"Amazon announce brand-new home screen that makes it easier to find stuff to watch"

" \n Amazon announced two new Fire TV products during its big online hardware event on Thursday . Amazon\u2019s Fire TV gadgets compete directly with Roku and Apple TV, offering people access to popular apps such as Disney+ , Netflix , Hulu and more. \n \n\n \n Amazon says people are spending more time in front of TVs than ever before due to the spread of coronavirus. It sees the TV as the center of the household and wants to get even more features in front of users to keep them coming back. \n \n\n \n The new features may help it compete more aggressively against Roku, which still has a 50% market share of global connected TV streaming hours with strong growth opportunities, according to an analyst note from\u00a0 Deutsche Bank in August . \n \n\n \n The new Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite will be the first of Amazon\u2019s streaming gadgets to offer a redesigned home screen. The new features announced Thursday will be available later this year, starting with these devices, but it will not be on them when they begin shipping next week. \n \n\n \n The changes will also come to existing Fire TV devices, beginning in the first quarter of 2021. \n \n\n \n Here\u2019s what you need to know. \n \n\n \n Easier to find stuff to watch, new user profiles \n \n\n \n The new Amazon Fire TV interface, which includes user profiles \n \n\n \n Amazon\u2019s vice president and general manager of Fire TV, Sandeep Gupta, told CNBC that Amazon received feedback from users suggesting the home screen was too cluttered. Amazon worked on a redesign to make it easier to find stuff to watch and to quickly jump into live TV. \n \n\n \n \u201cToday, you can search for comedies, or stuff by Tom Cruise, but we\u2019ve tried to make a landing spot for when you don\u2019t know what you want to watch. This shows you stuff that\u2019s free, movies and TV shows, broader categories, apps and more,\u201d Gupta said. \n \n\n \n Gupta said the quick access to a TV guide will provide a familiar experience for people transitioning from cable TV to streaming. \n \n\n \n The new software supports up to six user profiles. That means you can log into your profile and see the shows and movies Amazon recommends to you, while your significant other can use a separate account for their own personalized recommendations. \n \n\n \n You can also create profiles for children that will show only kid-friendly content you\u2019ve approved. Previously, you\u2019d have to switch profiles inside each app, such as Netflix or Hulu, to see content recommended to you inside those apps. \n \n\n \n The latest software provides a new option to see your Ring or Alexa-ready video cameras on your TV through picture-in-picture \u2014 kind of like seeing a small window on your screen \u2014 while you\u2019re watching movies or TV shows. \n \n\n \n Finally, Amazon is expanding its Alexa voice assistant on Fire TV. Gupta told CNBC that there are billions of requests to Alexa and that it has seen an 80% growth in requests on Fire TV over the last year, although he did not provide specific figures. \n \n\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s a good indication people like Alexa and are using it more to manage shopping routines, recipes, whatever it is, in a centralized place,\u201d he said. Alexa\u2019s responses now pop up and cover just a small part of the screen so you can keep watching or doing what you were without being interrupted. \n \n\n \n Video chat for Amazon Fire TV Cube \n \n\n \n The Amazon Fire TV CubeAmazon \n \n\n \n Separately from the Fire TV sticks, though still part of the new software that will roll out to other Amazon Fire TV gadgets during the first quarter of 2021, is new video chat support. \n \n\n \n People who own the second-generation Fire TV Cube will soon be able to add a Logitech webcam for video chat through Fire TV. It\u2019ll support Alexa video calls and, later, Zoom . It won\u2019t work on the Fire TV sticks since it requires a USB port that\u2019s only found on the Fire TV Cube. \n \n\n \n New Amazon Fire TV Sticks price and release date \n \n\n \n The new Amazon Fire TV StickAmazon \n \n\n \n The Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite are relatively similar. They\u2019ll cost $39.99 and $29.99, respectively. The Fire TV Stick offers support for newer technologies, such as HDR and Dolby Atmos if your TV and speakers support them. Neither support 4K video and are capped at 1080p, so don\u2019t buy them if you have a 4K TV and want the best quality possible. \n \n\n \n If you need 4K, look at the\u00a0 Fire TV Stick 4K , which costs $49.99 but doesn\u2019t ship with the new software. The Fire TV Stick 4K will receive the new software at a later date, but the new Fire TV features announced Thursday will first roll out on the new Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite later this year.\u00a0 \n \n\n \n The Fire TV Stick Lite is more basic, without Dolby Atmos and some of the more advanced Wi-Fi support for more stable streaming. Both are said to be 50% faster than the last-generation Fire TV Stick, however, and both come with voice remotes that you can use to speak with Alexa to open movies, TV shows, apps and more. \n \n\n \n Pre-orders for the new Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite begin on Thursday and they\u2019ll begin arriving to customers on September 30. \n \n\n \n \n "

"Amazon announce brand-new home screen that makes it easier to find stuff to watch"

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