Streaming devices are the advanced tools to get all your media contents without any monthly rental charge. The far-flung use of streaming devices over the internet will bring all the required media contents to your home. There are plenty of streaming devices and gaming consoles available in the platform, such as Android TV, Apple TV, Amazon Firestick, Fire TV, Google Chromecast, Roku, Xbox One, Nvidia Shield TV and many more. You can watch all the favourite programs, movies and live TV directly on your home TV by connecting any of the Streaming devices to it. In addition to streaming, it also allows you to play online and offline games on your big screen. These devices will permit you to download the media contents and watch them offline whenever you want. Among these streaming devices, the most popular and widely used ones are the Amazon Firestick 4K and Apple TV 4K. It is hard to highlight the best one. So let us take these devices to comparison Firestick vs Apple TV and find which is better.
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What is Amazon Firestick?
Amazon Firestick is the most popular and best-selling streaming device by Amazone. It is a small dongle which allows you to install thousands of app from different categories from the Amazon Store. You are allowed to access various movies, TV shows, live TV and Play different games on your TV screen. You can get seamless HD streaming experience over the internet with Firestick.
What is Apple TV?
Apple TV is the streaming media player which delivers contents from internet and display ith on your home entertainment device. It is connected to TV and lets you watch videos, listen to music and play different games on your TV. You may install and access all the iOS supported apps and also supports some third party controllers to play games. Apple TV allows you to stream all the HD resolution contents along with better sound quality.
Amazon Firestick Vs Apple TV
Price
Amazon offers three portable streaming devices at different costs. An Amazon Firestick is a USB shaped small streaming device which costs $40 and the latest version of Firestick 4K which costs $49.99 and the Fire TV Cube which is priced at $120.
Apple TV is an expensive streaming device when compared to Firestick. The basic version of Apple TV costs $149 and the low ended Apple TV (32GB) 4K costs $179 and the Apple TV 4K (64 GB) costs $199.
Design and Interface
Amazon Firestick is the small flash drive shaped device which is connected to TV. It turns your normal TV into a smart TV. It is designed with a good user-friendly interface that contains recently used apps and media contents. On the top of the screen, it contains six major menu options which are Home, Videos, Movies, TV shows, Apps and Settings.
Apple TV is a small square-shaped set-top box connected to your smart TV device. The interface of Apple TV is powered by tvOS, the home screen is filled with the top self apps and displays additional preview content on the screen. Top streaming apps are arranged in a row of six, you can easily move the app and place it wherever you want.
Setup
Both the devices can be easily set up and the process is fairly simple. Connect your Amazon Firestick with the HDMI port on TV through USB cable. Press the home button on remote and select the language. Then connect your Firestick to home WiFi. You need to enter your Amazon Prime credentials to sign in and then enjoy unlimited prime streaming. If you don’t have an Amazon Prime account, you have to create it during the Firestick or Fire TV set up. Once the sign-in process is complete, you may install your popular streaming apps to it.
There are two way to set up Apple TV, one is with the Apple TV Siri remote and another method us by using an iPhone. firstly connect your Apple TV box to the HDMI port on Your TV using USB cables and turn on your TV. Connect Apple TV to the WiFi or ethernet broadband connection. Enter your Apple ID with the help of Siri remote to complete the login process.
Connect your Apple TV and iPhone to the same WiFi and enter the iTunes and iCloud accounts, then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the Apple TV set up process. Both the devices Firestick vs Apple TV is similar to their setup process.
RAM and Operating System
The Amazon Firestick and Apple TV run with different operating systems. The Firestick runs on the Android Operating system. Amazon has launched three generations of Firestick with updated features, where the first and second generation Firestick came with 1 GB RAM and 8 GB internal storage space. The third generation Firestick or Firestick 4K comes with 2 GB RAM and 8 GB internal storage. The Amazon Fire TV Cube is designed with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB of internal storage.
Apple TV runs on the tvOS operating system. The second-generation Apple TV has 256 MB of RAM with Apple A4 processor. The Apple TV third generation has 512 MB RAM with Apple A5 processor. The Fourth Generation Apple TV or Apple TV 4K comes with two phases, 32 GB and 64 GB internal storage, both have 2 GB of RAM storage.
Remote Control
Both the Firestick and Apple TV comes with a remote control device along with its purchase. The previous generations of Firestick came with basic remote control. The second-generation Firestick remote came equipped with a microphone button to recognizes the voice command. Where the third generation Firestick 4K comes with Alexa Voice Remote, which contains a power button and LED indicator. Access the Alexa voice feature by pressing the microphone button to play, pause, rewind, turn off, turn on, video playback, install and launch new apps and do many more with the Firestick.
Apple TV’s first and second generation are not compatible with the Siri remote. The Apple TV Siri remote comes with touch surface, you can swipe up, down, left or right to navigate, instead of using buttons. Press the menu button to wake up your device, press and hold it to go to the home screen. Press and hold the microphone button to use the Siri feature.
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Apps and Services
Firestick is provided with the support to search within the Amazon App Store, it contains thousands of official apps and services supported by Firestick. An Amazon Firestick runs on the Android Operating system, so it allows you to install and access plenty of android apps. Apart from official apps, it even supports various third-party apps. You can side-load these third-party apps directly from the source by using the URL. Firestick never supports Google Play services such as Google Play Movies, Google Play Music and Google Photos.
Apple TV is an iOS-based streaming service that allows you to install and access all the iOS supported apps and services. Like the iPhone and iPad, it comes with the App Store. In addition to various official apps, Apple TV allows you to side-load various third-party apps to Apple TV using a Mac, Xcode app and Apple ID.
Streaming Resolution
Amazon Firestick allows you to watch all the Prime video titles without any additional charge. The First and second-generation Firestick supports maximum up to 1080p video resolutions and Dolby plus 7.1 audio surrounds. The third generation or Firestick 4K supports video resolutions up to 4K Ultra HD and supports Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital (AC3) and Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3 for better sound effects.
Apple TV’s third and fourth generation supports 1080p video quality. The Apple TV 4K supports all the streaming resolutions including 1080p and 4K (2160p) Ultra HD. The second-generation Apple TV is capable of streaming videos in 1080p. By default, Apple TV supports high audio formats, and you have to choose between Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital 5.1 or Stereo.
Related: Nvidia Shield TV vs Firestick Comparison | Which one to Choose?
To Conclude
Apple TV and Firestick are cost-effective streaming devices. Where Apple TV is slightly expensive when compared to Firestick. If you want to mirror your smartphone to your Apple TV, it only allows mirroring iPhone or iPad screen. In the case of Firestick, it allows you to mirror both android and iOS devices by enabling the screen mirroring option with init. Firestick is easily portable than Apple TV set-top box while travelling. Both devices supports various streaming apps and supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision streaming. By comparing Amazon Firestick vs Apple TV, these two devices are designed with a lot of similar features. It is arduous to recommend one among these two. It is just better to prefer the streaming device that fits your requirements and suits your budget.
