Amazon launches fire TV stick in India to take on Google Chromecast

Amazon has launched its Google Chromecast rival, Fire TV Stick, in India that will let you access thousands of movies, TV shows, apps and games from various content providers.

The streaming device priced at Rs 3,999 comes with a quad-core processor and fast Wi-Fi for improved picture quality. It has 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and comes with a voice remote which can be used to search for content with voice. Notably, the fire TV stick also supports Hindi voice search, that could surely boost its adoption. The device comes with an Advanced Streaming and Prediction (ASAP) which monitors a user’s content streaming habits and predicts the movies and TV shows accordingly.

“Fire TV Stick offers access to a vast selection of movies and TV shows, popular apps, and features designed specifically for customers in India including powerful voice search for Amazon Video titles in Hindi and English,” said Marc Whitten, Vice President, Amazon Fire TV. “Fire TV Stick also offers Data Monitoring and other features to help customers in India get the most from their data plan and stream more content using less bandwidth.”

Amazon emphasises that they have customised the device for Indian customers. To overcome the issue of limited bandwidth, the stick offers features like offline viewing that allows you to download content that can be viewed later without the need of internet. The Fire Stick TV also comes with data monitoring feature where people can choose the video quality according to their preference.

The device offers parental control as well through which parents can set a PIN to restrict access to mature content. In terms of the video quality, the Fire TV Stick is equipped with High-Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC) which allows streaming in full HD. Whitten said that almost all the content are available in HEVC format.

As a limited time offer, users will receive also up to 100 GB of free data on Airtel Broadband and 4G home Wi-Fi devices, valid for three months from the time of activation; up to 240 GB of free data from YOU Broadband; six months of unlimited ad-free music streaming from Gaana; a three month free premium video membership from Eros Now; and one month of ad-free streaming from Voot and Voot Kids.

Meanwhile, Amazon also announced the release of three new titles on Prime Video, exclusively for Prime members and available on Fire TV Stick – Baahubali: The Lost Legends – based on one of 2016’s highest grossing movies, Oscar winner Suicide Squad, and a stand-up comedy special by Kenny Sebastian.