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Recently, Amazon refreshed its Firestick lineup with 2 new products – The Fire TV Stick 3rd gen and the Fire TV Stick Lite. The Fire TV Stick Lite comes at a cheaper price-tag of $17.99 whereas the Fire TV Stick 3rd Gen will cost you $27.99. There’s a difference of $10 and in case you are wondering what do I lose on the Firestick Lite? Well, it’s not much, but here’s the difference between the Firestick Lite and Firestick.
What’s Firestick 2019?
Amazon has discontinued the older FireTV Stick 2019 variant. It’s replaced by the all-new Fire TV Stick 2020 or the Fire TV Stick 3rd Gen. However, the older Fire TV Stick 2019 is still floating on Amazon and other third-party sites. In case you are thinking, stay away from buying the older Fire TV Stick.
It has a slower 1.3 GHz CPU compared to the 1.7 GHz processor on the 2020 Fire TV Stick. Additionally, you also get upgrades like Bluetooth 5.0 and Dolby Atmos with the Fire TV Stick 2020 model.
With that out, let’s start with the differences between Fire TV Stick Lite and Fire TV Stick 3rd Gen.
Firestick vs Firestick Lite – What’s Different
1. Firestick Lite Has a Remote Without Volume Buttons
The major and the only deciding factor between the Firestick and Firestick Lite is the remote. The remote of the Firestick Lite doesn’t have TV controls. It basically means that it doesn’t have volume buttons and a mute button. It is known as the Alexa Remote Lite.
Apart from this, you get all the streaming controls like Play/Pause, Next, Previous, etc. You also get the Alexa button and a mic on both the remotes.
2. Firestick Lite supports Dolby Atmos via Passthrough
Both the Firesticks support Dolby Atmos which is great considering the selling price. However, there’s a catch with the Firestick Lite. The cheaper Firestick Lite supports Dolby Atmos only via HDMI passthrough. Hence, if you connect the Firestick Lite directly to your TV’s HDMI eARC port, you won’t see Dolby Atmos. You would have to plugin the Firestick Lite to your Speaker or Soundbar that supports HDMI passthrough to play Dolby Atmos. Quite tedious!
On the other hand, Firestick 3rd Gen supports Dolby Atmos directly on any TV with an eARC port.
3. Firestick Lite has the same internals
Surprisingly, the Firestick Lite and the new Firestick 3rd generation are the same exact streaming device. They have a 1.7 GHz quad-core processor and the IMG GE8300 GPU. Both of them support Bluetooth 5.0 and 5 GHz Wi-Fi.
What’s similar?
1. Both of the Firesticks run on FireOS 9
The all-new Firestick runs on the latest Android 9.0 Pie and the updated Fire TV 7. The new FireTV has a redesigned home screen that brings content from various streaming services. All in all, in terms of software, both the Firesticks are exactly the same though.
2. Both the Firestick support OTG
Firesticks are known to be a handy device due to the micro USB OTG support. You can get a micro USB OTF cable and attach a storage device to the Firestick and watch your offline movies. Moreover, you can also attach an AirMouse and get browsing or gaming on the Firestick.
If you already have these, rest assured, both the Firesticks support OTG.
3. Both the Firestick support Ethernet
If you have placed the router closer to the TV, you would be better of using Ethernet. In case you don’t know, Ethernet provides a more stable and faster connection compared to Wi-Fi. However, in order to connect your Firestick via Ethernet, you would need a micro USB to Ethernet adapter.
Closing Words: Firestick vs Firestick Lite
If you aren’t looking for a Firestick for your kids, you should be getting the Firestick 3rd generation. The lack of TV controls on the remote of Firestick Lite doesn’t seem like much. However, in day-to-day usage, you would be annoyed about the lack of volume keys or mute button.
For more issues or queries, let me know in the comments below.
Buy Firestick Lite from Amazon
Buy Firestick 3rd Generation from Amazon
Also Read: 8 Best Fitness Apps for Firestick to Turn your Living Room Into a Gym