Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

First off, I don't own any special sound system or anything like that. I have an LG 1080p tv that I simply connected to and began using. This review is based on that setup. I am loving my Fire TV so far! Fast, cheaper than Apple, and so small! Upon opening the well-designed packaging, I immediately noticed that the device felt like a very high quality item. The device and remote have a good weight to both of them, with a soft touch feel all around. The Fire TV box is small, slim, and not very noticeable when sitting beside my TV which is very nice. All that is required to get the Fire TV box running is the included power cord and an HDMI cable. Once complete, connect the remote or your Fire TV App on your phone and start browsing! Fire TV Box: The box has a great design, fast internal hardware, great feel, and minimalist design which is great. Offers expandable storage, Ethernet or WiFi connectivity to the Internet, and more. This thing is fast. Shows, apps, and games all load very very quickly and scrolling is very fast as well. Voice search with Alexa is lightening quick and I was very surprised by the speed of this feature. As soon as I finish asking Alexa what the weather is, she is replying back to me with great answers that are straight and to the point. When I first connected the Fire TV, I had to install a couple software updates which took between 10 and 20 minutes in all. One beautiful thing is that if you use your Amazon account to order the device, it comes to you already signed in with your account which is just very convenient and personalized. If you select the "this is a gift" option at checkout, you will not have a personalized Fire TV delivered which is great if giving to a friend, etc. After connecting and updating, there was a short "training" video to watch to briefly point out a few key features of the Fire TV which I found helpful since it wasn't very long and the voices were well done. Apps: Downloading apps on the Fire TV is very quick and simple. These apps have been downloading quicker than my iPhone apps do and it is as simple as a search and a couple clicks. I have installed Netflix, HBOGO, Pandora, and a few games which have run extremely well with no hiccups. The apps have already gotten better over the period of time this week of me using the new Fire TV and I'm sure they will continue to improve. When the Fire TV is not being used, it can resort to a "screensaver" mode and show slides of very high quality pictures which look very nice. The software on the device is quite well done in my opinion and I've seen no issues with it so far. Remote: Soft-touch feel all around with glossy buttons. The remote is lightweight but has a nice feel to it overall. My only concern with the remote is that the buttons are slightly on the "mushy" side and could have a more crisp feel when pressing. One thing I really appreciated was Amazon included the 2 batteries that are required for the remote. I personally had NO trouble getting the backing off the remote like some others have mentioned. Not sure what their issue is, it just slides off, batteries slide in, then replace the cover the same way it came off. Fire TV App on iPhone: I love this app. It has worked very well for my on iPhone 6 Plus. It is very easy to use, has a keyboard option for typing, allows voice search, scrolling is a breeze, and then also includes all buttons that the remote has. It is a very well designed app and I find myself using this more often than the remote due to the convenience of having my phone with me always. Overall, I've found this to be a great device and I do recommend it to others. I don't have any fancy sound system to worry about, nor a 4K TV yet but I bought this device to be future-proof for when I do get a 4k TV. I have a regular 1080p LG TV and it has worked great. Setup was a breeze and I've been enjoying it ever since.