

Tech companies love giving their devices themed codenames and Amazon is no exception. While Google has stuck with desserts as it’s Android codename theme, Amazon has used movie characters for all of their Fire TV related codenames. The 1st-gen Amazon Fire TV is codenamed “BUELLER”, named after Ferris Bueller, the lead character in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. After spending a few hours digging around in the source code of the developer preview of Fire OS 5, I’ve discovered that the codename for the next-generation Fire TV is “SLOANE”, named after Sloane Peterson, Ferris Bueller’s girlfriend in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. This now further confirms that the mysterious “Amazon AFTS” device which leaked a couple months ago is in fact the next generation Fire TV, and also reaffirms that there will not be a new Fire TV Stick released alongside the new Fire TV.

The device model name, listed on Amazon’s specifications page, for the current Fire TV is AFTB, which is an abbreviation for Amazon Fire TV Bueller. The Fire TV Stick is listed with a model name of AFTM, where the “M” stands for “MONTOYA”, the Fire TV Stick’s codename. Montoya is a reference to Inigo Montoya, a popular character from the movie The Princess Bride.

The Fire OS 5 source code explicitly lists only 3 Fire TV devices. The first is “DEVICE_148” which I’ve confirmed to be the current Fire TV Stick. (There is a section of the code which sets a variable named mIsMontoya to true if the detected device is DEVICE_148 .) The next device listed is “SLOANE” which is the next-generation Fire TV, and the third is “BUELLER” which is the current generation Fire TV. Because there are only 3 devices listed, this is pretty solid evidence that we will not see a new Fire TV Stick released alongside the new Fire TV.

Fire TV peripherals also get their own codenames. First is “HURLEY”, the codename for the Fire TV Voice Remote. Your guess is as good as mine for which character Hurley references. The Fire Game Controller is codenamed “THUNDER”, which again could be any number of movie characters. “LIGHTNING” is the codename for the Fire TV Remote App, made evident by the app’s package name of com.amazon.storm.lightning . Last is “INIGO”, which is the codename of the Fire TV Stick’s Non-Voice Remote, and is again a reference to the character Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride.

Along with the existing Fire TV remotes and controllers, I found reference to two new peripheral codenames: “GELATO” and “NEFARIO”. I’m confident these are the codenames for the new WiFi based Fire TV remote and game controller. I believe these codenames come from the movie Despicable Me which features the character Dr. Nefario and minions who love gelato ice cream. The lack of a third new peripheral codename, to replace the existing non-voice remote, is further evidence that there will not be a new Fire TV Stick released when the new Fire TV arrives at the end of the month.

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