After years of rumors and reports, Amazon has officially announced Vega OS, its replacement for Android on Fire TV hardware, and it’s going to make some big changes.
Fire TV has always been based on Android, whether Amazon wanted to acknowledge that or not. Android served as a base for what became a forked version of the platform, heavily customized for Amazon’s preferences with very little of the underlying operating system coming through.
Now, Amazon is moving over to Vega OS, its own platform for Fire TV devices.
The company hasn’t fully detailed all of the ins and outs of Vega, but Amazon hints that this is a move in the interest of performance. In a post, Amazon touches on Vega being “remarkably fast” despite the low-end hardware of its new Fire TV Stick 4K Select:
Our newest Fire TV Stick, the 4K Select, helps you maximize every pixel of your 4K TVs at an incredible value. It delivers vibrant 4K picture quality with HDR10+ support and apps that launch remarkably fast. The performance comes from our new operating system, Vega, which is responsive and highly efficient. Everything you need is right in the box—it works with your favorite streaming services, and will soon support Xbox Gaming, Luna, and Alexa+.
As pointed out by AFTVNews, the Fire TV 4K Select offers a mere 1GB of RAM, which is half as much as prior generations. So, in a way, that does speak to how lightweight this new platform is.
But the bigger question is around apps.
Amazon says that “your favorite streaming services” still work with Vega, and that Xbox, Luna, and Alexa+ will be coming “soon” (though they’re already supported on existing Android-based Fire TV devices). Amazon specifically calls out Prime Video, Disney+, Netflix, YouTube, and Apple TV+ as supporting Vega OS. HBO Max, Tubi, Pluto TV, Starz, Paramount+, and Peacock are also shown on the listing.
The overall Fire TV interface looks roughly the same on Vega as compared to the Android-based models. Amazon shows this while also teasing its new Alexa+ integration
One of the biggest changes around apps is that sideloading is no longer available because, well, this isn’t Android anymore. On the Fire TV 4K Select’s listing, Amazon points out:
For enhanced security, only apps from the Amazon Appstore are available for download.
Sideloading isn’t exactly a feature Amazon advertised on prior generations, but the company knows that it was widely used by many users. No such disclaimer appears on the listings for other Android-based Fire TV devices. While it seems major streaming options are in place, the lack of sideloading could be a big deal given that all apps need to be rebuilt for this new platform.
For now, though, Vega is only launching on this new Fire TV Stick.
Amazon’s other new Fire TV launches today include new Omni QLED, Fire TV 2-Series, and Fire TV 4-Series TVs, which start at just $159.99. These are all still based on Android, and Amazon’s other Android-based Fire TV devices remain available.
The Fire TV Stick 4K Select costs $39.99 and is available for pre-order now.
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