Amazon Fire TV Stick

There’s another streaming stick vying for an HDMI port on the back of your television. On Monday, Amazon announced the Fire TV Stick, a $39 streaming stick that runs the full Amazon television interface that first debuted on the Fire TV earlier this year.

Amazon’s new streaming stick is available for pre-order now and will ship by November 19.

The new stick doesn’t require a second device, like a smartphone or tablet, to beam video from. Instead, it comes with a remote and can run apps like Netflix and Prime Instant Video on its own, like the full-sized Fire TV. In that way, it’s more similar to the $50 Roku Streaming Stick than Google’s Chromecast.

In fact, Amazon is directly comparing its streaming stick to the Chromecast and touting its relative computing power: The Amazon product page brags that Fire TV Stick has “4x the storage and 2x the memory of Chromecast.”

The $100 Fire TV has a quad-core processor and the ability to run a fair number of games. The Fire TV Stick only has a dual-core processor — a Broadcom Capri 28155 — paired with a dedicated VideoCore4 GPU. But despite the reduced power, the Fire TV Stick has most of the same features as the full-size Fire TV. Amazon says its device can run voice search, display mirroring and “casual games.” The Fire Game Controller works with the Fire TV Stick, too.

The Fire TV Stick plugs directly into a TV’s HDMI port and, like other streaming sticks, will need an external USB adapter to power it. It comes with a more basic Wi-Fi Direct remote than the full-size Fire TV, although you can purchase Amazon’s Voice Remote for $30. You can also use Amazon’s remote app on your phone for voice search.

*** [11/19/14]

No larger than your average USB thumb drive, streaming sticks like the Amazon Fire TV, Roku Stick, and Google’s Chromecast connect to your home Wi-Fi network and plug into your television’s HDMI port. Once configured, they let your TV-addicted loved ones stream their favorite shows, apps, and movies on the boob tube, using a variety of both free and paid Internet services.

Each of these streaming sticks is priced south of $50, less expensive than streaming boxes like the Roku 3 or Apple TV. For that price, you’re going to sacrifice some power and, occasionally, a remote control. But each of the sticks we’re about to offer gets the job done, at the very least bringing Netflix and YouTube to your television.

The question is: Which one of these sticks should find its way into your favorite person’s stocking this year?

*** [12/10/14]

Comparing the Fire TV Stick to the Fire TV (and the Roku Streaming Stick)