fire TV Stick, as well as the Fire TV Stick Lite and Fire TV Stick 4K, in an extensive product lineup that's pretty much as confusing as it is diverse.
As pointed out by Amazon, this bad boy is in fact the "only streaming media device" equipped with Wi-Fi 6 connectivity under $179. 179 bucks, of course, is how much the newest Apple TV 4K box costs, while the Fire TV Stick 4K Max starts at a way more reasonable $54.99.
The Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick, and Fire TV Stick Lite are all still available from their manufacturers (at discounted prices at the time of this writing) if the Fire TV Stick 4K Max feels too rich for your blood, but if you've ever been dissatisfied with the overall power or navigation experience of any of those cheaper models, you should absolutely give the Max variant a shot. Unless, of course, you're willing to wait for next year's Fire TV Stick 4K Max Pro.
Jokes aside, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max certainly offers a lot of bang for your buck, also including more RAM than all of its forerunners, Live View Picture-in-Picture functionality allowing you to check your front door camera without stopping or pausing your Netflix binge, and naturally, a third-gen Alexa Voice Remote with TV controls at no extra cost.
All of the latest video and audio technologies are also baked in, from 4K UHD to HDR, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos, but that's actually no different from what the Fire TV Stick 4K has going for it.
Of course, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is Amazon's "most powerful streaming stick" yet, with a "new" quad-core 1.8GHz processor under its hood that promises to deliver a substantial 40 percent improvement in raw speed compared to the quad-core 1.7GHz CPU inside the Fire TV Stick 4K.
Speaking of speeds, it's perhaps even more impressive that the Fire TV Stick 4K Max supports the latest Wi-Fi 6 technology, thus being capable of providing (at least in theory) "smoother" 4K video streaming and cloud gaming experiences than basically all of its direct rivals right now.
Then again, that's definitely not what we'd call a fair comparison for a multitude of crystal clear reasons, with Amazon instead targeting the likes of the Chromecast with Google TV and Roku Streaming Stick+, both of which are typically priced at $49.99.
Jokes aside, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max certainly offers a lot of bang for your buck, also including more RAM than all of its forerunners, Live View Picture-in-Picture functionality allowing you to check your front door camera without stopping or pausing your Netflix binge, and naturally, a third-gen Alexa Voice Remote with TV controls at no extra cost.
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