Amazon.com.au:Customer reviews: Fire TV Stick | Stream Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube, Disney+ and more

Top positive review

Great Device But No Aussie Content

5 January 2018

Great performing device but it’s clearly been rushed to release just like the Amazon Australia website (-that lacks decent filters/categories). No Aussie apps, no ABC iView, no Ten Play, no nothing Australian. Registered for technical call back via Amazon.com.au, Amazon UK called me back, understandably didn’t have a clue about Aussie channels/content, they transferred me to Amazon US who stated that the stick only comes with US channels...I pointed out that the UK Stick had UK App channels like BBC iPlayer, long pause, eventually found an Australian contact number. Rang the number, Australian Kindle Support, eventually advises there’s no Aussie apps at the moment. Again good device but it’s not set up for Oz at the moment.

That all said I’ve been spoilt with Amazon UK over the years. I’ll stay positive, it’s fantastic that Amazon have decided to come to Oz, what you see today will look very different in 12 months time I’m sure of it. Amazon delivery is top notch, their funded TV Series are all very strong and highly rated, the website and offers will change significantly as content increases (-seriously needs some better filtering of product categories!), and in this case well done to Amazon for not screwing the Aussie’s on price. The Fire TV Stick, while classed as Basic Edition, performs really well for current content (-Netflix, and Kodi Krypton was simple to install and runs better than my old Android box), and hopefully ABC, Ten, Freview FV etc get their current Android Apps tweaked and available in the near future.

Update 9 March 18: And for those suggesting that this is the ‘old’ model, well yes it doesn’t come with the voice control but this is the latest 1.3GHz quad-core device, the previous series was 1GHz. After a few months of operation I’m really enjoying this device, great Kodi and Netflix performance, just one star off due to lack of Aussie app support (-recognising that this is more to do with the app providers, hopefully changes as Amazon roll out Prime and more competitive services).

178 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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Paulo

Disappointed with the product - Smart Home Unfriendly

3 September 2018

I am really disappointed with this product due to the fact that it is incompatible with Alexa and my Echo devices!

As a regular customer of Amazon services, and home automation enthusiast, I felt amazed when I read in many ebooks available in the Kindle store that with the Amazon Fire Stick TV and my Echo devices I could finally enable the total control of my entertainment system through voice commands - searching/playing different series, movies, channels, and other amazing functions (reason why I bought the Fire Stick device rather than other competitor video streamers).

However, after couple minutes of conversation with the Customer Service, who friendly tried to explain me that I was wrong for expecting this capability, that the Basic Version commercialised in Australia does not support this integration, and being pushed with question technically difficult for an average person to remember in details, like why I believed that I could expect that, where I saw that 'this BASIC version' does include this capability and what version (1s, 2nd, 3rd GEN) was mentioned in the ebooks that I read regarding Alexa/Echo/Fire TV - I got the conclusion that the purchase was a bad decision.

I believe that it would be correct from Amazon to clarify that this device doesn't support this function and also review the content that is available on Kindle store, which makes you believe that with any FIRE TV DEVICE, not mentioning differences in versions such as Basic, 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation you can have the benefits of an integration with Alexa. To conclude, I am really disappointed considering my original expectations about this device.

43 people found this helpful

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K Wares

Great Device But No Aussie Content

5 January 2018

Verified Purchase

178 people found this helpful

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44 Comments

Good but limited functionality in Australia

19 September 2018

Verified Purchase

What this does it does really well - it's compact and simple to set up, the remote is simple but functional (no voice control), it connects easily to wifi and the interface is intuitive and fast and looks good. Netflix and Prime work really well on it. I knew when I purchased this that it didn't have Australian content and I didn't think I'd mind but after about a week of using it I found it was too limited and I ended up returning it. It didn't have Stan, SBS, ABC iView, 7, 9, 10 or Optus Sport - all of which I realised in the end I was going to want. If you're happy mainly just watching Netflix and Prime then this is very affordable, I was impressed with how easy it was to set up and use and it certainly did everything it claimed to do. Also I guess eventually they'll offer more Aussie content so it would be worth checking if it's been updated. But for my purposes after using it for a while, although it was really nice to use and a good price, the lack of local content meant it didn't really meet my needs.

6 people found this helpful

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11 Comment

Hamish

Limited functionality/streaming/Amazon integration in Australia

28 December 2018

Verified Purchase

The Basic version is pretty limited, but it does get Prime Video to your big screen.
If you are looking for similar functionality to the Chromecasts and Google Home integration then this isn't the device for you.

