Fire TV Stick 4K Select Review: Cheap, Fast, and Walled Off

Bottom line: The Fire TV Stick 4K Select ($40) is a fast, cheap 4K streamer for people who only use the major apps — but its new Vega OS blocks sideloading, has a thinner app store, and drops Dolby Vision. Tinkerers should spend $20 more on the 4K Max.

Overview

The Fire TV Stick 4K Select is the cheapest 4K stick Amazon sells at $40 — $20 below the Fire TV Stick 4K Max — and it’s a bigger deal than the price suggests. It’s the first Fire TV device to ship with Vega OS, Amazon’s new Linux-based operating system, instead of the Android-derived Fire OS that has powered every Fire TV since 2014. That single change is the whole story of this review.

Performance

For mainstream streaming, it’s fine. The MediaTek MT8698 with 1GB of RAM boots quickly and launches Netflix, Disney+, and Prime Video without much waiting. Amazon markets “remarkably fast app launches,” and in practice the interface is snappy — though in head-to-head use it’s no faster than the older Fire TV Stick 4K Max. You get 4K with HDR10+ and HLG, but no Dolby Vision — that stays a Max feature.

The Vega OS catch

Here’s where it matters for anyone reading this site. Vega OS is not Android, which means:

• No sideloading. You cannot install APKs. Kodi, third-party launchers, and the IPTV/emulator apps a lot of cord-cutters rely on are simply not available.
• A much smaller app store. The big names are there, but the long tail of niche and regional apps that filled the old Fire OS catalog is missing, and developers have to port their apps to the new platform.
• Less tinkering, more lock-in. Amazon gets a tighter, more controllable platform. You get fewer escape hatches.

If all you do is open the major streaming apps, none of this will bother you. If you bought a Fire Stick specifically because it ran Android and you could load Kodi on it, the Select is the wrong device.

What We Liked

• $40 price — genuinely cheap 4K HDR streaming
• Snappy interface — quick boot and fast app launches for the basics
• HDR10+ and HLG — solid dynamic-range support for the money
• Alexa voice remote — voice search works well across services

What We Didn’t Like

• No sideloading — Vega OS blocks APKs entirely
• Thin app store — niche and regional apps are missing
• No Dolby Vision — HDR10+ only; the Max still wins here
• 1GB RAM — fine today, but little headroom as apps grow
• Wi-Fi 5 only — no Wi-Fi 6/6E like the 4K Max

Verdict

The Fire TV Stick 4K Select is a perfectly good $40 streamer for someone who only wants the major apps and never thinks about the operating system underneath. But Vega OS trades away the openness that made Fire TV interesting to power users. If you value sideloading or want Dolby Vision, spend the extra $20 on the Fire TV Stick 4K Max — or get a Google TV Streamer if you want a real app ecosystem. Buy the Select for what it is: a locked-down appliance, not a tinkerer’s box.