Amazon just released the Fire TV Omni QLED series, already covered in the news and summarized below as a part of the company’s range of offerings. The most interesting thing about it, something that may seem trivial as a technology, but has repercussions, is the Ambient Experience feature.
Ambient Experience is so far only available on the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series TV. It uses sensors to determine if the room is occupied or dark. If unoccupied or dark, it transitions to Standby mode after two minutes. It allows users to choose backgrounds from curated art collections, display the time and weather, and use customizable widgets such as a calendar, sticky notes, music, smart home favorites, and live TV. It also offers an audio player and can increase energy consumption.
In essence, the TV is also a bigger version of something like the Amazon Echo Show, which has a 10″ display. It’s comparable to a Google Nest Hub. The Echo Show costs about $250. The Fire TV Omni QLED starts at about $500. That’s all you need to know. I can’t think of any other more compelling reason to start thinking about the redefinition of TVs than the fact that you have to stop treating them as being flatter, thinner, lighter CRTs, and just start thinking of them as a user interface and align with experiences, the word of the day.
I tried to say something about how AI is transforming TVs, and while this Amazon product is not anything like a leap in AI, it’s just a matter of time, compressed time, as Amazon (Google, Microsoft, etc.) rush to position themselves as the go-to artificial factotum of the consumer. That’s the home hub concept, and no one’s going to be bothered with actual pixels at that point. The screen is a function. The TV is no longer a TV, but the face of your home assistant. There isn’t a person in the world who cares about the digital display on their thermostat, and that’s pretty much what TVs are set to become.
Whether that is a good or bad thing is irrelevant. People will be attracted to devices that react to them. That’s it.
| Feature | Fire TV 2-Series | Fire TV 4-Series | Fire TV Omni Series | Fire TV Omni QLED Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display type | LED | LED | LED | QLED |
| Resolution | HD | 4K UHD | 4K UHD | 4K UHD |
| Screen sizes | 32″, 40″ | 43″, 50″, 55″ | 43″, 50″, 55″, | 43″, 50″, 55″, |
| 65″, 75″ | 65″, 75″ | |||
| HDR format | HDR10, HLG | HDR10, HLG | HDR10, HLG, | HDR10, HLG, |
| Dolby Vision | Dolby Vision IQ, | |||
| (65″, 75″ only) | HDR10+ Adaptive, | |||
| HDR10+ Gaming | ||||
| Full Array Local Dimming | Varies by screen size | |||
| Wi-fi & Ethernet Connectivity | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Press and ask Alexa | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Hands-free with Alexa | ✔️ | ✔️ | ||
| Fire TV Ambient Experience | ✔️ | |||
| Total HDMI Ports | 2 HDMI 1.4 + | 3 HDMI 2.0 + | 3 HDMI 2.0 + | 3 HDMI 2.0 + |
| 1 HDMI ARC | 1 HDMI eARC 2.1 | 1 HDMI eARC 2.1 | 1 HDMI eARC 2.1 | |
| Release year | 2023 | 2021 | 2021 | 2022/2023 |
