A number of Amazon Fire, Kindle, and Echo devices are back on sale today
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Today's Dealmaster is headlined by another round of bargains on Amazon devices, with several Fire TV media streamers, Fire tablets, Kindle ebook readers, and Echo smart speakers all discounted as part of a sale aimed at back-to-school shoppers. While most of the offers do not match the all-time lows we typically see on Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day, many of them match the best prices we've seen outside of those special shopping events.
The highlights include the Fire TV Stick 4K for $35, which matches the best price we've seen on the 4K- and HDR-ready media streamer this year. Though it's not as technically capable as a higher-end box like the Apple TV 4K or Nvidia Shield TV Pro, we still think Amazon's highest-end streaming stick is a good value for those who need more apps than a smart TV or game console can provide on their own. It's not perfect: its interface still has redundancy issues and gives favor to Amazon's own services, while negotiating disputes have kept official versions of apps like Peacock and HBO Max off the Fire TV platform entirely. But its hardware is still fast, its voice search is effective, it supports all the major HDR standards, and, if nothing else, its UI isn't as visually bland as something like Roku's OS. Plus, with a little extra effort, it's possible to sideload those missing apps on a Fire TV device, which isn't possible with Roku streamers.
Elsewhere, all the major Fire tablet deals we highlighted last week are still live, while the Kindle Paperwhite, our favorite ebook reader, is $30 off. If you're OK with having a smart speaker in your home, almost all of the major Echo devices are on sale as well. Again, Black Friday is three months away, and Amazon has confirmed that Prime Day is happening sometime in the fourth quarter, so if you can hold off a few more months, we'll likely see lower prices on most of these devices by the end of the year. But if you're looking to pick up a new tablet, streaming stick, smart speaker, or ebook reader today, the deals highlighted below are worth a look.
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