Tested: Fire TV on the Echo Show 15

Just after asserting Fireplace Tv set mode for the Echo Demonstrate 15 earlier this 12 months, Amazon is now earning it readily available to customers.

When enabled (you should see a notification on your machine), the aspect turns Amazon’s largest intelligent display into a miniature Television, which you can handle utilizing the touchscreen, Alexa voice commands, or a Fireplace Television distant ($30, bought independently). When compared to making use of Alexa on your own, it’s a more responsible way to perform video on the 15-inch display.

But just before you purchase an Echo Present 15 for this objective, be aware that it’s not quite on par with the full Fire Tv set knowledge. The Apple Television app (for Apple Tv set+ subscribers) doesn’t get the job done, app sideloading is not supported, and the interface has a handful of bugs and quirks.

Strictly for Tv-viewing needs, you might be much better off purchasing a tiny television, as the $250 Echo Show 15 is pricy for a Tv set by yourself, and it lacks a developed-in stand. (Sanus presents a $33 tilt stand for the Echo Show 15, as properly as an Echo Demonstrate 15 tilt/swivel stand for $44.) But if you’re presently interested in the Echo Clearly show 15 for its clever display screen capabilities, Hearth Tv manner is a helpful new perk.

How to use Hearth Television set manner on the Echo Exhibit 15

Jared Newman / Foundry

The moment Fireplace Tv method is readily available on your Echo Show 15, you can change to it by tapping the Fire Television icon in the top rated-proper corner of the display screen, or by swiping down and selecting “Fire TV” from the fast settings bar.

Through the first setup, you can decide on which applications to install and pair a 3rd-technology Alexa remote, which fees $30 on its individual. You can also management the Fireplace Television interface by the touch monitor, but most apps call for you to use a digital on-screen remote rather of swiping and tapping. The possibility to pair a separate distant arrives up any time you use an application that isn’t entirely optimized for touch.

Jared Newman / Foundry

After you have paired a remote, Fireplace Tv set method hundreds right away every time you faucet the property button, and tapping the home button a second time returns to the conventional Echo Show 15 interface.

Fireplace Television mode: What you can and can not do

On the overall performance entrance, the Echo Show 15 doesn’t have any issues handling the Fire Television set interface. Scrolling all around feels snappy and fluid, and storage is not considerably of a problem either, as the Echo Clearly show 15 however has additional than 8GB of totally free area even with Hearth Television mode mounted.

Most of the apps I tested labored just fine on the Echo Clearly show 15–including Netflix, HBO Max, Pluto Television set, and Channels DVR–with a single caveat: Streaming Tv applications have to have that the Echo Demonstrate 15 be in landscape orientation–they won’t start if the display is in portrait mode. Game titles, these kinds of as Crossy Road, were also playable employing the Hearth TV’s distant. The only exception I could discover was the aforementioned Apple Television, which seems in Amazon’s Appstore but with an “Unavailable” concept. Amazon won’t say if the app will ever be accessible on the Echo Display 15.

Jared Newman / Foundry

Opposite to earlier stories, both the YouTube and YouTube Television apps worked as nicely, with the identical Alexa assistance observed on good Hearth Television set equipment. That usually means you can look for for YouTube video clips with Alexa and jump straight into reside channels by voice in YouTube Tv.

Talking of voice handle, inquiring Alexa to launch a precise Tv exhibit or motion picture now usually takes you to that written content inside the Hearth Television set interface. Inquire to observe Wednesday on Netflix, for instance, and you can use the remote to change among episodes or go back to Netflix’s principal menu. The Fireplace Television distant also supports basic Alexa instructions, so you can inquire about the weather conditions, set timers, perform new music, or control wise dwelling units. You can also show are living feeds from appropriate household stability cameras in picture-in-image method even though you are viewing video plans.

Jared Newman / Foundry

One noteworthy limitation, however: The Echo Show 15 does not guidance sideloading applications in Hearth Tv set method. Even though you can technically use an app like Downloader to down load APK information, no menu solution exists for setting up apps from unidentified resources.

Bugs and quirks

While the Fireplace Tv set practical experience works very well in general on the Echo Demonstrate 15, I did recognize a handful of oddities.

Some Fireplace Tv applications, for occasion, convey up a touchscreen keyboard for text entry, with no option to type utilizing the remote. It’s a minimal nuisance if you’re throughout the place and want to lookup with the keyboard or log into an application.

Jared Newman / Foundry

The Echo Show’s Hearth Television interface is also marginally unique from the typical version. It appears to use an aged variation of the leading navigation menu, with no “My Stuff” section and entire textual content rather of icons for every tab. And though you can continue to pin 6 preferred applications to the leading of the residence display screen, individuals seem beneath the principal navigation tabs instead of future to them.

Connecting Bluetooth earbuds was an challenge as properly, with noticeable audio lag in comparison to the online video on display screen. That wasn’t a problem employing the exact earbuds with a Fire Television set Cube.

Lastly, there is no way to management the regular Echo Display 15 interface with the Fire Television remote. This will become a issue for Alexa commands that have to have enter, this kind of as new music playback or a record of your future calendar appointments, as you can only interact through the touch display. On a normal Fireplace Tv system, inquiring for audio brings up a participant that you can handle with the remote instead.

Michael Brown/Foundry

Is the Echo Exhibit 15’s Hearth Television method well worth it?

At a checklist selling price of $250, the Echo Demonstrate 15 is costly for a tiny Television set. Insignia’s 24-inch Fireplace Television set Version tv, for instance, lists for $170 and commonly sells for considerably less additionally, it arrives with a remote and a stand. If you have the area for a slightly greater display screen, a suitable tv will probably make much more sense than the Echo Present 15.

But for individuals who’ve previously set up an Echo Exhibit 15 for its photograph body capabilities, informational widgets, and good residence dashboard controls, including the entire Hearth Tv set interface tends to make perception. Amazon most likely noticed that people want to observe movie on this product, and currently being in a position to invoke Fire Television method beats futzing around with Alexa voice instructions. It also offers the Echo Display 15 obtain to much more streaming movie sources than it would have otherwise.

Fireplace Television on the Echo Exhibit 15 is an up grade really worth hunting ahead to, even if it doesn’t make the Echo Demonstrate 15 a vastly greater acquire than it was just before.