(bouncy techno music)
- Last week we talked about Roku versus Google TV.
If you haven't checked out that video yet
then go do so. We're looking at which interfaces
are the best for the users,
and this week it's Google TV versus Fire TV.
This one is much more of an apples to apples comparison
since they are very, very similar devices.
But which one comes out on top? Let's dive in.
(groovy bass techno music)
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Now, as I said before,
Google TV versus Fire TV is more of an apples to apples
comparison than when we had Roku in the mix. Why is that?
Well, it has to do with our first category,
and that is neutrality.
When you have Google TV versus Fire TV,
you have Google versus Amazon.
And so they both have their own content that they
want to push along with the interface that you're using.
So if you're on Fire TV,
obviously they're going to want you to rent
or purchase things on their store. Same with Google,
whatever you search for they're going to push you
a little bit toward the Google Play Store.
So it's almost a tie, like I said, it's really,
really close in most of these categories between the two
devices, but in the case of neutrality,
I'm actually going to give the edge here to Google TV,
simply because yes,
they do have very similar types of results
when you use the search function and search for a title
and ways to watch it,
yeah, they're going to push you toward their own services,
but on the main interfaces,
when you're just browsing around
looking for something to watch,
then the Fire Stick pushes you much more strongly toward
their properties, whether that's Fire TV or IMDB TV,
they're going to try to get you to watch things
on their platforms. Google could do some of that,
they don't have quite the same reach
as far as on demand streaming services,
but they do have YouTube obviously,
but still on that main page for Google TV,
they're pulling in stuff
from all sorts of different sources,
they're not tying you down as much to one branded source.
So I like that. When it comes to ease of use,
this is the category where we ask
if you gave this to somebody who had never held a streaming
device before, how quickly could they figure it out?
And in this case, we're going to call this one, a tie.
Both of them have reasonably simple interfaces,
but there is a bit of a learning curve,
but neither one really comes out on top.
Neither one has an edge.
So we'll give them both a point here.
Next up, let's talk about recommendations.
This is if you log on
and you're not sure what you want to watch,
how helpful is the interface in guiding you towards
something that you would find interesting to watch?
And in this one, the edge does go to Google TV.
They both operate very similarly.
They both offer recommendations.
But because Fire TV is so closely tied
with Prime Video and IMDB TV,
it limits the amount of recommendations
that it's going to give you.
You can still find other ones if you keep scrolling,
but you're going to have to scroll for a while.
Over on Google TV,
I do think they have a better algorithm
for serving up interesting things to you,
and they're pulling those in
from all sorts of different streaming services.
So, Google TV takes the point on this one.
When it comes to search, these again,
both operate very similarly.
Google TV operates with the Google assistant,
Fire TV operates with she-who-shall-not-be-named,
lest I turn on all of the devices for you.
So it's simple, you speak into your remote,
you tell what you want to watch,
it'll search where you can find that,
where you can watch it.
Both operate very similarly,
however, Fire TV gets the edge here
(bell dings)
because I did run into a few instances
where on Google TVs platform,
I would search for something that I already knew
where it was available and Google TV would miss it.
And so they would just direct me to buy or rent
that title on the Google TV Play Store.
Not exactly what you want.
So yeah, edge Fire TV.
App availability is definitely a tie.
(bell dings)
There weren't any huge holes in either interface
when it came to which apps were available.
Yes, there will always be this or that little minor app,
but when it came to the major stuff,
the stuff that the bulk of us are going to be looking for,
both platforms had it all.
So, yep, tie.
(gentle techno music)
Parental controls is a topic that not everybody
is going to be very worried about,
but for those of us who do want good parental controls,
it's very important. And the edge here goes to,
I feel like this must be Twitter
because I need to break in
here with a well actually,
because I was going to give the edge here to Google TV,
because it had features that Fire TV didn't,
but I had forgotten that with the new Fire TV update,
they actually have a lot of the same features that Google TV
does when it comes to parental controls.
So now both devices,
or I should say both platforms,
can offer screen-time limits, bedtime limits,
app limits in a kid's profile, that sort of thing.
So, both of them are looking really good.
I was going to give Google TV a point,
but I'm going to give them both a point on a tie on this
(bell rings)
one, and I'll just update that later on in the video,
when we have our final count.
Next up is sideloading. Sideloading is another kind of niche
topic. It's a power user move,
and sideloading refers to the practice
of getting third-party apps online
and getting them onto your streaming device.
