Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsUpdates have improved its reliability. Works great.
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2020
[UPDATE]
My original review was a bit long winded and seems so long ago now. Probably through the power of updates, all the problems I had stated in my original review have ceased to exist. And it was quite a long time ago that the problems went away, so long that I forgot I even had so many problems with the Fire TV Sticks originally. I had continued to use them through that trouble period and long past it, I have even purchased a 3rd one. I love using them. We have one for every tv in the house. I no longer have any unwarranted connectivity issues, apps function fine and do not freeze or crash, and I can use them continuously for hours with no problems. I never bothered to replace any of my sticks that I had those problems with, so these are still the same exact ones that had all those issues. Clearly recents updates have improved the reliability and user experience and it was just a software issue, not hardware, that was causing those problems. Also since my last review of this product, they’ve updated the interface so I’ll add a new photo. I think I finally just gotten use to the new interface as well. Also gotten a new phone with a better camera since then so better quality photo for ya.
[Original review]
I really want to like these. I have 2 Fire TV Sticks 4k that we’re given to me because my grandmother bought them and didn’t want them. They were unused not even opened. I was so excited and really liked them at first. Even bought a brand new 43” Tv for my bedroom because I don’t have cable in my room so I never needed a tv before. But a month later and both Fire Stick seem to have the same problem.
Both constantly have issue with the internet, but I’ve check the internet and it is fine. Even tried to restart the router and that doesn’t even help. It’s easier to just restart the Fire Stick. Apps crash. Apps freeze. Apps don’t even open. Home screen crashes and keeps reloading. Both Fire Stick do this. I’ve tried clear cache data. Force stopping apps. I’ve restored to factor default. Deleted extra apps. I’ve not used up all the memory on the Fire Stick anyways. I mainly only use 3 apps. PLEX, Pandora, and YouTube and occasionally Prime Video. And the only fix I have is to constantly restart the thing. I shouldn’t have to restart the Fire Stick every 5 minutes and I should be able to watch an entire video without it freezing or listen to more than 3 songs with out pandora just stopping. I’m really disappointed because I really liked them at first and was going to even recommend them over the Roku. But my mother has a Roku in her room and I never hear her complain. I even know people with Fire Sticks and they’ve never complained to me so I don’t know how I could end up with two bad eggs.
I don’t really care for Alex. I don’t have an echo or anything. Voice recognition works until the Fire Stick starts have issues or the internet starts bugging out. It will just say error. If I leave it alone the internet will sometimes sort it self out. It doesn’t disconnect it just claims it’s connect with problem an further says it has no internet connection. But my internet is not out since everything else is working fine. And we don’t use a lot of devices at once in my house.
I’ve tried them on multiple TVs. They are currently connect to my ONN and old Toshiba tv. Was on a old Sharp for a while as well when I had it in the living room. I’ve since decided to have them in the office and my bedroom since it wasn’t getting as much use in the living room and that’s my mothers tv not mine. TV set up was easy. No problems connecting he remote.
When it is streaming it’s fine. Looks good. But then everything freezes. Maybe I get a good hour of solid play time a day then it will start doing it thing and I constantly need to restart the Fire Sticks again and again. It’s like it needs a break. So maybe it’s over heating. I don’t know why though because it’s not in an enclosed space and it doesn’t feel any warmer than your average electronic that running.
To be completely honest I have a gameboy and a ps2 from the early 2000s that are more reliable then these Fire Sticks.
I’m embarrassed to even use these to watch a movie with guest around. I rather use my laptop and connect it with HDMI to the tv.
Sorry. I would have taken better pictures but my phone camera is broken and vibrates like crazy. I tried to show where they are connected and that they are not confined. The White screen is pandora after it froze and I tried to force stop the app and when I launch it I often just get this white screen after the pandora logo and sometimes in the corner it will says some failed error web address thing. And there’s a picture of the internet not working. As well of some picture of it actually working. And all the photos except the first one where taken with in a 10 mins period and in that order showing that pandora was not working, youtube was not working, Internet stoped working, Internet came back (screensaver) then I got my other tv and stuff. So yea. Fun.
