Amazon Fire TV Stick, Chromecast 2 and the Apple TV 4K: The best streaming devices to choose from this Diwali

The festive season is upon us, and while many will be upgrading to some new smartphones, or gifting some to others, there’s no harm in diverting from the norm and gifting something different this Diwali. [caption id=“attachment_4139277” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The Amazon Fire TV Stick is a quick fix solution of your ageing TV.[/caption] TV sticks are great gifting idea, especially if your giftee is stuck with using an old, non-smart TV set and on a cable network. A media streaming device also makes for an ideal gift for older adults, because they are hassle free to use and easy to setup as well. There are indeed a ton of options available online, so which one do you choose? Amazon Fire TV Stick: Rs 3,499 Until recently, Amazon’s product portfolio was only limited to its Kindle e-book readers. Today, there are plenty more. There’s the Amazon Echo and Alexa connected speakers available and even the Amazon Fire TV Stick that turns dumb TV’s into smart ones in a jiffy. All you have to do is plug it into your TV’s HDMI port, and plug the USB cable into your TV’s USB port or the nearest power socket and you are good to go. From there, you will need an Amazon account to login and you have a buttery smooth smart TV experience, without the need to switch to or upgrade to an expensive smart TV. Part of the package also contains a Voice Remote, that lets you control everything, apart from the TV-specific features (which would depend on your TV model). You can also use the Amazon Fire TV Remote App on your phone to control the your TV, once paired. [caption id=“attachment_4139093” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] The Amazon Fire TV Stick[/caption] The Amazon Fire TV stick runs a forked version of Google’s Android. You can download apps from the built-in Google Play Store and run them off the stick instead of relying on your old or semi-smart TV’s ageing chipset. The current model available in India, supports Dolby Audio, 5.1 surround sound, 2ch stereo, and HDMI audio pass-through up to 7.1 and video outputs of up to 720 p and 1080 p at 60 fps. Chrome Cast 2: Rs 3,399 Everyone’s favourite Chrome Cast finally got upgrade and now we have the Chrome Cast 2, that may look like an oversized piece of candy, but it packs in plenty of features. The new Chrome Cast 2 features a better design than its predecessor or even the Amazon Fire TV Stick as it hangs off a short cable and won’t block the other ports at the back of your TV. If you haven’t owned one before, you need to remember that the Chrome Cast 2 is a mirroring device. It does not run Android TV and will not provide you with a newer or faster interface once you plug it in. So what does it do? Well, it gives you the ability to cast. It’s that option in your notification tray or your Android Settings menu, the icon at the top of the video viewing interface of an Android (or at times iOS) video-streaming app. It basically lets you reflect whatever you see on your phone on your TV’s display. It may not make your TV any smarter, but it’s the faster way to sharing what’s in your phone with your friends and family on a larger display or a TV. [caption id=“attachment_4139087” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] The Google Chrome Cast 2[/caption] A Chrome Cast basically follows commands will stream content to your TV using your Wi-Fi connection (independently) depending on the commands given by favourite streaming apps with your mobile phone as the remote control. What it does not let you do, is do two things at one time. So if you are watching a show on Amazon Prime or Netflix, you will not be able to view another one from your phone, meaning your phone is the center of the Chrome Cast experience and your remote. Choose this one only if your giftee is well-versed with Android or loves using their phones for Google services like YouTube. The Chrome Cast 2 still does not support 4K streaming. 4K streaming will arrive with the Chrome Cast Ultra that has yet to go on sale. Apple TV 4K: Rs 15,900 While iOS devices can be paired to a Chrome Cast 2 (depending on your app), a better choice would be the new Apple TV 4K . It is a bit pricey, but it not only gets you a very powerful streaming device, but also the supporting content to go with that experience. Depending on your app selection, Apple TV will let you stream 4K HDR programming. You can either download these through an tvOS app (from the App Store) or download movies from iTunes. The App Store on Apple TV gives users not just video streaming tvOS apps or a movie library, but also games built specially for tvOS. [caption id=“attachment_4139069” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Apple TV 4K[/caption] While Amazon’s Fire Stick and the Chrome Cast 2 will let you play games, they are not exactly purpose built for it so the experience is mostly half-baked. With an A10X chipset inside and the new Apple TV Remote, the Apple TV 4K can do a lot better letting you downloads tons of tvOS games from the App Store and play them off your Apple TV on a bigger display. Thanks to the processing power of this media streaming device, it makes for a great gift for those already glued to the iOS ecosystem and the App Store and is mainly for those who already have a smart TV in place as opposed to the former two. The Apple TV 4K is available in a 32 GB and a 64 GB internal storage options at Rs 15,900 and Rs 17,900 respectively.