i bought this about 2 months ago after contemplating a purchase since last october
amazon pushed an update to fire os and their new UI lags really badly on this device where the old os did not. once the apps start up, it seems mostly fine, for now. any further updatesamazon forces on users are likely going to cripple this box
i’d keep that in mind if you’re thinking about it
I purchased one of these refurbished Fire TV Cubes a couple of months ago and really like it. Just ordered a 2nd one to replace my first Fire TV Stick. The cube runs much faster then any of my sticks ever did and I like that I can tell Alexa to turn the TV on and how it can control some of the apps. Makes it much easier for my husband to move around in it as he hasn’t gotten the hang of using the remote.
Here’s the link to “Learn more about supported devices” that the IR blaster can control.
tl;dr: Bang & Olufsen is not compatible with voice control. Older TVs might not be compatible. Advanced voice control functions are only supported in the US.
Bought one of these from here months ago when it was available. It seemed alright at first and was nice to integrate it into the alexa ecosystem, but after an update it was horrifically slow. Even just streaming locally (server a room away) was unbearable at times. It just doesn’t have the hardware to maintain a snappy interface with the more recent software updates. A newer gen may be fine, but this was a constant case of lagging, having to power it off to reset it when it froze, all of that. Ended up just going back to the Roku ultra for now.
You might be able to pull this off in a secondary room, and it’s been alright as another standard echo device, but I wouldn’t use this as your main media unit.
I will say that I still have it connected to utilize the IR blaster so I can ask Alexa to turn on/off my AV receiver, which is a nice touch. It is an easy way to effectively have IR remote commands via voice (even via echos in other rooms, I leave this one muted and can still control the OR blaster throughout the home). That’s the only positive I can give it.