The Amazon Firestick. It’s all the fuss and a bag of chips, right? For about 40 bucks you get a little stick that has so much to offer. For the most part, the Firestick is a good device. If your goal is to stream with subscription services such as Netflix and the not-quite-as-famous Prime, their little stick is quite effective. While it’s good at subscription services, it’s not so good at many other things. Here’s some of the reasons why:
The Firestick needs to be “hacked” to run Kodi
I’m sure you remember the first time you’ve heard of Jailbreaking. This term came along when someone first discovered a way to bypass Apple’s device securities. A lot has happened since then, but one thing that hasn’t changed much: It’s still necessary for products like the iPhone and unsurprisingly, the Firestick. If you want to install any good apps like Kodi on the Firestick, you have to perform what is called “Side Loading”, which is essentially worming your way around a device’s intended usage. This comes with a lot of potential issues, one of which is the fact that Amazon controls your Firestick through their OTS service. Amazon can literally wipe off all of your sideloaded apps and claim that it was an abuse of your contract to use the device. Don’t believe me? Read the user agreement that comes along with your Firestick. You might be surprised what Amazon has buried in there.
Kodi performance isn’t great on a Firestick
We said it. Kodi wasn’t intended for the Firestick and the Firestick wasn’t intended for Kodi. After all the hacking and slashing 3rd party developers had to do to get Kodi to work on the Firestick, in the end, it’s mediocre at best. If you want to get the most out of Kodi, you’re better off with a device that was designed to run it.
Firestick is Amazon’s advertising cash cow
You heard right. The Firestick is loaded down with a bunch of advertising junk. Gimmicks, bells and whistles to get you to pull out your credit card and buy more.. Oh, wait. I almost forgot. It’s an Amazon product. Which means it’s linked directly to your Amazon account and to your credit cards. That’s almost too convenient – just click on any subscription you want and click “accept” and rack up on fees that you’ll forget about in a few minutes. Seriously though, Amazon’s only goal with the Firestick is to constantly remind you to spend more money. If you’re looking for a device that runs Kodi, you’re probably not the type of person that wants to constantly be reminded about your shopping list or Amazon’s Prime deal of the day.
Android TV is a bloated OS
We’re biased when it comes to Android. After all, the G-Box has been the world’s #1 top-selling Android TV Box since 2011. However, when it comes to Android, we like to keep things simple and clean. Unlike the Firestick, the G-Box comes without a ton of junk installed, a lot of which is difficult if not impossible to remove. All of those apps and advertising nonsense that is loaded onto the Amazon Firestick really bogs down the device. It is so bloated, in fact, that out of the 8GB on the Firestick, almost half of this is consumed by Amazon’s app bloat. That leaves about half of the device to install your own apps, but that takes us to our next point.
What’s the best device for Kodi, then?
This all depends on your streaming goal. Do you spend most, if not all of your time using Netflix, Hulu or Prime? Then the Firestick is a great option. However, if your primary use is Kodi, then the OmniStick is what you’re looking for. The OmniStick by Matricom is designed for one purpose and one purpose only: Run Kodi at its maximum potential. The OmniStick is lean, which means there is no bloated software. In fact, there’s only Kodi. You and Kodi. That’s what you get with the OnniStick. It comes with a clean slate ready for you to customize away. Oh, and did we mention it’s fast? Plug it in and by the time you sit down Kodi is already loaded. Yes, it’s that fast. Booted into Kodi in under 15 seconds fast. That’s right, Firestick, you’re going to have to sit this one out. The Omnistick also comes with 8GB of storage. But you know how much of it is free to use? Most of it. Unlike the Firestick with all of its glorious bloat, the OmniStick comes ready with plenty of space for you to put all of your favorite add-ons in and then some.
OmniStick is about half the price of the Firestick
When it comes to value, it’s nice to know that you’re getting your money’s worth. That’s certainly the case with the OmniStick. It’s affordable. Like… Extremely affordable. Under $30 affordable. Get-one-for-every-room-in-your-house affordable. You get the point. Not only is it cheap upfront, but you also won’t have to worry about accidentally clicking on the purchase button on the next advert that comes on the screen and having it delivered in under 2 hours.
