Amazon has commenced the roll out of its new Fire TV interface, which will make content easier to find, while finally offering personalised profiles.
The ‘new Fire TV Experience’ update, first announced in late September, features a brand new home screen and an improved Alexa experience that will even switch to your new personal profile.
Amazon is staggering the roll out with the newer Fire TV Stick (3rd-gen) and Fire TV Stick Lite, while other devices in the range will receive it in early 2021. The company says only a few customers will see the update right away.
So what’s inside? Well, starting with the new home screen, Amazon said the new main menu now enables viewers to scroll over icons to see a preview of the content. Users will also be able to jump straight back into their favourite shows, on supported apps.
Amazon says the home screen is now a “single destination where you can find popular features like Find, Live TV, Library, and your pinned apps.” Speaking of finding content, the new Find experience creates categories full of content from your apps, such as movies, TV shows, free ad-supported content and sports. It’s also possible to filter by genre.
Related: Amazon Fire TV Cube review
As well as the visual and organisational changes Amazon has also added streaming profiles for every user in the household. The interface supports up to six profiles. The company says each profile will get personalised recommendations, viewing history, watch lists and preferred settings. If you want to switch to your own profile, simply ask Alexa and she will recognise your voice (provided you’ve opted in to voice profiles).
Speaking of Alexa, features like “Alexa, go to Live TV,” or “Alexa, go to News” have been added, while a new Alexa Explore page is accessible from the main menu displaying things you might see on an Echo Show. There’s weather forecasts, stocks, news headlines, and more.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
