In September 2021, Amazon launched two ranges of own-brand TVs in the US and Canada offering an all-in-one device with Alexa and Fire TV.
Now, the company is launching the 4-Series and Omni QLED in the UK and Germany. But that’s not all, Amazon is also adding an even cheaper range that adds some smaller screen sizes to provide options no matter what size your room or budget.
Amazon Fire TV 2-Series
The new entry-level 2-Series comes in 32- and 40in screen sizes, with the smaller one costing £249.99. That has a 720p resolution, with the 40in offering a 1080p (Full HD) panel for £299.99. In most other respects, the TVs have the same features as the larger 4-Series including built-in Alexa and supporting HDR10, HLG and Dolby Digital Audio.
The Fire TV interface is much like what you get on a Fire TV Stick, and gives you access to Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, Netflix and many other streaming services.
Jim Martin / Foundry
Being a TV, you also get a built-in Freeview Play tuner for watching live TV.
The 2-Series, is available to pre-order from Amazon immediately. The TVs go on sale officially on 12 April.
Fire TV 4-Series
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The 4-Series has options for bigger screen sizes: 43, 50 and 55in. These are all 4K and support HDR10, HLG and Dolby Digital Plus.Again, you use Alexa via the included Voice Remote and get the full Fire TV interface, plus built-in Freeview Play for live TV.
The 43in model costs £429.99, the 50in £499.99 and the 55in £549.99. You can pre-order a 4-Series from Amazon right now.
Fire TV Omni QLED
As in the US and Canada, the Omni QLED is the flagship model. It comes in 43, 50, 55 and 65in and starts at £549.99. Unlike in the US, there’s no 75in option.
Omni TVs have a 4K QLED panel for better image quality (and support for HDR10+) has a more premium finish thanks to a metal frame and stand and also has some extra features.One is hands-free Alexa thanks to the same sort of “far-field” microphones you get in an Amazon Echo. But there’s also a sensor panel with light and presence sensors.These do a few things. For one, they allow Omni QLED TVs to support Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive, which means brightness and image quality is adjusted based on the ambient lighting conditions in your room.
Jim Martin / Foundry
They also allow the TVs to detect if anyone is in the room, and either turn on or turn off what Amazon calls Ambient Experience. This is effectively a scaled-up Echo Show interface that can display family photos from Amazon Photos, widgets showing the weather, your calendar, entertainment recommendations and more.
There’s also a free library of around 1700 pieces of free gallery-quality artwork which – as with Samsung TVs in ambient mode – turn your big screen into a picture frame. They include a selection of work from local artists in the UK from galleries in Wales and Scotland. Alexa can tell you more about each piece: it isn’t just an image.
The collection also includes slo-mo video, a lot like Apple TV screensavers, and other ‘motion pieces’ such as a cosy fireplace. There’s a single piece of ‘dynamic’ art that changes subtly based on things such as your local weather, wind speed and the time of day. Amazon says it plans to expand to include more dynamic pieces.
Jim Martin / Foundry
In the future you’ll be able to generate your own artwork using AI by asking Alexa for whatever you can think of. Amazon demoed this by saying “Alexa, create a background showing the northern lights over Big Ben”. There’s no firm date on when this will be made available, but a spokesperson said it should be within a year.
You can control when Ambient Experience is displayed using Quiet Hours and setting how long it should wait when you’re not watching somethiing on your TV before it appears.
Of course, like a Fire TV, you can also ask Alexa (on any of these TVs) to show the front door camera, to set a timer, to play music and everything else that Alexa normally does.
Pre-order discounts
As it did back in 2021, Amazon is offering “introductory discounts” meaning you can save up to £300 until 11 April.
You can pre-order all of the models right now from Amazon’s website.
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