Amazon’s Fire TV problems, Apple TV+ price hike
This week on TechHive: Fixing the Fire TV
My review of Amazon’s Fire TV Cube went up on TechHive a few days ago, and it’s really a tale of tragedy.
The third-generation Cube is a powerful streaming box full of neat tricks. You can control it hands-free with Alexa, plug in a wide range of USB accessories, and even feed video from a cable or satellite box through its HDMI passthrough ports. The remote control is a step up as well, with a helpful “Recent” button for flipping between apps.
Yet all these technological achievements are undermined the Fire TV interface, which remains a confusing, chaotic, ad-ridden, self-promotional mess. As other streaming platforms make great strides in usability, Amazon is falling further behind.
Check out the full review for more details on the Cube itself. And for more on why Amazon’s interface is so broken—and how the company should fix it—take a look this week’s TechHive column.
Weekly rewind
Apple TV+ price hike: Apple has just raised the price of its streaming TV service to $7 per month or $70 per year, up from $5 per month or $50 per year before. It’s part of a broader set of price hikes on the company’s subscription services, including Apple Music and Apple One.
I’m not surprised the cost is going up, as the original price seemed like a tacit acknowledgement of Apple TV+’s tiny catalog. With a steadily growing lineup and big-ticket items such as Major League Soccer, the bill always going to come due.
(Not for me, though. Between Apple’s initial year-and-change free trial period and routine multi-month giveaways via Best Buy and Target, I’ve yet to actually pay for Apple TV+ despite having watched everything of interest. More on those freebies in the “Save more money” section below.)
An Amazon-Google TV truce? We might see more TV makers embrace Amazon’s Fire TV software—for better or worse—following a reported pact between Amazon and Google. As Janko Roettgers reports, Google had previously barred vendors from building Fire TV-based televisions if they also wanted to build other devices that used Google’s apps and services—smartphones included. Google appears to have relaxed its stance in response to regulatory scrutiny.
Still, it’s unclear how big of an impact this will have. So far, Hisense is the only vendor making televisions based on both Android TV and Fire TV, and TCL only plans to bring new Fire TV sets to Europe for now. With no shortage of smart TV platforms for vendors to choose from, Amazon may need more than just government pressure to get more companies on board.
More catch-up
- Frndly TV gets some small interface improvements.
- Vizio adds a universal watchlist feature to its smart TVs.
- The NBA’s new app takes a big bite out of streaming delays.
Save more money
As for those free Apple TV+ subscriptions I mentioned earlier, both Target and Best Buy are offering three months of the service at no charge.
Target says its offer is only valid if you haven’t redeemed it before. (It also requires a free Target Circle membership.) Best Buy’s offer is for new and returning subscribers, so you should be able to redeem it as long as you’re not a current Apple TV+ subscriber. Also, if you have Apple Family Sharing set up, each person should be able redeem the trial and share it with the group, giving you additional months for free.
Other notable deals:
- The latest free Paramount+ codes are INSIDEAMY and UEFA22, redeemable on the Paramount+ website. See instructions here.
- HBO Max’s 40% off deal ends on Sunday.
- Black Friday is coming up, so consider cancelling some subscriptions now to take advantage of any returning subscriber deals that arise next month.
As always, you can check my big list of streaming deals on the Cord Cutter Weekly website for more ways to save on subscriptions and steaming gear.
Thanks for reading!
Trying to decide between streaming devices? Stuck on a potential cord cutting strategy? Send me an email, and I’ll do my best to help.
Until next week,
Jared