Amazon announced on Tuesday a new version of its popular Fire TV Stick. Called the Fire TV Stick Basic Edition, the new streaming device is available to more than 100 countries around the world including Canada, France, Italy, and Spain.
The company aims to provide customers with an affordable way to stream content via its Prime video service, which was launched globally last year. It actually released a new-generation Fire TV stick back in September that included full HD content support, but it was only available in the United States. With the release of the Basic Edition, it hopes to reach viewers from other parts of the globe.
"Last year, we made Amazon Prime Video available to customers globally, and today, we're building on that momentum as we introduce Fire TV Stick Basic Edition to new customers around the world," Amazon fire TV vice president Marc Whitten said in the press release. "This makes streaming content from apps like Prime Video fast and easy and we can't wait to hear what customers think."
The Amazon Fire TV Stick Basic Edition is basically the standard version of the streaming stick but without the Alexa voice command support. Unlike the previous iteration, its remote does not include the Alexa button and microphone anymore. Tech Crunch reports that the feature has been removed altogether since many of its products are not yet available in some parts of the world.
The Basic Edition comes with a 1.3 gigahertz (GHz) processor, 720p and 1080p versions with up to 60 frames per second (fps) video output, Dolby Audio, 1-gigabyte (GB) memory, and 8 GB of storage for apps and games. It can be configured to come with the default languages like Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Brazilian, German, or English.
The product page, per Android Police, does not indicate which version of the Fire OS is used. However, it notes that the 2nd generation stick is stuck on Fire OS 5, based on the three-year-old Android Lollipop.
The Basic Edition is now available for purchase on Amazon for $49.99, which is more than the new $39.99 model. However, it may still vary based on one's location.
