Month: October 2025

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max

I got a bit upset with Apple TV over the remote and decided to switch away from Apple TV completely — vote with your dollars, as they say. I’ve seen Fire TV on multiple occasions and figured that for the discounted price of $50 Canadian dollars, I should give it a go.

Now, I really don’t need much — Netflix, Discovery, YouTube, and something that can play video files off my NAS. Fire TV has all of those apps, including a pretty nice Nova Video Player that isn’t perfect but sure isn’t far from Infuse (on Apple TV). After about a week of using Fire TV, I’m ready to pass my judgment.

Short and sweet: Fire TV performs pretty well. Cold start is fairly fast (same or faster than Apple TV), and warm start is almost instant. Apps seem to work well, the menu is smooth, apps start fast, and overall I don’t see any difference between the two in terms of performance.

The big difference comes from setup, ads, and probably privacy. Setup is different — Fire TV is hands-on. It must be configured for a particular TV, which involves following a setup wizard. I wish it was as brain-dead simple as Apple TV, but it isn’t complicated — just needs a bit of patience.

Once setup is done, the very noticeable difference comes in the form of ads. By default, Fire TV plays ads for Amazon shows, games, and other things. That comes down to personal taste — it doesn’t bother me. I don’t watch TV or shop much, so seeing ads for movies and TV shows is actually kind of nice; I get to see what’s new out there. However, I can see how ads could become really old, really fast. If you tinker a bit with settings you can disable ad autoplay (which I did), but you can’t get rid of ads completely. I’m sure you can block them via a firewall or by tinkering with the OS internals, but I haven’t explored that option yet.

Now, Amazon isn’t known for its strong user privacy stance, so in that department you get what you pay for. If privacy is at the top of your list, perhaps give it another thought. Otherwise, you’ve got yourself a smart TV experience at a very cheap price.

Overall, Fire TV feels solid and very competitive. I’d recommend it — unless you’re concerned about privacy, hate ads, or simply prefer to stay in the Apple ecosystem.

Goodbye Apple TV

I enjoy Apple products and I’ve got a few, including two Apple TVs. I’m not big on smart-TV stuff, so I only use it for Netflix, YouTube, and some “running around the world” workout videos I keep on my NAS. I know I don’t use Apple TV to its full capabilities—no games, no apps (beyond the above)—and that’s OK by me. I was happy to give Apple my money; their stuff never let me down, and I enjoyed the experience.

However, this year I was forced to reevaluate my choice. It started when the Apple TV remote battery began to die—it didn’t hold a charge and needed constant recharging. I figured it wasn’t a big deal; I could just change the battery and carry on. Then came the surprise: modern Apple remotes are sealed, and the battery is irreplaceable. I was shocked and disappointed. Maybe it was only that model, I thought; maybe the newer one is different. The new remote looked different—the trackpad is gone and it looks beefier—but it kept the same brain-twisting “feature”: an irreplaceable battery. Even if you’re ready to hack and solder, you can’t buy a replacement battery. Why?

In the old Apple remotes you could always replace the battery, but I guess in this new age of disposable stuff you should just buy a new one. OK, well, let’s buy a new remote… except it isn’t $30–$40; it’s a whopping $80 Canadian. Why? A new Apple TV is $180! So nearly half the cost of the Apple TV is the remote? Really? And the cherry on top: there are no third-party options that work decently.

Everyone knows TV remotes don’t get dropped, smudged, or soaked in breakfast cereal! So yeah, good on Apple for noticing this potential revenue stream and deciding to nickel-and-dime their customers. “Think Different” takes on a new meaning. I mean, it’s a TV remote! Just for comparison: for $80 Canadian you can buy the top model of the Amazon Fire TV Stick—and if you wait for a sale, you can get it down to $50. By the way, the Fire TV remote has the same features—buttons, microphone, Bluetooth—and somehow it all runs on two AAA replaceable batteries! I really didn’t mind giving Apple two or three times more money for Apple TV, but not for an unrepairable, disposable, expensive TV remote.

My journey with Apple TV is coming to an end. I’ve already replaced one, and I’m seriously considering replacing the other as well. Maybe it’s an overreaction, but I can’t help feeling cheated. There’s a lingering distaste I can’t seem to shake off — it just sits there, quietly dulling any reason to look back.