Amazon has just announced a new Fire TV Stick 4K for $49.99 with support for 2160p Ultra HD video. The Fire TV Stick 4K is the first streaming device ever to support all three major high dynamic range standards, which are Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HDR10+, as well as Dolby Atmos surround sound audio, making it the most future-proof streaming device on the market. As if that weren’t impressive enough, the Fire TV Stick 4K comes with an all-new Alexa voice remote that finally has built-in power, volume, and mute buttons to directly control your TV and audio equipment. The new remote, which will be sold separately for $29.99 and is backward compatible with older Fire TV and Fire TV Stick models, also has the same exact universal remote capabilities as the Fire TV Cube, so that you can use Alexa to control home theater equipment, switch inputs, and tune to channels on your cable box.

Amazon has clearly been listening to their customers because the new Fire TV Stick 4K and its new Alexa voice remote have managed to check off nearly every requested feature that was missing from the existing 2nd-gen Fire TV Stick and 3rd-gen Fire TV. This new member to the Fire TV lineup supports 4K video at 60 frames-per-second and every major video format, including Dolby Vision, which is a first for a Fire TV device, and HDR10+, which is a first for any streaming media player. HDR10+, which was previously only available on a small number of Blu-ray players and smart TVs, is the successor to HDR10 and an emerging competitor to Dolby Vision that has the potential to become the dominant HDR format because it is an open standard that lacks the licensing fees that Dolby Vision requires. Regardless of whether HDR10+ or Dolby Vision wins this latest format war, the Fire TV Stick 4K has you covered. It even supports hybrid log gamma (HLG), which is yet another HDR format.

On the audio front, the Fire TV Stick 4K supports Dolby Atmos, which is the latest surround sound format that’s slowly making its way into people’s homes and which made its Prime Video debut a month ago with the premiere of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. Of course, the Fire TV Stick 4K also supports older Dolby Digital Plus (eAC3) 7.1 and Dolby Digital (AC3) 5.1 surround sound with HDMI audio pass through.

Powering the Fire TV Stick 4K is a MediaTek MTK8695 1.7 GHz quad-core CPU and Imagination Technologies PowerVR GE8300 GPU, which might very well be more powerful than the 3rd-gen Fire TV and Fire TV Cube. Connectivity is provided by dual-band, dual-antenna MIMO 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi which Amazon says uses an entirely new antenna technology that they invented. Roku, who makes the only other 4K streaming device in a stick form factor, was forced to dangle their device’s WiFi antenna in a separate external module that is nearly the size of the stick itself, so it’s very impressive that Amazon managed to make everything work in a self-contained package. The Fire TV Stick 4K also supports the existing Amazon Ethernet Adapter, for those who prefer a wired connection.

The Fire TV Stick 4K has 1.5 GB of DDR4 RAM, which is a 50% increase over past Fire TV Stick models. Internal storage is unfortunately still just 8 GB, which can almost be forgiven, considering the device’s form factor and aggressively competitive price. The only port on the device is a micro USB port for power. There’s no word yet on whether the new 4K Firestick supports external storage through an OTG cable, either officially, like the Fire TV Cube, or unofficially, like the 2nd-gen Fire TV Stick.

Equally as impressive as Amazon’s new streaming device is the all-new Alexa voice remote that comes with the Fire TV Stick 4K. In addition to the usual assortment of microphone, navigation, and media control buttons that previous Fire TV remotes have had, Amazon has finally added power, volume, and mute buttons that can be programmed to control your home theater equipment. The three new buttons can all be set to control your TV, or the power button can control a TV while the volume and mute buttons control a soundbar or AV receiver.

The addition of power, volume, and mute buttons would have been enough to match, and even exceed, the basic universal remote capabilities of the Apple TV and Roku’s remotes, but Amazon has taken their new remote to another level. The new Alexa voice remote includes all the same equipment control capabilities found on the Fire TV Cube, built directly into the remote.

This means you’ll be able to say “Turn on the TV” into the remote’s microphone and the dual IR blasters built into the remote will turn on your TV, AV receiver, and/or soundbar, as well as set everything to the correct input. If you have a cable box, you’ll be able to say “Tune to HBO” and your home theater equipment will switch inputs to your cable box and change the box to the requested channel. You’ll also be able to say “Switch to Blu-ray/XBOX/PlayStation/etc..” to bring up your other equipment by voice, all by simply speaking into the remote and pointing it at your devices. No external hubs or boxes are required for this functionality.

The Fire TV Stick 4K is available to pre-order now for $49.99 and will arrive on October 31st in the US and Canada. It will ship in the UK, Germany, and India on November 14th and Japan before the end of the year. You can pre-order two Fire TV Stick 4Ks for $89.98 using promo code TWOPACK, which is a 10% savings. Amazon is also offering the Fire TV Stick 4K bundled with the all-new Echo Dot for $79.98, which is a 20% savings. For those of you interested in the new Fire TV Recast DVR, there is also a bundle that includes the Fire TV Stick 4K, 2-tuner Fire TV Recast, and a 35-mile HDTV antenna for $249.97, which is a savings of $50.

Amazon is also selling the all-new Alexa Voice Remote for $29.99 separately. The new remote is backward compatible with the 2nd-gen Fire TV Stick, the 3rd-gen Fire TV (pendant), and the Fire TV Cube. When paired with the new remote, those older devices will have the exact same equipment control capabilities as the Fire TV Stick 4K. Amazon is also going to now include the all-new Alexa voice remote with the Fire TV Cube for the same price of $119.99. The separate remote and new Fire TV Cube package that includes the new remote are available to pre-order now and will ship on October 31st.

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