When comparing Nexus Player vs Amazon Fire TV, the Slant community recommends Amazon Fire TV for most people. In the question“What are the best set-top boxes?” Amazon Fire TV is ranked 5th while Nexus Player is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose Amazon Fire TV is:
There is a dedicated voice search button on the remote so you can quickly bring up the voice search prompt from any app that works fast and accurately.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Straightforward UI
The UI is similar to the of XBox and Fire TV. The homescreen consists of four rows - things you've watched, apps you've installed, games you've installed and settings.
Pro Built-in voice search
You can use the remote to search for movies based on a range of criteria such as release date, actors, genre, etc.
Pro Voice search
There is a dedicated voice search button on the remote so you can quickly bring up the voice search prompt from any app that works fast and accurately.
Pro Has support for tons of media service integrations
The Fire TV has support of the following of services: Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, ESPN, Pandora, Showtime, MLB, iHeart Radio, Vevo, Vimeo, Crackle, Bloomberg, Twitch, NBA, Amazon Music, Plex, YouTube, Tune In, Flixster, Quello, AOL on, WWE, HuffPost Live, Frequency, Red Bull TV, and Smithsonian Channel.
Pro Has a simplified kids mode
There is a mode called "freetime" that lets you whitelist specific apps and set watch time limits for kids, or for a simplified interface with only certain apps.
Pro Most powerful set top box
Even though it's only $99, it's far more powerful than its competitors, with a quad core processor and 2GB of ram, and that power really shows in the fluidity of the UI.
Pro Bluetooth Remote
The Fire TV remote doesn't require line of sight, and has a microphone for voice search, thanks to bluetooth support.
Cons
Con No ethernet port
The Nexus player is WiFi only, making for an odd choice for a streaming box as much content could use the extra bandwidth an Ethernet port would offer in order to buffer faster when playing videos..
Con Voice search looks only through google's services
Voice search won't look through, for example, Hulu or Netflix.
Con Lots of Amazon advertisement
The Fire TV prefers Amazon services, and is tailored to purchasing shows and movies through Amazon. The voice search does not clearly expose if it's already available on a non amazon service.
Con Inconsistent UI between apps
Each app has a unique UI making it harder to jump between each app, and requires you to learn a slightly different UI for every app.