I thought Amazon Fire TVs were trash — but the new Omni changes that

(Epitome credit: Amazon)

Amazon has been making waves in the Television world this final calendar week, announcing two new model lines of smart TVs that utilize the Fire TV platform and (in a first for the retailer) bear the Amazon name. With the new Amazon Fire Telly 4-Series and Omni Serial TVs available for sale now, it's a big change in how Amazon approaches the smart Boob tube category.

With more premium pricing and an expended feature set, the latest Amazon Fire TVs wait better than ever, and do more than only serve up Amazon'southward streaming services and ads for Amazon products. But it's also a big change to more premium products, a pin from the budget-shopper segment the company pursued so aggressively in recent years. It could point a bigger shake upward for the Boob tube world, as well.

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A brief history of Amazon Fire Telly

Amazon has been in the streaming game since early 2014, when they commencement appear the commencement-generation Fire Television streaming stick. Information technology was the starting time of many, and Amazon'south growing family of Fire TV streaming devices has grown to include new options, competitive features similar live Television playback and ever more sophisticated vocalization command with Alexa.

Amazon TVs launched in 2017, and were substantially inexpensive full Hd and 4K models with the streaming hardware built-in. Coming from manufacturers like Element, Westinghouse, Toshiba and Best Buy's store brand Insignia, these commencement few years of Amazon Fire Television receiver Edition smart TVs were poorly named – seriously, I have spent far too many nights pondering the best way to parse things when talking near "Burn down TV Edition TVs" – just they were besides cheap to purchase, often selling for the lowest price of any 4K smart TV.

In 2019, after reviewing several of those early models, I had seen enough. Those commencement few years of Amazon Burn down TV Edition smart TVs weren't groovy. So I staged an intervention. Actually, I wrote an op-ed lament nearly the fact that Amazon'southward software was enough usable (aside from a penchant for heavy-handed advertising), and that the unabridged Fire Telly lineup was pain from the lousy hardware these TVs used.

I had a list of complaints, only one particular bit of advice was to get better hardware manufacturers. I actually said "If I were Amazon, I would be begging TCL to make the next Fire Edition TV."

Did Amazon simply follow my Fire Boob tube advice?

Well, information technology only took a couple of years, but it seems like Amazon is finally post-obit some of my advice. It has added HDR support. It has stepped up the quality of sets from Insignia and Toshiba. (Check out Toshiba Fire TV vs Insignia Burn TV: Which sub-$500 smart Television receiver wins? to meet the latest models compared side-past-side.) The Burn down Television set interface has gotten a much-needed update, and has made some policy changes around advertisement that may actually temper the retail giant's tendency toward aggressive ads.

And, at long concluding, Amazon is coming out with its own, Amazon-branded TVs, with ameliorate construction and improved features. Non just that, but if rumors are to be believed, some of these sets are really being manufactured by TCL – the biggest suggestion I fabricated to Amazon back and so.

When I reached out to TCL to become a comment about the new TVs, they couldn't tell me much. "It is common for TCL to provide both components and assembly for our branded Goggle box competitors," said one TCL representative. As to whether they were making some of Amazon's new Fire TVs, they couldn't say, but did say that "our business operates with confidentiality agreements that prohibit us from revealing those brand names." Have that as you lot volition.

A big change for Amazon...

Regardless of who is making the new sets, Amazon has taken some important steps toward making Fire TV a serious player in the smart TV space.

New smart features integrated Amazon-endemic products like Ring video doorbell cameras and Alexa skills for all sorts of smart habitation devices. These are big gaps to make full if Amazon wants to be competitive against the recently revamped Google TV, which has rapidly become one of the best smart Goggle box operating systems out there.

With the improved hardware comes college prices, which is a two-way street when it comes to tech products. Obviously, there is a strong contingent of shoppers who want lower prices, no matter what the product offers. But for most shoppers, price is a pretty clear indicator of product quality. And that's not just a matter of priming and anchoring, at that place's a clear correlation between the price band a TV falls into and the level of features, performance and structure you can wait from a TV.

The new prices on Amazon's Omni TVs in particular reflect a growing conviction in Fire TV as a brand, and in the public's estimation of Fire-powered TVs. Whether the new Burn TV 4-Series and Omni Serial models help cement that confidence in the minds of the buying public has however to be seen. Simply I, for ane, am glad to run across Amazon stepping up its smart TV game.

... and a bigger change for smart TVs

An ascendant Amazon-powered smart Television set line from the online shopping behemothic wouldn't but be a way for Amazon to brand more than money. Information technology would also pose a existent claiming to competitors, particularly Google and Roku, who take had leading positions for third-political party TV software.

Amazon has always taken a piece of this pie, thanks almost entirely to the extreme affordability of its Fire TVs, which are frequently the headliners amongst steeply discounted TVs during sales similar Black Friday and Amazon Prime number Mean solar day. Certain, Fire TV has some solid smart features, but that hasn't e'er been the primary selling point for these TVs. The bargain-bin pricing is what makes Fire TVs top sellers, not the feature set.

But the new models have fleshed things out with far-field microphones for hands-free vox control, and deeper integration with Amazon-owned smart home brands, like Ring, will put the new Fire TVs more than firmly at the center of the connected home. Voice activated Zoom calls and USB webcam back up will besides compete directly with similar Google Duo functions offered on Google TV models. Fire TVs are finally digging into the smarter side of smart TVs, which goes beyond unproblematic streaming.

Coming from the company that truly brought voice-based products to the mainstream, this is a gauntlet thrown. And it couldn't have come at a better time. If Amazon of a sudden has a real competitor to the best Roku TVs, or the latest Google Tv models, then the smart Idiot box market merely got a lot more interesting.

Brian Westover is an Editor at Tom's Guide, roofing everything from TVs to the latest PCs. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he wrote for TopTenReviews and PCMag.