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Amazon's new 4K smart TVs are like having an Echo and a Fire TV in one device

Amazon is coming after Roku with a new line of TVs with its Alexa and Fire TV platforms built right in. Here's what you can expect.

Element's Amazon Fire TV Edition 4K TV.

Amazon really wants a spot in your home. It lost with smartphones, but it stumbled onto a hit with the Amazon Echo speaker and its Alexa voice assistant.

Now it's launching a different Echo every other week, stuffing Alexa into fridges, and beefing up Alexa's compatibility with other internet of things devices you may plant around your house.

But even with the Echo's success, there's still only one gadget that anchors every living room: the TV.

Amazon already made a play for that with its Fire TV boxes and streaming sticks. But now it's baking the software from those devices — Alexa and Amazon Prime Video included — right into the TV itself.

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Amazon announced in January that it'd partner with three affordable TV brands — Element, Westinghouse, and Seiki — to do this. On Tuesday, it put the first line of these new TVs up for preorder on its site, ahead of a full release in June.

Those sets come from Element and include four "Fire TV Edition" models: a 43-inch model for $449, a 50-inch model for $549, a 55-inch model for $649, and a 65-inch model for $899.

I got a brief tour of the new TVs earlier in the month. The short takeaway is that Amazon is emulating what Roku does with its line of Roku TV partnerships. When you turn on one of these new TVs, you're greeted with an interface that's virtually identical to what you see with a Fire TV box.

That means you get rows and rows of icons, most of which are used to get you into content you might like. I generally prefer Roku's approach, which focuses more on getting you to apps than the shows within them, but Amazon makes room for dedicated recommendations for apps like Netflix and HBO Now — though Amazon's services, such as Prime Video, are hard to avoid if you're not a subscriber.

The user interface is busier than Roku's simple grids, but it's not difficult to navigate. Plus, it looks nice. Most of the big-name apps are supported, too, though Google — and thus an official YouTube app — is absent.

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Some stray tidbits worth noting:

  • Roku TVs from TCL
  • Amazon's Channels service
  • local dimming

Amazon is entering a crowded field. Aside from Roku TV's successes, Sony and Vizio have hitched up with Google's Android TV and Chromecast platforms, while Samsung and LG continue to use their own software.

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Of those, Amazon is mainly targeting Roku by partnering with lower-cost brands. Some Roku TVs are cheaper, though, so Amazon is banking on the strong internal tech and, notably, the more robust voice controls through Alexa to win out. It genuinely is easier to get around when you can tell your remote to do it for you.

I'll have to test further before I can say whether that makes the Fire TVs worth the plunge, but at first blush, there's plenty to like. Either way, it seems destined to be the next step in Amazon's takeover of your home.

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