Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I own both the new Fire and Roku stick (3600R), below is a short review and honest (personal) opinion on both products. User Interface: the Fire stick has essentially the same UI as Fire TV (which I also own), it is largely divided by content category (Home, Video, TV, Movie, Music, Games, Photo, Apps, etc.), and integrated seamlessly with Prime eco-system. If you are already a Prime member, you will have better experience with Fire stick than Roku. Roku’s UI has the advantage of integrating more contents (Google Store, My Feed, News, etc.). Roku also allows user to make certain changes in Home screen (add/remove/move tiles), unlike Fire stick. However, both UIs are well designed, smooth. It comes down to personal preference. Hardware/Streaming Quality: as far as I can tell, there isn’t much difference, both are powerful devices, almost no lags with either device. One of the attached pictures is a screenshot of streaming YouTube 4K content from Fire stick, the picture quality is stunning (output as 1080p). Remote: I personally like the Fire remote, it is simple (only 7 buttons with a navigation ring), but provides all the functions you will need. I find it is both slimmer and easier to use than the Roku remote. In addition, Fire remote has a voice function, which you won’t find on Roku, this is a big plus. Also note that the Fire stick remote will work with Fire TV but you will have to "unpair" it first (please see the comment made by RoadDog on this review). Voice Search/Alexa: Amazon has greatly improved the search function. One of the main complains of earlier versions of Fire TV/Stick is that Alexa only search Amazon contents, but not 3rd parties’ (Netflix, etc.). However, with the latest software update, the search results now show both Amazon and 3rd party. You can choose from multiple ways to watch a movie (and whether the option is free of charge is clearly indicated). Power Cord: the USB cable came with Fire stick is about 4 feet long, it also comes with an adapter. However, I am using a 3rd party wall charger (iClever BoostCube+ 30W Dual USB Wall Charger with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0), and it worked well. In one of the pictures you can see the Fire charger output = 5.0V + 1.0A, iClever output is sufficient. It is a benefit in case you travel a lot, so that you won’t need to bring two separate chargers. One charger with two output slots will be enough for both your phone and Fire stick. App Quality: one of the main reasons that I bought the Fire stick after I bought Roku is because the quality of Playstation Vue app on Fire system is MUCH better than Roku, from my experience there is simply no comparison. Vue app on Fire gives you much easier access to your recorded shows, live programming schedule and channel switching. Roku doesn’t have live programming schedule, and some of my recorded shows are missing. However, quality of other main apps (Netflix, YouTube, ESPN, etc.) are more or less on par between Fire and Roku. Price: Fire stick is ~$9 cheaper Hotel/Travel log-in: with Roku, you will need a separate mobile device (phone) to connect to a specific WiFi network established by the stick, then open up a browser and log in (normally with room# and last name). Often it took me several tries to establish the connection. With Fire stick, no need for a separate device, you will go to "Settings/System/Network" and press the "option" button on the remote, an on-screen cursor would appear, which allows you to log in as if you are using a laptop. I found the "Fire" way simpler and more intuitive. Physical Appearance: in fact, this is the only category I’d put Roku on top of Fire stick. The new Fire stick (1.2 x 3.4in) is much larger than Roku (you can see from the picture), it is even larger than the first generation Fire stick. This really surprised me as I thought the trend is to make them smaller. I also prefer that Roku put the power slot at the end of stick, while Fire stick put it right in the middle, which is really awkward. In short, if you are a Prime member and use Playstation Vue, I’d highly recommend the new Fire stick.