CLICKY CUBE REVIEW FULL
CLICKY CUBE REVIEW PLUS
CLICKY CUBE REVIEW SERIES
CLICKY CUBE REVIEW DOWNLOAD
CLICKY CUBE REVIEW FREE

The Alexa app gives you the option to get other Flash Briefing content, from the likes of BBC News, the Nintendo Switch eShop and ESPN.

CLICKY CUBE REVIEW PLUS

This decision is likely tied to how the Fire TV Cube is no Echo Plus when it comes to sound quality.Īlexa's video Flash Briefings are also here, as 'Alexa, play my Flash Briefing' gave me a clip from Newsy. One time I tried this without turning the TV on first, which was a mistake, as I didn't realize music playback is TV-only. With a simple 'play Lana Del Rey' I was enjoying the luscious jam 'Summertime Sadness,' and enjoying well-formatted on-screen lyrics that scrolled in synchrony with the song. This Alexa isn't just for bingeing shows.

Looking to switch back to the Fire TV Cube from one of your other devices? Just say, 'Alexa, show me the home screen,' and you'll get switched back. Or, if you're ready to hit play, 'Alexa, watch now' does the trick. When you're navigating the menus, looking for things to watch, Alexa will also take commands for showing a movie's trailer, add and remove it from your Watchlist and show you more ways to watch something. The assistant can control select TVs, soundbars, A/V receivers and (for those like me, who haven't cut the cord) cable and satellite boxes. The Fire TV Cube identified the maker of my TV and cable box.

Setting it all up was so easy, even a smart home skeptic (like me) could do it. Other TV and cable controls include volume adjustment, and even channel selection ('Alexa, tune to MTV'), so you can lose your cable box remote too. Alexa turned on my TV ('Alexa, turn on the TV') and cable box, and it also switched between the HDMI inputs on the TV. More impressively for me is how Alexa can also control your not-smart home hardware.

CLICKY CUBE REVIEW DOWNLOAD

From searching for and downloading apps - just say 'Alexa, open HBO,' followed by 'Alexa, download this app' - to controlling what you see ('Alexa, pause'), the Fire TV Cube's voice controls give you a pretty strong grip on your content, without you having to keep a grip on your clicker. While I'm a smart home-skeptic, I've found this version of Alexa to be a reliable entertainment navigator. For example, when I said, 'Alexa, play Succession,' and the Fire TV Cube opened the critically-acclaimed show in the HBO Go app, so I could start nodding my head to its excellent theme song and stop clicking through menus. Just as importantly, you can simply command Alexa to play the show you want to see. Since you've got more rows than space on your screen, a simple 'Alexa show more' or 'Alexa, scroll up' scrubs up and down the stacks of content. This way, you can say 'Alexa, select 5,' rather than 'Alexa, select Prime Amazon Original Series,' a string of 6 words I would definitely stumble over. When I said 'Alexa, show more,' the home screen switched to a set of enumerated rows. You don't need a remote to navigate the Fire TV Cube's home screen, because you have Alexa. I saw Pluto TV's myriad of second-run 'live' content, where content ranged from a documentary about Richard Pryor to the MTV dating game show Next. The best part about this section is that it previews the content your cursor lingers over - which I prefer here than in the ads at the top of the screen - with audio. Under that, you get On Now, a row showing live channels from the apps you've downloaded.

CLICKY CUBE REVIEW FREE

Then, a row for the free content on IMDb TV.

CLICKY CUBE REVIEW FULL

The following row showed me the Amazon Channels (opens in new tab) my account is subscribed to, and then a full row for one of those channels, Britbox.

CLICKY CUBE REVIEW SERIES

Next is another sponsored row, as Amazon planted a set of Audible content boxes in the interface.īelow that, there's a Prime Amazon Original Series row, which is likely there because of my Prime membership. I prefer Apple and Roku's interfaces, however, because you can drag and drop apps wherever you want, in a grid. Many of these function similarly to the Continue Watching row in the Apple TV interface. Next, you find the Recent and Your Apps and Channels sections, which my activity slowly filled with boxes for YouTube, Succession, USA, HBO, and Pluto TV.

At least with the Kindle Oasis, though, you can pay a nominal fee to eliminate those 'special offers' on the lock screen. While I understand that Amazon's cheaper devices (say, the $40 Fire TV Stick) are priced to be supported by advertisements, putting them on a $120 gadget feels as wrong as when they show up on the $250 Kindle Oasis. A couple of times, I saw that ad turn into video when my cursor stayed on it for too long while I was click up to the section navigation row at the very top. The Roku Ultra (like all Roku devices) home screen places ads on the right side of the screen, while the Apple TV 4K is ad-free.

Clicky cube review