The Fire TV has merged with Echo Dot in a harmonious entertainment mash-up, but the Fire TV Cube has so far been announced only in the US. We look at what to expect from the Amazon Prime set-top box, which combines the power of Fire TV and Echo Dot.
Amazon has confirmed its anticipated Fire TV Cube in the US, allowing pre-orders at $119.99 ahead of its 21 June on sale. Amazon Prime members can grab a discount until 8 June with the Cube costing just $89.99.
A set-top box that will be both seen and heard, Cube joins the existing Fire TV line-up that includes the basic £39.99 (US$39.99) Fire TV Stick and the £69.99 ($69.99) Fire TV with support for 4K video.
The Cube is in essence an Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick and multi-directional IR emitter all in one. With eight mics inside it allows you to use your voice for hands-free TV control, as well as completing the sort of tasks for which you might ask Alexa’s assistance, for instance checking the weather, getting the latest news bulletins and interacting with smart home devices.
The Fire TV Cube supports Dolby Atmos and 4K HDR video at 60fps, and builds in far-field voice recognition, advanced beamforming tech, a speaker and an LED light bar.
Four top-mounted buttons offer volume and mute controls, plus an action button to physically call up Alexa. There is a bundled Alexa voice remote, as with other Fire TV devices, but you’ll also be able to talk to Alexa without it as you would on an Echo Dot, and interact with it using a free mobile app.
In common with the standard Fire TV there’s a 1.5GHz processor inside, but twice the internal storage at 16GB.
Some usual Echo features are not available at launch, including Alexa Calling & Messaging, Bluetooth sync and multi-room audio.
Amazon has not confirmed when the Fire TV Cube will come to the UK, but we’ve seen this US-first release before with the original Amazon Echo. That device appeared in the UK a year later, so we hope we won’t be waiting quite as long for the Cube. We’ll update this article when we have confirmed information from Amazon.
If you’re a US Amazon Prime customer you can pick up the Fire TV Cube for just $89.99 if you order on 7- or 8 June. If you purchase before 1 July you’ll also get $10 credit for Prime Video.
For a limited time there’s also a Cube + Cloud Cam bundle available at $199.98.
From 21 June, Amazon Music will be available to Fire TV customers for $3.99 per month.
