$99. Quad core processor, dedicated GPU (just quoting Jeff), 2GB RAM, voice controls. Android powered. Separate game controller is $40.
That game controller really is hideous.
Wake me up when Amazon video service comes to Canada.
My wife and I have been talking this over since the announcement. We’ve been trying to decide on the best way to be able to watch Prime on the TV since we let our son’s Xbox live sub go and this really seems to fit what we’re looking for as we’re already invested into the Amazon ecosystem (Prime & Kindle). Not sure if we’ll jump on it before we see some reviews though.
At least it ships today. Reviews will come very fast.
I ordered one with controller…and then cancelled. I want to see how thoroughly this thing gets hacked (say full google play store) before I pick one up. I don’t want to have to rebuy android apps again on the amazon app store. I see plex is supported.
I read about this 3 hours ago and didn’t bother making a thread. It’s not very interesting as a home media device at $99, and it’s completely non-interesting as a gaming console.
I guess if the reviews come in and say it’s really fast, it would be a compelling alternative to the appletv and roku3. But it’s nothing earth shattering.
The Snapdragon 8064 is a year old SoC, but does pretty well in the world of SoCs. Near parity with iPad 3rd gen, blows away Tegra 3. So it should do fine in typical Android games, but it’s no desktop GPU or CPU by any means.
Minecraft Pocket Edition, Cut the Rope, and Angry Birds all huge on your TV! That’s exactly what we want, right?
I want to see the Fire TV up against the Ouya in a battle for what stusser could be less interested in.
No?
45
This looks nice, but the $50 Roku streaming stick does all of this already. The only feature of note I saw is 7.1 HDMI passthru.
Actually, it looks like it supports full android Plex (as opposed to the horrible UI in the Roku implementation), and it’s likely that the full XBMC will run too. That’s pretty sweet. It also covers the major media sources; Netflix, Amazon (obviously), Youtube, and Hulu+. No HBO GO or cable company channels yet, though.
There’s a good chance this will pass the Roku3 for the high-end integrated media streamer of choice. I’m waiting for reviews, but if they come in as expected I’ll pass one of my roku3s on to my parents and pick one up.
Vesper, every roku other than the roku3 is quite slow. I suggest trying it before recommending it. That extra $50 buys enough speed to transform it from something I consider frustratingly unusable to great.
Exactly. I’d hate to be sitting on Roku stock right now. I like the feature set, $100 for a box with HDMI, an ethernet plug, surround sound support (including TOSLINK), an RF remote, and lots of RAM and processor overhead. It probably has enough juice to serve as an IPTV box for Uverse, like they did with the 360 a while back (although that did get turned off a while back for not clearly stated reasons, maybe AT&T’s not interested in sharing).
But HBO go is conspicuously absent here (it’s the only un-checked box in the comparison sheet), so I wonder if there’s an issue.
I would be very interested to see how this thing runs XBMC and streams audio/video from network sources.
Also didn’t see Crunchyroll listed.
It’s not listed yet, but it is on Android (and in the amazon appstore) so odds are it will get in there.
I currently use a custom HTPC for Plex on my main TV and a Chromecast by my treadmill. I’ve been thinking about replacing it with something else due to some Chromecast issues. If the Roku interface is that bad, I’d definitely skip it. I’m spoiled by my HTPC having an awesome Plex experience.
The roku plex UI is functional, but it doesn’t compare to the real android/iOS/desktop UIs. It complies with the Roku SDK, which is very limited.
I see no reason to buy this over a Roku 3, unless you want to play shitty mobile games with what looks like a controller designed from ergonomic hell.
It should be much faster and hopefully will let you sideload apps (like XBMC). Since it’s based on android, all those android apps should be relatively easy to port, many already were for googletv.
Downside is no headphone jack on the remote and no HBO GO (at launch, anyway).