Amazon Fire Stick

The Amazon Fire Stick is a Full HD streaming stick that turns any television with an HDMI port into a smart one. Plug it into the back, put it on the Wi-Fi, sign in, and Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video and the rest are on the screen.

• The remote is the reason to buy the Amazon Fire Stick over the Lite
• Voice search instead of an on-screen keyboard
• Full HD, and when that is the right choice
• Keep the HDMI extender
• What you need

The remote is the reason to buy the Amazon Fire Stick over the Lite

The Alexa Voice Remote here has dedicated power, volume and mute buttons that drive the television itself, not just the stick. That is the difference between one remote on the arm of the chair and two, and it is the detail that decides whether the original TV remote ends up in a drawer or stays in daily use. It sounds trivial until you live with it.

Voice search instead of an on-screen keyboard

Hold the microphone button and say a title, an actor or a genre. Anyone who has spelled out a film name by pushing a cursor around a grid of letters with a directional pad knows why this matters. It is the single feature that makes a streaming stick pleasant rather than tolerable, and it works across the apps rather than only inside one.

Full HD, and when that is the right choice

It streams up to 1080p. If the television is a 1080p set, which a great many are, a 4K stick buys you nothing at all and this is the correct purchase. If the set is 4K, spend the difference: the picture is the whole point and it will show. Check the label on the back of the television before you order rather than after.

Keep the HDMI extender

The short HDMI extender in the box looks like packaging and is not. On a wall mounted set, or any television pushed close to a wall, the stick often will not sit flush in the socket without it, and people throw it away and then find the stick will not go in. Put it in the drawer with the manual.

What you need

A television with a spare HDMI port, a Wi-Fi connection and an Amazon account. The mains adapter and two AAA batteries are in the box. It carries 8 GB for apps and joins a dual band 802.11ac network, with Bluetooth for headphones or a game controller.

For a 4K television, the Fire Stick 4K is the one, and the 4K Max adds Wi-Fi 6. To spend less and keep your TV remote in use, the Fire TV Stick Lite. Wikipedia keeps the Fire TV range history.