Hello, I would like to hear of any experiences you may have with this device (especially if using your phone’s hotspot to connect). Thanks.
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Welcome to the community @Corio,
Although a 2018 report, now 2 years old, this review might be useful
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Hi @Corio, welcome to the community.
No experience with this one, but looked at it as well as offering from Chrome, Apple etc to maintain our smart tv capabilities…of which have been diminishing the older the relatively new (5 year old) TV has become.
We ended opting for a Android 9, 4K TV box which cost about $70 delivered…has more storage, functionality and future proofing than the likes of Amazon. Apps from Google Play run well,…including free to air TV streaming services, Youtube and such like. Paid streaming services also are reported to work just as well…we don’t use paid streaming services.
It also can be run from phone hotspots (or any other wifi sources) and one can use keyboards and mouses with it…as well as plug in storages for saved/ripped movies, photos music etc. One can use it as a Android PC on ones TV and run any normal android apps (social media, office docs etc). The only thing we haven’t tried is a USB camera for video calls.
Hope this helps. It really depends what functionality one wants and is willing to accept at in the $50-100 price bracket.
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Thanks PHB. So, in the device you mention, you can download the Amazon Prime App?
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You can get Primevideo on most devices, I think. i have it on my AppleTV and my FetchTV box. Pretty sure its on most Android devices as well. Vodafone sell a fairly decent device, Android powered, you don’t need a Voda account to get it. $72 outright. It has access to Google Play but it may not yet have Prime available. worth checking though.
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Yes. It can be downloaded as it is available for Android 9 devices.
There a number of websites that review Android TV boxes online like these one…
We bought a Magicsee N5 Max. It isn’t perfect, like any box, but suits our needs.
If you can afford a top end box, there is this one…
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Before our new TV our old (about 8 years old) Samsung Smart TV could get Prime but not Disney+, so we just purchased a Chromecast until our new Sony Android 4K TV was purchased (as pensioner types we need to budget very hard for luxuries). No experience with the Firestick but found the Chromecast to be very good, The only bugbear was that you had to install google wear on a smart phone or PC to use Chromecast and we need to on the new TV for the Android system, it also has built in Chtomecast…
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And then in a couple of years, you’ll be counting pennies again, as the apps on your new Sony are no longer updated, and you think you need a new TV again. You don’t. Get a separate device which is NOT Chromecast. If you must have Android and continue to give google more info about yourself, get a standalone device which doesn’t require anything else apart from the TV, to function.
As I said above, I am using an AppleTV (its the 4th gen, I also have the 3rd and 2nd but those cannot have apps installed on them from the app store). I’m using it with my now 12 year old Samsung TV which has so few smarts, I never even try to access them. I bought the Vodafone device for my cousin who’s not tech minded but who is at least familiar with Google Play and set that up for her on her 10 year old TV which had no smarts at all.
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This is what we found with our Sony TV and why we purchased a TV box.
Apple, like Google also collects a range of information on users of their AppleTV. Google, Apple, Facebook etc are organisations which place a value on collected user information…for their own benefit
One way is to use it without a Google account and limit what the device is used for. If an app needs a login, and use a disposable email for setting up accounts.
Using without a Google account can be challenging (just like AppleTV and no Apple account).
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Thank you for all of your posts.
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Like what? With google its about targeted advertising. Whats the benefit to Apple?
Apple does a similar thing…read the link in my previous post…specifically advertising and sharing with third parties section. Like Google, one can limit what data is collected by default by (Apple by) changing the default settings.
If one also uses other apps on the devices, these apps also collect data as well in addition to that collected by Apple (see Third-Party Connected Apps section).
Data is dollars to both Apple, Google etc. This is why default their platforms collect as much data as (legally) possible for their use, so that they can create more revenue.
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Reason for replacement of the TV was defective pixels, we lived with it while saving pennies. Change was for both the dead pixels and my & my Son in Law’s 4K stuff eg PS4 but not only PS4. We still have the Chromecast and keep it updated.
Any business who provides the software and or hardware for Smart devices get info from a purchaser/user no matter whether in the Google Stable, Samsung, Amazon, or other propriety Stable or the Apple one…Linux does miss out but not many if any (I don’t know of any) Smart TVs use Linux as an OS. It’s a choice of who you deliver your info to beyond that you lose control pretty much.
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I am aware of the privacy and ad stuff, but given that Apple does not send me any ads in my email or when i am on the website, i am happy with the situation. Its far less intrusive than google. IMO. Ymmv according to your experiences.
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Have had fire stick purchased in the USA for years. Still works very well - have had to reboot it a few times and the remote sometimes misfunctions but it’s so old, I forgive it. Am running it on an old Panasonic TV via Apple
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LOL I don’t know what other data Apple collects, but it doesnt sell to outsiders and as far as I know, only ads for its own product are targeted at you… and you dont even have to see them if you dont want to. Ads in email? Nope. Spam via email? Nope. random additional advertising email? Nope. Seriously, apple is NOT the bad guy you think it is, and there is nothing similar about what apple and google do. With Apple, you pay for your services, so unlike with google, you are not the product.
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A slight side jog.
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There is nothing in there to suggest that APPLE is collecting your data. I never said it wasnt facilitating other companies doing it but its a personal choice about whether to engage with those (eg google and facebook). APPLE may be profiting but it does not change the fact that APPLE itself does not collect your personal info for its own gain. It doesnt sell it. It wont give it to governments. It wont install back doors. If you are then silly enough to use apps which do use your data, that is not Apple’s decision, its yours. I use facebook. I don’t use google for searching, I use Duckduckgo which is another option for Safari. I also use the ghostery browser if I am having a day of paranoia. APPLE is happy to profit (as evidenced by its hardware pricing) but itself does not sell your data to third parties. I’ll change my tune when evidence is provided that it does. There’s none in the article (which is really an opinion piece anyway)
/OT discussion
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Unfortunately this isn’t the case either…
Any tech company that provides apps or services, and collects data…one needs to assume it is used by these companies to increase their revenue. This includes selling of providing to other companies for analysis and marketing purposes as a minimum. In reality, Apple is no different to others.
Edit: Apple’s browser Safari, is deliberately set up by default to push web searches through Google. Google reportedly paid Apple USD9 billion in 2018, and as much as USD12 billion last year. Apple is quite happy to sell the privilege of collecting its user data to Google for financial gain, and to allow the world’s biggest advertising company to use this data for their own benefit. A cosy relationship which seems to go against the belief that Apple values privacy over profits. While Apple is smaller than Google, its ethics and data collection for profit is not much different.
As mentioned elsewhere, if a company provides services for free (such as some of Apple, Google, Facebook etc services), the user and the user data is the commodity.
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Ya know what? Just stop it. I’m unimpressed with all the reports… there is just he said she said and as far as I am concerned, even though Apple is not lilywhite, I trust them far more than any other company with my data. So stop trying to convince me that I am wrong. “ A lawsuit says…” is not evidence. Back off.
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