Envious on Google, Amazon dared to enter its territory and brought the Fire TV Stick, to compete with the Chromecast, but then Google hit the jackpot with the Nexus Player. Here’s how the two devices stack against each other.
The Fire TV is powered by 1.7GHz Quad Core Qualcomm Krait 300 processor, it has 2GB of RAM and 8GB of flash storage, it supports a resolution of 1080p and HDMI-CEC and comes with a built-in universal 6W power supply. Its dimensions are 115x115x17.5mm and it weights 281grams. It connects via 2.4 GHz WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (MIMO), Bluetooth 4.0, Ethernet and has a USB port.
The Nexus Player supports HDMI, it’s powered by a 1.8GHz Quad Core Intel Atom processor with Imagination PowerVR Series 6 Graphics (2D/3D Engine), has 1GB of RAM and the same 8GB of flash storage and 1080p output video resolution. It supports an external 18W power supply and can connect via 802.11ac 2×2 (MIMO), Bluetooth 4.1 and Micro-USB 2.0. It has a diameter of 120m and a height of 20mm, weighting 235grams.
The Fire TV is more indicated for gaming because of the extra 1GB of RAM, and has another advantage: the Ethernet port, in case you want to stream a video without buffering. However, the designs are very different: the Fire Tv is a circle, and the Nexus Player is a square.
Content and Channels
Both players are rich in service offers, but it depends on the licensing deals they’ve made to stream certain movies and TV shows. The Nexus Player offers its content through Google Play Store, while the Fire TV supports Amazon Prime Instant Video. But, besides content, you’ll get a variety of channels, and with the Nexus Player, you’ll have access to channels such as Hulu Plus, Netflix, YouTube, Vevo, Pandora, Huffington Post and many more, but if you live in the UK, the local channels are left out. This won’t be a problem with the Fire TV, which streams channels such as BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport, Sky News, Demand 5 etc. Other known channels supported by the Fire TV are Showtime Anytime, Crackle, WatchESPN etc.
Games gonna love this
The Fire TV was created to make happy a lot of gamers, offering them over 100 titles, including The Game of Life, Asphalt 8, Minecraft-Pocket Edition and Sev Zero – which was developed by Amazon. The company is collaborating with other developers such as EA, Mojang, Disney and Ubisoft and they’re working on many other games that will be brought to the platform. There is also a dedicated Amazon Fire Game Controller which will give an Xbox experience, but it’s sold separately.
With the Nexus Player, you can play pretty much every game you can download from the Google Play, and you’ll get addicted to Angry Birds or other 3D games. The Nexus Player can be used as a dedicated console if you buy the Nexus Player ASUS gamepad.
Remotes
The Fire TV supports voice control, being equipped with a built-in microphone. To command the device to find a TV show, just tap the voice button and say the name of the movie. The Nexus Player also supports this feature.
Operating systems
The Fire TV is an Android-based device and runs with a custom HTML5-based skin. The Nexus Player runs on Android TV, which is based on Android 5.0 “Lollipop”.
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