At Amazon's fall launch event, besides announcing a new Echo Dot (5th Gen), the company announced a new line of Fire TVs. The Fire TV Omni QLED Series boasts QLED tech, 4K resolution, Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ adaptive support, and more.
These sets will be available at 65-inches and 75-inches and retail for $799 and $1099 respectively. Pre-orders start today with the sets shipping in October. Disappointingly, at the time of writing, there do not appear to be any plans to launch the TVs outside of the U.S and Canada.
The new Fire TV Omni QLED Series features up to 96 zones of local dimming alongside adaptive brightness which alters the picture depending on your room conditions. These features dovetail nicely with this set's ability to detect when you're home and display artwork (or your own photos) when you're not watching TV.
Sound familiar? Samsung's The Frame TV offers something similar – a TV that performs traditional TV functions and also doubles as a stylish art piece. Although we're not sure the relatively thick, grey bezels on the Fire TV make it as attractive a proposition as The Frame.
Alexa widgets (and voice control) are onboard too, essentially turning your Fire TV into a much larger, much nicer Echo Show. You'll be able to check the weather, see your calendar, make sticky notes, control smart devices, play music, and more, much like how you can with an Echo Show.
In terms of connections, you get three HDMI 2.0 ports and one HDMI 2.1 (with eARC) socket, though Amazon does note that they will be limited to 4K/60Hz. While we don't have word on gaming performance or response time just yet, 4K/60Hz and HDMI 2.1 should just about suffice if you're using the TV with a PS5 or Xbox Series X.
You'll have to hang tight for a full review to get our take on how well these new QLED sets actually perform, but these Amazon TVs are interesting competition for more established TV brands.
MORE:
5 things we learned about Amazon's new QLED Fire TV Omni Series
Amazon announces new Echo Dots with upgraded sound, plus updates to Echo Studio
As well as our favorite Alexa speakers
And the best Amazon Echo deals
