Amazon today, after several rumors and leaks, launched the Fire TV Cube, a device that connects to your television and has built-in Alexa in it. It is a Cube shaped box combining the power of three into one: a Fire TV, an Echo smart speaker, and a universal remote.
The Amazon Fire TV Cube with IR blasters on its four sides allows sending commands to most devices in an average TV setup. The Cube can control a setup with the support of HDMI-CEC, provided that the other devices support that standard. It can also reach the devices that are kept in hidden places like cabinets and such with the help of the separate IR extender provided by Amazon with the Cube.
As Alexa also works on voice sensors along with Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Box, the Fire TV Cube works as a full-featured Echo device that is always on and waits to listen to the wake words with its eight built-in microphones and also responding to you with its built-in speakers.
The IR blasters allow Alexa to control devices that haven’t traditionally been within its reach, thus making it much more capable than it was. This means that the Cube can control your TV’s volume and also change your TV’s input.
For the time, the Cube supports cable boxes from Comcast, Dish, and DirectTV, and The Fire TV Cube supports 4K playback, HDR10, and Dolby Atmos. It costs $119.99 with given pre-orders that are starting from today, but Prime members can pre-order it for a discounted price of $89.99 until tomorrow. It will go on sale from June 21 with an extra $10 credit for Prime Video to customers who purchase and register their TV Cube by July 1.
