Top positive review
160 people found this helpful
GREAT 4K UHD VIDEO STREAMING
By Mr. Big on Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2022
So, this is my third purchase of the Cube. I purchased one not long after it first came out, then another one late last year (I wanted the updated, latest and greatest version), and then I bought this one (on sale) not long ago, as a birthday gift for my son. We both have 4K TVs - I have the 65" 2021 LG C1 OLED TV, and he has a 65" Samsung (no idea which model). We both do a lot of streaming, and the Cube excels at 4K UHD content, with more and more of it appearing every month. NOTE: proper HDMI 2.2 cables are critical! Netflix seems to stream more 4K UHD content than anyone else, but Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, YouTube Premium, Paramount+ (all of which I subscribe to) are beginning to catch up. I also have a satellite feed for network TV, sports, national and local news. I can't comment on the Alexa or voice recognition features of the Cube, primarily because I don't use them. I'm old AND old school, and I flat refuse to talk to inanimate objects; including cars! I talk to our dog, our cats, my girlfriend/life partner and our friends and neighbors. Most LIVING things I can relate to. NON-living things; not so much. One thing I will comment on , though, is the new Cube remote control; it's GREAT! The original, old remote was/is a bit unpredictable at times, and the symbols on ALL the buttons wore off after a few short months. The new remote is rock solid, and after MORE than a few months, ALL the buttons still look pristine! It's a very simple remote to memorize, which doesn't take long at all, and to me, that's it's best virtue! One thing I dispise, though, is the Cube's sleep functionality. Specifically, there's no way to DISABLE it; at least that I can find in the various menus. I have and use an Amazon Photos account (I'm a photographer) as my Screen Saver to display my photos (as a playlist) That works great on a computer and cell phone, but after a relatively short period of time on the Cube, it puts itself to sleep, and there's NO WAY to disable that #×$%€£& functionality!! WHY do I hate that feature so much? When we have friends over, rather than watching a show or movie, and so we can talk without interruption, I like to start up the Screen Saver so I can display my latest photos for them to view. The downside is I have to manually scroll forward or backward periodically to prevent the Cube from putting itself to sleep, and I HATE having to do that!! That is THE most brain-dead feature I've ever come across! Whoever the developer is who came up with that feature should be FIRED! WHY do I have to do ANYTHING to keep displaying photos from my AMAZON PHOTOS ACCOUNT on my AMAZON FIRE TV CUBE?!? Why are those two things so obviously incompatable with each other?!? I don't have to do ANYTHING when I'm watching a movie or a documentary! Why does the Cube treat displaing photos as just wasting electricity and put itself to SLEEP!?! It's infuriating! What I've had to revert to is to install and set up a Plex server on my photo editing computer, install the Plex app on the Cube, create a Plex playlist of the photos I want to stream, run the Plex app on the Cube and select the Plex photos playlist so I can stream the EXACT SAME PHOTOS that are in my AMAZON PHOTOS ACCOUNT thru the Cube to my TV. Doing THAT is apparently is okay with the Cube's sleep function and it DOESN'T consider that to be wasting electicity and it DOESN'T put itself to sleep!?! Seriously?!? YES! SERIOUSLY! WHY DO I HAVE TO JUMP THROUGH ANY HOOPS AT ALL TO DISPLAY PHOTOS FROM MY AMAZON PHOTOS ACCOUNT ON MY AMAZON FIRE TV CUBE?!?! WHY CAN'T I DISABLE SLEEP MODE IN MY AMAZON FIRE TV CUBE?!? IS IT MY CUBE OR NOT?!? IS IT MY ELECTRICTY TO WASTE OR NOT!?! Explain THAT one to me in logical terms! Photos are PHOTOS! Why should it matter WHERE or WHAT app they come from?!? ANYWAY, aside from the Cube's brain-dead sleep functionality, I REALLY like the VERY high quality video it feeds my OLED TV! It is superb and as good as anything I've ever seen! I also have the latest version of the Roku Ultra (also purchased on Amazon), but I rarely use it anymore. Why? Well, the Roku user interface just seems very clunky, in a Windows 1.0 kind of way, if anyone out there in TV land can relate to that analogy. It's just not as elegant or as intuitive as the Cube's GUI (Grapical User Interface), which is VERY elegant, VERY modern, and HIGHLY intuitive! I'm sure all that is purely subjective, though. And that's how I see the Cube. If you're not a photographer or you don't have an Amazon Photo account and/or you have no interest in streaming photos from your Amazon Photo account directly to your Cube via its built-in Screen Saver, just ignore what I wrote about the Cube's brain-dead sleep function. Everything else I wrote about the Cube is the honest truth! It's GREAT for streaming 4K UHD movies and ANY other form of video content! It's also a bargain! HIGHLY recommended!
