Amazon unveils a new Chromecast rival – the Fire TV Stick

The streaming content market has yet another hardware contender – the Amazon Fire TV Stick.

The device is a direct rival to Google’s Chromecast. The stick is designed to be plugged into a TV’s HDMI port, allowing for direct streaming of digital content. It houses a dual-core processor and in-built wi-fi.

It comes with a trimmed down version of the Fire TV remote, seemingly without voice search, although it can also be also be controlled via a smartphone.

The Fire TV Stick will retail for $49, although it is currently available to Amazon Prime members for just $19.

The move comes as Google plans to square up to Amazon’s Fire TV with its own streaming Android box, the Nexus Player. Sony’s contender, the PlayStation TV, will be released in the UK on November 14th.