Amazon Fire TV Omni review: useful Alexa features, underwhelming picture

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You'd expect a lot from Amazon River's first self-branded TVs. After construction a successful hardware business concern with its Resound smart devices and Fire Goggle bo streaming gadgets, straightaway the tech giant wants to put over its name on the biggest screen in your menage. The new Fire TV Omni series delivers 4K HDR visualize in multiple sizes that start at aggressively low prices: the 50-edge pattern costs $359.99 at the time of this review. Only the largest 65-inch and 75-edge models include Dolby Visual modality HDR, which, in Amazon's own words, allows for "a to a greater extent medium feel." Whol of the Omni TVs run Amazon's Fire TV software and have built-in mics for work force-free people Alexa voice commands — eventide when the screen is disconnected. There's also a cheaper Fire Television 4-Series on sale now, but I'm reviewing the higher-end serial publication.

In approximately shipway, Amazon's untested exploit shows big prognosticate. The Alexa desegregation is more thorough and full-featured than what you'd cause using a Firing Tv set stick: in addition to debut your favorite streaming apps or intelligent for content with your voice, you can also interchange between TV inputs. And you can query Alexa when the TV's display is amply off for simple entropy like the weather or to gambol music. The Omni also supports features the like Orchard apple tree AirPlay 2, which Amazon's streaming players hush up do non, and you fundament plug a webcam into the Boob tube's USB port for video calls with Echo Show devices right now and Zoom and other apps later on.

But Amazon's freshman TVs underwhelm in the all-important area of characterization select, and they glaring below competition from TCL, Vizio, Hisense, and else TV makers that play in the same price range. There's naught inherently terrible about the screening experience on the Give the sack TV Omni. If you're person who's easy to delight, you mightiness be completely satisfied. But Amazon has successful a few too many hardware compromises for me to recommend its new TV lineup to people who need the best picture for their money.

In front going further, I have to greenbac that while Amazon claims these are "Virago-built TVs," they are almost sure enough being manufactured past TCL. There are apparent ironware similarities between them, from the general total design to the I/O port layout. I'm sure Amazon River had roughly input into the final mathematical product (especially with regards to the Alexa integration), but there's no denying who the company contractile to produce these.

*A blue LED illuminates when the mic is activated.*

The 55-inch model I tested has black bezels, though there's a slimmer metallic trim on the 65-inch and 75-in Dolby Vision sizes. Centered below the bottom of the inning bezel is an Light-emitting diode indicator for the far-field mike array: a blue light illuminates when the "Alexa" wake word is sensed (and you'll see the familiar long blue line of business across the lower berth portion of the TV screen). If you'Re not a fan of your TV having built-in microphones, you can disable them past flipping a switch that's on the TV's underside. A red spark indicates that the mics have been turned off, and you're still footloose to use part commands with the Alexa Vocalization Distant in this scenario.

*A red LED indicates that the TV's microphones are disabled.*

As for larboard selection, the Omni includes three HDMI 2.0 ports and a single HDMI 2.1 eARC port that can take advantage of the latest and sterling soundbars. There's also cable television / antenna input, ethernet, a USB 2.0 port, optical audio unfashionable, a headphone jack, and a port for the Atomic number 77 emitter that Amazon also includes in the boxful. That IR emitter can equal used to dominance your past home theater geared wheel and gives the Omni some very undeveloped world-wide unaccessible capabilities, much like the Evoke TV Cube.

Similar to existing "Fire Telly Edition" TVs from Toshiba and Insignia, Amazon's Omni TVs hunt the company's Fire TV software with a couple of extra tweaks for TV inputs, picture settings, and then on. But general navigation, browsing subject matter, and streaming all tactile property the same Hera as on a Fire TV Hold fast 4K. All of the major streaming apps you'd want are accounted for, even if the port continues to put over a bigger emphasis on Prime Video content than anything else. In most cases, Alexa's responses were identical to those I've standard on a Fire TV moving device. You're not really gaining whatsoever major new functionality with the Omni, but assumptive you preceptor't have an Reverberate speaker in the same room, it's nice being able to inquire for the basics (like turn off a nearby smart bulb) with the screen murder. Another potential benefit of active with this TV is that you'll receive new software updates longish into the prox, though the same rear end be said for Roku TVs.

It's when you embark on watching movies and TV shows on the Fire TV Omni that it becomes crystallize Amazon nonnomadic for average characterization prize. These TVs use a direct LED backlight and deficiency any kind of local dimming that can produce deeper African-American levels by illuminating and dimming "zones" of the screen as necessary. So the contrast on Amazon's Goggle bo waterfall short of what you'd breakthrough on something like TCL's 5-Series or Vizio's M-Series. It's not the terminate of the world, but it's noticeable. I'm disappointed that Amazon went such a basic route — particularly on the larger screen sizes — and picture quality suffers for IT. Black levels aside, I've found general HDR10 performance across several movies to be worthy for the price range of this 55-inch worthy, though Digital Trends was disappointed by the maximum HDR brightness levels on the Ray M. Dolby Vision-capable Omni. This is another area where information technology's evident that Amazon isn't trying to outshine the competition and instead settling for "traversable."

You aren't going to exist gaming at 120Hz with your PS5 or Xbox Series X on the Fire TV Omni: this is a 60Hz panel, and it also lacks variable refresh rate. But in that location's at least patronise for car low gear latency mode (ALLM), and Amazon fares imposingly well at cutting down stimulant lag when gaming manner is active agent. Information technology'll function for gaming but definitely doesn't check every box that unweathered console owners are looking for for.

*Only the 65-inch and 75-inch models let in Dolby Vision HDR.*

At go over time, in that respect are still several features of the Fire TV Omni traded arsenic "coming soon," such as the aforementioned AirPlay 2 support and the ability to use Echo speakers for home field unbroken. A native Zoom app has also yet to appear.

My overall takeaway after testing the Fire TV Omni is that it's an attractively priced 4K TV with convenient voice controls — just only and so-so word-painting quality. Amazon rattling of necessity to do better at that criteria next time roughly. You can buy out a TCL 6-Series Roku Boob tube with fancy picture quality for not much more. Google Telly runs on gorgeous Sony OLEDs and now a high-end TCL Goggle bo with Mini Light-emitting diode. Unfortunately for Amazon, the Fire Television set Omni's viewing experience doesn't really come some any of those. At the destruction of the day, you're better inactive choosing a TV with better picture quality and throwing in a Fire Tv set Puzzle 4K Scoop if you prefer Amazon's flowing platform. But while this might embody an underwhelming 1st attempt at "the Amazon TV" for nerds comparable myself, I wouldn't enumerate Amazon River out. The prices alone might be enough to sell some people along the Fire TV Omni. And if the ship's company can maintain similar prices and telephone dial up the picture calibre of its eventual second-gen TVs, the solid concept will be complete the more appealing. If there's one affair we make love virtually Amazon computer hardware, it's that the party is willing to improve it, and quickly.

Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge