A budget-priced Amazon TV with performance to match
The Fire TV 4-Series is Amazon’s lowest-priced 4K TV, fitting neatly below its three tiers of Fire TV Omni models in price and performance. At $469.99 for the 55-inch model we tested, it has a pleasant enough picture despite limited contrast and color range. It lacks hands-free Alexa, though, which the better-looking Fire TV Omni QLED includes for just $40 more. Neither, however, puts out as much light as the slightly pricier Hisense U6N, which remains our Editors’ Choice winner for budget-friendly TVs.Design: Utilitarian Looks With a Standard Remote
Given its low price, the 4-Series is predictably a bit chunky, with a black plastic body that expands to a thick 3.6 inches at its deepest. It maintains a fairly sleek look from the front, with a nearly bezel-free screen framed by a thin black band running along the sides and top and a single flat bezel with a faux brushed metal finish on the bottom edge. The TV sits on two glossy black plastic feet located near the side edges.
Four HDMI ports (one eARC) sit on the back of the TV, facing right. They’re joined by a single USB port, an Ethernet port, an optical audio output, a 3.5mm IR blaster jack, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and an antenna/cable connection.
It comes with a Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote Enhanced, the same remote included with the $1,089.99 Fire TV Omni Mini-LED. It’s a flat, matte black plastic wand with a large circular navigation pad and a microphone near the top. Menu and playback controls sit in the middle, with volume and channel rockers below them. Dedicated service buttons for Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Netflix, and Peacock can be found near the bottom.Platform: Fire TV, But Not Hands-Free
As the name indicates, the Fire TV 4-Series uses Amazon’s Fire TV smart TV platform. It’s a robust interface that’s heavily focused on Amazon’s own services like Prime Video and Freevee, but it also provides access to other major streaming services, including Apple TV, Crunchyroll, Disney+, Netflix, Twitch, and YouTube. It also features Apple AirPlay for streaming from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Alexa is built into the Fire TV 4-Series, but you can’t use it hands-free like you can with the Fire TV Omni models. To access the voice assistant on the 4-Series, you need to press and hold the Alexa button on the remote and speak into it. The lack of hands-free support means you can’t make two-way voice calls through the TV, but Alexa otherwise lets you search for content, control your smart home devices, and find general information like weather reports and sports scores.Picture Quality: Serviceable
The Amazon Fire TV 4-Series is a 4K TV with a 60Hz refresh rate. It supports high dynamic range (HDR) content in HDR10 and hybrid log gamma (HLG) but not Dolby Vision or HDR10+.