I got this device mainly to bring Prime Video into the house on a big screen as a Prime subscriber.
This does work - but the device doesn't integrate well into an Australian Amazon household.
I expected the same integration with my other Amazon devices and apps I'd seen with Amazon's other devices.
Sadly I was quite disappointed.

The issues:

- Unavailable apps - A number of main stream apps like ABC iView, YouTube aren't available. (Stan has recently become available).

- No searching for apps, and no searching from the Home screen.
This makes it frustrating to find applications. You need to resort to the Amazon apps on your phone.
You'd think you could quickly find a Movie from the home screen.
Self contained apps like Netflix work as expected. The Prime Video app does have searching.

- No casting from Prime Video app (casting from the Netflix app works as expected)
It seems like a no-brainer for Amazon to support. But no you can't cast from the Prime Video app to the Fire TV.
You need to find it, start playing (or perhaps use your WatchList I didn't try this). Then go to the Fire TV and it will appear. Then launch it. sigh...

- No (or perhaps limited) Alexa voice support
Alexa integration doesn't happen out of the box (like expected). This looks like a limitation of the Basic model.
But seems to me to be a mainly software limitation. Alexa appears to integrate if you install the Fire TV app, and I can see it via the Alexa app (web or phone). However for me the voice commands via the FireTV app don't appear to do anything. Also talking to Alexa directly to search and play content doesn't work.

5 people found this helpful

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RayNorris

No good for Australian content

18 October 2019

Verified Purchase

I bought this to get Freeview (which Amazon says it supports) so I can watch the Australian TV channels, as we have poor free-to-air reception. It's completely useless for Australian content. You can get Freeview in just about every country except Australia, but Amazon ' bothered to get a free view licence for Australia. Even worse, it doesnt support ABC, iview, or any of the other Australian channels. It's only any good for watching American TV, Netflix, etc.

4 people found this helpful

0Comment

28 January 2019

You're better off getting a chrome cast - better functionality at a quarter of the cost. Not only does this unit not come with the Alexa remote, it is incapable of integrating with anything else in the Amazon smart home Echo system. It appears as though it is integrated, but it does nothing. All the documentation online which suggests this device is in any way useful is technically "US only", and most of the features have been deliberately disabled for the Australian market. All the apps are very US-centric, and all but a few work poorly in AU. Obvious ones, like ABC iView, simply don't exist. The only thing it _can_ do is show Amazon Prime video, and there are dozens of cheaper devices on the market which can do that, so I'm not sure why they even bothered to launch this here. Seriously, come back when they have a working model.

2 people found this helpful

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BarryN

Not customised for Australia

22 March 2019

Verified Purchase

This device is a great idea for those of us who do not have a SMART TV. Unfortunately it was made for the USA and most of the pre-programmed streaming sites are not available here. It cannot be used to stream ABC iView or the commercial stations Freeview services. I had to buy Chromecast instead.

3 people found this helpful

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0Comment

DaveC

*Updated* Good (was - Very Fickle - reboots a lot)

23 April 2019

Verified Purchase

*updated*
I was contacted by amazon and they sent me a new unit, which fixed my reboot problems. Much happier now. Some aspects of the UI are a bit clunky, but for streaming it works great. It would be nice if some of the Australian streaming services were available such as iview.

*old review*
I've had a lot of issues with this device. It liked to randomly reboot when I used the remote to navigate between elements. I think I had at least 5 restarts just doing the initial installs. I found a web page that said to try unplugging other hdmi devices and that helped a lot. I have a 3 way hdmi splitter that had a nintendo switch plugged into it, so when I took it out the fire stick stopped rebooting all the time. But having said that the problem is still not completely gone, it will randomly restart, just not as often. I would have liked for the device to just replace the chrome cast, but since there is no app for abc iview or animelab its not feasible.

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Russell

Unless all you want is Amazon video, don't bother.

7 November 2018

Verified Purchase

Disappointed with this product. We have a roku we bought in US but got this so we could load stan and other Australian content. The Roku has a much more intuitive interface and can be powered by our TV but the fire stick has a mess on screen and needs its on power. Plus whilst it does have Netflix and Stan, it doesn't support abc iview, sbs on demand etc. Disappointed.

2 people found this helpful

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James

Great device, lacking local content

26 July 2018

Verified Purchase

It meets my expectations as far as user experience is concerned. The Prime Video, Netflix and Plex apps work great. The UI is quicker than I'd thought it would be. I hope that they improve the regional aspects and make Australian content available, such as ABC iView and SBS OnDemand.
Overall if you know what you're getting and you're looking for a relatively cheap but useful streaming device then the FireTV is great.

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