Amazon has kicked off IFA 2019 with a bang, announcing its first OLED Fire TV Edition and Fire TV Edition Soundbar, a new 65-inch Toshiba Fire TV Edition with Dolby Vision HDR, a refreshed Fire TV Cube, and new partnerships that’ll see the Fire TV Edition sold in additional markets.
First up, the OLED Fire TV Edition. It has been built in collaboration with German manufacturer Grundig and is available in two sizes: 65 or 55 inches, both of which can be had with either far-field voice control (through Alexa, of course) or without. But it’s the screen that is important here.
Unlike the Vision 6 and Vision 7 — two other Grundig-made Fire TV Edition models that Amazon announced at IFA 2019 — the OLED Fire TV Edition has an OLED screen, which delivers one of the finest home viewing experiences on the market. Pair that with Fire OS, and you have a recipe for success.
Seriously, the difference between an OLED and a standard LED screen (but not quite QLED) is night and day, and now that Amazon has teamed up with a budget manufacturer to bring OLED TVs to the mainstream at a more realistic price, it’s only a matter of time until anyone and everyone has one.
However, we have a while to go until we reach that point. For those who don’t have north of $1,000 to blow on a 4K TV, Amazon announced the aforementioned Grundig Vision 6 Fire TV Edition and Grundig Vision 7 Fire TV Edition, a low-end and mid-range collection of Fire TVs, respectively.
Toshiba also bolstered its Fire TV Edition line-up with the addition of a supersized 65-inch model with Dolby Vision baked in. It’s the fourth television in the manufacturer’s Fire TV range to support the HDR standard, following the 43-inch, 50-inch, and 55-inch variants that launched in June.
Keen to inject Alexa into every aspect of your home, Amazon introduced a soundbar of its own. Developed in partnership with Anker, the Nebula Soundbar Fire TV Edition is decked out with Voice Remote with Alexa, which can be used to control both the bar and the connected TV using your voice.
What’s more, the Nebula is equipped with far-field voice control (so it’s essentially an oversized Amazon Echo), Dolby Vision passthrough, and can be hooked up to select speakers to create a multi-room group, letting you stream from Amazon Music and Spotify throughout your home in real-time.
As if that wasn’t enough, Amazon introduced a refreshed Fire TV Cube that features far-field Local Voice Control — eliminating the need to reach for a remote control at all, thanks to enhanced commands that let you scroll through different pages using your voice — and Dolby Vision HDR.
Here’s the kicker: While the Amazon Fire TV Cube (2nd Gen.), 65-inch Toshiba Fire TV Edition with Dolby Vision HDR, and Nebula Soundbar Fire TV Edition are all headed to the United States, the entire Grundig range of devices — OLED included — are strictly for Austria and Germany for now.
Elsewhere, folks in the United Kingdom will receive a brand new JVC Fire TV Edition, which will mark the launch of the first Fire TV Edition in the region. It will be available in three sizes: 40-inch, 49-inch, and 55-inch. Each supports Dolby Vision and HDR10, and have Voice Remote with Alexa to boot.
In terms of pricing and availability, the 65-inch Toshiba Fire TV Edition with Dolby Vision HDR will be available at Best Buy for $599, the Nebula Soundbar at Amazon for $230, and the Fire TV Cube (2nd Gen.) from Amazon and a host of nationwide brick-and-mortar retailers for $120.
All three are up for pre-order now.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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