Hi,
I own an Android box and quite happy with it. I would like to ask this for my personal knowledge. As I understood, the Chromecast device does not have a UI, it is push and stream device.
Is FireTV similar to Android box with a UI, apps and other features or more like Chromecast without a UI? Are Android apps supported on FireTV?
sorry to post it here but I would like to hear the perspective of Android TV owners. Thanks
Fire TV is fine.. all your favorite apps are on the first line of the UI and you don't most of your time in an app. There 4k version is about 36 bucks in the USA. It's pretty reliabile, more so than by Android TV if you ask me. Either can run Kodi if you are into that.
Chromecast is a push and stream device with no UI to speak of. FireTV is an OS based device, but the hardware specs are also 'lighter' compared to a Shield TV with Android TV as the OS.
IMO, FireTV is a LITE version of Android TV (again, my opinion) but I like the UI of the FireTV and to me it produces a better picture (movies and videos) with HDR always enabled.
I don't care for the launcher (home screen if you will) which made me buy another Shield TV for the upstairs for a seamless integration for the bedroom TV (Wife doesn't have to re-learn how to operate it.)
Hope this helps.
The FireTV is a highly customized, Amazon Advertiser friendly Android TV device with its own store and (some of) it's own apps. If you don't mind Prime Video Advertisements on 75% of your home screen then it is a capable device. They are so cheap because of all of the advertising which your typical Android TV device (nVidia Shield, Mi Box S) doesn't have.
So, an Android box is not necessarily an Android TV. Many Android boxes are on the market that use Android but not Android TV. They just have regular Android with a custom launcher.
Android TV is different, and while it does have Chromecast built in, it's not a Chromecast device. Chromecast does not have a UI as you mention, but Android TV does. Chromecast is limited to casting to the TV, but Android TV lets you run apps directly.
FireTV is similar to Android TV. Yes, they can be considered to be equivalent. They both have app stores and you can stream content from various providers.