During most of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, the pandemic forced the world to shelter away from society. During this time, streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and others have become increasingly popular. All these platforms are accessible through a phone or laptop, but to enjoy your shows on a large screen gets complicated with adding wires and broadcasting to the screen. This is where the companies Amazon, Roku, and Apple stepped in to create the perfect streaming device for all home TVs.
Amazon is known as one of the largest online retailors in the world. Their popularity is almost comparable to other sites like Alibaba and Aliexpress. With the creation of the Fire TV, Amazon has allowed their users to have all of their favorite streaming services in one place. The best part is that this system is very low power and has support for older model TVs to use their included remote to control features such as volume and power.
Some of the most popular streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ have a dedicated button on the remote for quicker actions. The fire stick, in most cases, boots before the TV itself which further enhances the user’s experience. User friendly interface allows customers to add apps, games, and features in seconds that allow you to custom the device in every way possible.
With a price tag of $39.99 for the 3rd Gen Fire Stick with shortcuts, the size of a USB flash drive, USB powered, and plenty of opportunity to customize applications, the Amazon Fire TV is our top pick for a streaming device in comparison to the alternative devices covered in this post.
Roku is one of those companies that has been around for a good amount of time, their golden product for years has been their streaming devices. Roku is a household name because it used to be the best way to get live TV without a cable box. Now that broadcasting companies have been expanding their online streaming presence, this has allowed companies like Amazon and Apple to start making way into the market.
Roku being the original streaming device, their system is solid and well supported. Similar to the Fire TV, Roku’s Stick+ is low power, highly customizable, very cheap, and works flawlessly on older model televisions. The most used feature of this device in my household is the seamless live tv streaming feature. Customers login to their tv provider account on whichever network they wish to watch and you instantly have live tv access.
The major benefit of Roku is that their agenda is that they focus more on customer experience whereas Amazon’s Fire TV is cluttered with advertisement to their services like Music and Prime Video. Even with premium subscriptions, their is really no way to avoid the ads on a Fire Stick. Unlike Amazon’s equivalent device, Roku’s Streaming Stick+ features 4K HDR as well as shortcuts. Amazon’s 4K product does not include the shortcut buttons feature but their 1080p model does.
With the same price tag at $39.99, Roku’s Streaming Stick+ has all the same benefits of a Fire TV, but with less ads, more live TV capabilities, and a more end user experience driven agenda. The downside of these features is the lack of support, more complicated interface, and a lower quality feeling device.
Apple is the only $2 trillion dollar company in the world as of August 2021 due to their exclude ecosystem of devices. All of Apple’s products communicate with each other in such a fluent manner that most people only use Apple products. The Apple TV is no exception, this device communicates seamlessly with all generations of their products. No other company has developed such an advanced ecosystem or fan-base like Apple.
Jumping back to streaming devices, Apple’s streaming device is very powerful, very well integrated in their device ecosystem utilizing features like screen projecting through AirPlay, and is very simple to use for streaming and gaming content. But this system has a lot of downfalls compared to its competitors.
Apple TV 4K is a wall powered device, it does not have as many apps and features like Roku and Amazon’s streaming devices, and the price tag is more than quadrupled of its competitors, sitting high at $169. For what you give up in features and price, you make up for in smoothness with your other Apple devices and Apple’s streaming service Apple+. For customers that are strong supporters, this may be their only option regarding streaming devices, but if you are willing to compromise, the Apple TV 4K may not be the best option for you.