So this is done sometimes if you want to get,
say an internet browser that isn't available in the app
store, or, you know,
TV and movie channels or game emulators, what have you.
So, again, it is a bit of a power user move,
but for those who actually want to do it,
I give the edge to Fire TV on this one.
(bell dings) For one simple reason,
both of them operate roughly the same as far as how you go
about sideloading and, you know, how easy it is,
but Fire TV gets the edge here,
because the devices that you get for Fire TV
tend to have more storage
than what you're going to get with Google TV devices.
Really, when it comes to standalone devices right now,
we only have one and that is the Chromecast,
and it has pitifully small storage because of the robust
nature of the interface. So it's great in some ways,
but not very great as far as sideloading other apps
and getting a bunch of stuff on there
that's gonna soak up data. In order to do
that effectively on the Google TV,
on the Chromecast with Google TV,
you've gotta get additional hardware,
additional plugins to make that happen.
So, FireTV wins on this one.
When it comes to the remotes,
this is another very close one,
because they are close in terms of what they've got on them
and what they're capable of doing,
both Google TV and Fire TV have remotes
that are capable of doing TV controls,
and voice controls,
and all sorts of things like that. They're both sleek,
but what it comes down to is I think the Google TV remote is
a little bit more pleasant to hold in hand. Hey,
that's just me. I know that's totally subjective.
However,
I will also say that the new Fire TV remote
is more cluttered than the old one was.
They've added some app buttons on there.
They've added a live TV button.
It's also got playback controls on there that are totally
redundant. A play, fast forward, rewind,
you can do that with the directional wheel already.
So why do we have that on there,
other than cluttering up the remote? I'm not sure.
So edge on this one goes to Google TV.
(bell rings)
Now let's talk about ads.
When we talk about ads in this case,
we're not talking about the ads that you watch during your
content. We're talking about the ads on the interface.
In both cases, the ads aren't too intrusive,
but Fire TV both gained and lost a point,
which kept it at a tie for me.
They gained a point because when you hit the home button,
it takes you, instead of going above an ad,
it takes you below an ad,
so you don't have to click through
that ad to get to your content.
But they do lose a point for having a very prominent ad
right under that first row on their home screen.
Now these may sound like nitpicky things,
but as you're using these devices,
using these interfaces on a daily basis,
it's those little things that matter.
So, since neither of them really pulls ahead of the other,
I'm going to go ahead (bell dings)
and call a tie on this one, as well.
Lastly, let's introduce a new category
and that is design.
Both of these interfaces are functionally very,
very similar, but which one comes out ahead on design?
Well,
I really like a few things about the new Fire TV interface.
They've done a good job cleaning up how many menus
you have to search through. So you've got your home tab,
your find tab and your live tab,
then you can search through your own apps.
You can go to settings.
It's all very easy to see right there
in the middle of your home screen. So I do like that.
And over on the Google TV side of things,
it is similarly very, very simple to navigate.
However,
Google TV does have one thing going for it on the design
aspect. And this is subjective,
I would love to hear your comments
and whether you agree or disagree below,
but the Google TV interface is just
a little more round, spaced out,
it isn't so claustrophobic as the Fire TV interface.
So as I scroll through Fire TV,
everything is very, very close together.
Everything is very squared off and it just feels crowded,
as I go through that interface.
Google TV, on the other hand,
isn't going to show you as much info on a single screen,
but in my opinion, that can be good.
You don't have quite that same information overload.
So I do like the way that it's laid out,
they also do some pretty clever things where, you know,
you hover over an app and the background subtly shifts color
to match that app. So purple for HBOMAX,
red for Netflix, and so on and so on.
Little things like that,
where Google TV just killed the design
and made it pleasant to be in the interface,
so you don't feel crowded out like you do with Fire TV.
(bell dings)
So, point, Google TV. And with that, we have our results.
Fire TV comes in with five points total,
but Google TV walked out with eight points in this head to
head match up. So Google TV wins.
Again, I'm not talking about devices on this one.
I'm just talking about the interface
and how pleasant
and how easy it is to use for, you know,
your typical average user. So, yeah.
Do you agree with me? Hit the comments below.
Let me know what you think.
If I was advising a brand new cord cutter,
I would point them toward Google TV sooner than FireTV.
But, of course, there are other mitigating factors
that we didn't even get to today.
So again, hit the comments,
let me know what you think. "Like" this video
if it was helpful or fun or whatever.
And don't forget to join me on Fridays for those live
streams. Thank you so much, everybody, for watching.
I will see you next time. (bouncy music fades)