Amazon Fire Stick jailbroken in India is a severely dumbed-down version of its true self. For one, Amazon's voice-based assistant, Alexa, won't work, which means your dream of controlling media and ordering pizza with voice commands has been dashed. If you tell your remote to "launch Netflix" or "skip ahead 10 minutes", it will only launch a search for that exact phrase, not do as you say.
What's worse is that universal search is also missing. Amazon Fire Stick Kodi doesn't seem to be indexing the content of any services other than Amazon Prime Video -- so you have to launch unique apps if you want to watch a Netflix exclusive show or an IPL match, for example. With so many different streaming services available.
In the US, Amazon expanded this capability to cover more than 75 content sources this past year. In India, the Prime Video catalog is relatively small. This severely undercuts the appeal of Amazon Fire Stick jailbroken for sale Stick, and we hope that Amazon is working with developers to add their catalogs to the mix in the not too distant future. If you're not an Amazon Prime member, the Fire TV Stick's lack of indexing and a restricted search will be even more disappointing.
We reached out to Amazon India on the various shortcomings of the Amazon Fire Stick hack-- the lack of voice commands, universal search, and plans for the Amazon Fire Stick unlocked, and the Gaming Controller. A company representative told us that although those things are part of the roadmap, they didn't have the liberty to discuss it any further.
At launch, Amazon is giving buyers a range of freebies to sweeten the deal. They include some cash back as Amazon Pay balance, free data for Airtel Broadband and You Broadband subscribers, and limited-time premium subscriptions to Eros Now, Gaana, and Voot. The catch here is that the Amazon Prime and content offers don't apply to existing members. You will need to join with new accounts to make the most of the cash back or free premium services.
Verdict
At Rs. 3,999, the Amazon Fire Stick fully loaded sits neatly alongside that other streaming stick -- the Chromecast -- which has become massively popular throughout the last few decades. The two are regularly touted as rivals, but even though both are constructed for streaming content, they are rather distinct in their approach.
The Chromecast is made for men and women who know what they would like to watch. You open an app on your phone and then cast it to your TV screen. The Amazon Fire Stick free channels, by comparison, encourages that old TV habit of browsing around, and thanks to its interface, we did find ourselves going through apps that we might normally not bother with.
If you watch a lot of Prime Video content, then the Amazon Fire Stick fully loaded will surely appeal to you. For everyone else, Google's Chromecast will continue to prove useful, more so since it, you can use it using an assortment of apps.
Voice commands and universal search are the two most obvious advantages of the Amazon Fire Stick jailbroken, but those legs are cut off for Indian audiences, leaving behind a not-so-smart product that does few things but does them well.
