New Firestick UI

[mdonnelly]

I switched my input to the Firestick today and saw a new user interface. I'm not impressed.

 

[dishdude]

I switched my input to the Firestick today and saw a new user interface. I'm not impressed.

Anything has to be an improvement over the old one. What a cluttered mess!

 

[NYDutch]

I switched my input to the Firestick today and saw a new user interface. I'm not impressed.

Yes, it's taken me some time to get used to it. I was fine with the old UI.

 

[Ronnie-]

I actually much prefer the new UI.

 

[SandFarmer]

I love the UI on mine.

"WAIT!"
I have an AppleTV4K. Sorry.

(Also have a Firestick 4K also. It's taking some time to get use to it.)

 

[HipKat]

Anything has to be an improvement over the old one. What a cluttered mess!

It's not an improvement at all. Not in my opinion. The worst part is every time I start it up, I have to select my or my daughter's account and there's no way around it

 

[ncted]

Anything has to be an improvement over the old one. What a cluttered mess!

Well, what if it is more cluttered and you can only see 6 of your "favorite" apps on the Home page? Does that sound better?

 

[lparsons21]

Well, what if it is more cluttered and you can only see 6 of your "favorite" apps on the Home page? Does that sound better?

The new UI is somewhat better than the old one, but unless I’m misremembering the old one had a fairly functional up next/watch next strip that covered many of the services. Now up next is seemingly random or suggestions, the recently watched shows Prime and IMDB stuff and not much else. Both of those nearly worthless.

I was using an AppleTV4K with its wonderful ‘up next’ strip but I recently upgraded my soundbar setup to the LG SN11 and that soundbar doesn’t really like the way Apple does audio.

Using ReelGood app to track shows is fine but it is all manual tracking as the app calling function of ReelGood doesn’t work all that well.

 

[ncted]

The new UI is somewhat better than the old one

It is a bit snappier. I'll admit that. I never really use the Up Next kind of functionality on any of the devices I've owned, so not sure how well it works on any platform.

 

[lparsons21]

It is a bit snappier. I'll admit that. I never really use the Up Next kind of functionality on any of the devices I've owned, so not sure how well it works on any platform.

I didn’t used to use it either, but after I quit using a live streaming service and went to all VOD it is just so handy!

 

[dfergie]

My living room firestick updated Sunday, I miss seeing my frequently used apps/services...

 

[Ronnie-]

My living room firestick updated Sunday, I miss seeing my frequently used apps/services...

Ok not sure what I’m missing. Mine has the new UI and I still have a recently used apps section under the home tab.

full disclosure, I didn’t use my fire devices much and still don’t. Just posting what I see.

 

[Ronnie-]

Well, what if it is more cluttered and you can only see 6 of your "favorite" apps on the Home page? Does that sound better?

How many could you see before ? The multi box icon opens them all right next to the 6 favorite.

 

[dfergie]

We could see many of our last used, now not really, a step backwards for us as we watch from firestick more than any other video provider...
Still have the satellite providers, but use that sub for the apps.

 

[ncted]

How many could you see before ? The multi box icon opens them all right next to the 6 favorite.

Perhaps I should have said, you can only scroll through six tiny icon apps, before you have to issue a button press to see the rest of your apps. Maybe most people regularly only use 6 or fewer apps, and that is why they did it that way?

I think you could see 5 or 6 before, but you could scroll to the right through many more before you had to click on "all apps" or whatever it was to see the rest.

 

[Zookster]

I still prefer the simple Roku layout where you get a simple grid of your apps, their order 100% customizable. The ads on the far right are not intrusive, and I'm not constantly being pushed content recommendations, 95%+ of which I have no interest or have already seen. I also like how easy it is to navigate the system's menus, requiring little guesswork on where to find something. I get nervous every time I hear of a major OS update coming to Roku. I fear it's only a matter of time before they sell out along the lines of all the other major device platforms and populate the vast majority of the home menu real estate with promoted content.

 

[lparsons21]

Perhaps I should have said, you can only scroll through six tiny icon apps, before you have to issue a button press to see the rest of your apps. Maybe most people regularly only use 6 or fewer apps, and that is why they did it that way?

I think you could see 5 or 6 before, but you could scroll to the right through many more before you had to click on "all apps" or whatever it was to see the rest.

If you go down 3 or 4 rows you’ll find all the apps you have used on a strip, sorted most recently used.

 

[ncted]

If you go down 3 or 4 rows you’ll find all the apps you have used on a strip, sorted most recently used.

Yeah, I know. I think is is 2 rows lower than it used to be. They just keep putting what I want farther and farther away from the default starting point. Is it the end of the world? No. I just don't like the UI choices. I am sure some algorithm told them to design it this way, but it is way too busy and ad-laden and requires too many button presses to get to what I want compared to what it used to be and what others currently offer.

I expect Android TV on my Shields to eventually look similar to this as well, the way things are going. I may eventually have to try out an alternative launcher.

 

[lparsons21]

Yeah, I know. I think is is 2 rows lower than it used to be. They just keep putting what I want farther and farther away from the default starting point. Is it the end of the world? No. I just don't like the UI choices. I am sure some algorithm told them to design it this way, but it is way too busy and ad-laden and requires too many button presses to get to what I want compared to what it used to be and what others currently offer.

I expect Android TV on my Shields to eventually look similar to this as well, the way things are going. I may eventually have to try out an alternative launcher.

Yeah it is way too busy with Amazon stuff mostly and not of really valuable use unless you just like scrolling a lot!

In my case what keeps me from making the FireTV the main streaming box is the lack of an ‘up next’ strip that tracks shows/apps. Both Apple and Google have managed to figure it out and quite well with it for the supported apps. Currently Apple works with many more apps than does Google but that is just relatively minor difference since both track the most popular apps/shows just fine.

Because of some soundbar audio issues I’ve tried various ways of tracking shows. My LG soundbar just doesn’t get along well with the way AppleTV sends the audio, but it does deal quite well with the FireTV. So ReelGood is very good at manually allowing for management and launching, but it is woefully out of date on apps it will call. For instance Peacock will not launch from it and pops an error that says it isn’t on the device, and in many cases it won’t launch the actual show/episode even for those apps it will launch.

 

[NashGuy]

I didn’t used to use it either, but after I quit using a live streaming service and went to all VOD it is just so handy!

Yup. The Up Next queue is the Apple TV's killer feature, IMO. Google TV is kinda sorta getting there but I don't know if it'll ever be as polished as Apple TV in that regard.