Top critical review
Of all the Alexa devices, this is the worst
By Alexa, where's my stuff? on Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2024
I don't even know where to start. I have had this FireTV Cube for a couple years now. I bought the first iteration of the Echo so I'm no stranger to Alexa and all her peccadilloes. I even teach senior citizens how to use these devices. But this FireTV Cube, while being an excellent concept, fails in application. I'll start with what I like. 1. Hands free operation is a real benefit. Sometimes I'm up to my elbows in dishwater and it's time for the news or a favorite program, so I can just (walk closer to the tv and) say “Alexa, play CNN on Hulu,” and it does it! I love this! 2. When searching for a movie or tv program, it searches across EVERYTHING, not just Prime Video. This is why I attach a FireTV to my Smart TV because the ability to find obscure programs is better on FireTV than with any others I have used. 3. The storage space on a FireTV Cube is about 5 gB more than on a FireTV stick. This is one of the main reasons I opted for the Cube - because by the time all the unwanted Amazon junk is loaded onto the stick, it doesn't leave much more room for the apps you may want to add. 4. Setup is super easy, just like a FireTV stick. 5. You can also pair a host of Bluetooth devices with it, to include other Echo devices. I am mildly hearing impaired so if I am working in the kitchen and want to hear the TV better, it pairs with my Echo Show in the kitchen and I don't miss anything. Now, here's what I don't like: 1. It turns on the TV and autoplays previews from the highlighted programs. At 3:00 am or just about anytime during the night, scaring the bejeebers out of the pets and me. And, because the TV is connected to a sound bar that is set to power on when the TV powers on, we get the full Dolby experience, whether we want it or not, while we're trying to sleep. The only way to avoid this is to either not allow it to control the TV, which negates the entire reason for having it, or connect it and the TV to a power strip that is turned off when not in use. I use a smart power strip that I can have Alexa turn on or off through another device locate in the kitchen. So, there's the cost of the cube, plus the investment in a smart power strip to prevent that Cube from waking up, waking the TV up, and waking all of us up. It's like toddler proofing the TV. 2. If you think you can use the functionality of Alexa while watching TV, I can only say this: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, bless your li'l heart. I have reminders and timers set on that Cube, so I don't forget important things like closing the chickens in their coop, or to take a cake out of the oven, you get the idea. So, the timer goes off, blocking off the ENTIRE viewing screen. It gives you two options: Snooze or Dismiss. If you select Dismiss, it dismisses not only the alarm, but whatever you're watching as well, and foes back to the home screen. If you like to pause the football game or movie to run to the bathroom real quick, and are then watching that live program a few minutes behind when those notifications go off, forget being able to catch up on what you've missed. Now you have to go back to your live TV app, open it up, and get back to whatever you were watching. 3. If you are watching YouTube, there's a whole different set of issues, the most important being that you can't use Alexa for anything other than controlling YouTube, and YouTube ONLY. For example, let's say you're watching a video of the Presidential Debate. You pause the video, and say “Alexa, what's on my calendar tomorrow?” Alexa's response is “Getting that from YouTube,” and it takes you to the YouTube search screen with search results for “What's on my calendar tomorrow?” Or, Alexa, what is two plus two?” Alexa responds with “Getting that from YouTube.” In other words, it can't walk and chew gum at the same time while on YouTube. It seems okay with other apps, though. 4. Like MicroSoft Windows products on a PC, there is a lot of junk pre-loaded onto the Cube that eats up a storage space, and you can't uninstall it. The same is true of the FireTV Stick which has much less storage space than the Cube. 5. In notifications it gives all these weird things like “progress notification: progressing.” Um. Okay? 6. Even with “Volume leveler” turned on, the volume is inconsistent across apps. One app I need to turn way down and another I need to turn way up. So, volume leveler…doesn't. 7. The option for Alexa to “Favor this device,” doesn't. It's hit and miss. 8. No “sleep” option - to have it power down and sleep after a specified amount of time. And there's no command to have Alexa do it unless you create a routine. And even then, it still pops back on in the middle of the night. CONCLUSION: This device is not worth the cost, overall. The better VALUE is a simple FireTV stick. It will give you the same benefits and the same problems for a fraction of the cost.
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