Fire TV Stick Lite kicks smart TV down to $30

It's difficult to deny the value proposition that is the Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite. It's a smart TV stick that plugs in to your television via an HDMI port to deliver smart TV content. That includes access to free video apps like YouTube, and subscription video apps like Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and Prime Video.

The reason Amazon wants to make this device available for such a relatively reasonable amount of cash is its ability to act as a foot in your door. Once Amazon delivers the device on which you view all your content, they've opened the door to you buying, renting, or subscribing to more of their content.

This device is very similar to the full-powered 2020 Fire TV stick, with up to 1080p Full HD content with support for technology like HDR, HDR 10, HDR10+, and HLG. You'll get 8GB internal storage (for video files and photos... but mostly for apps), and Dolby Audio (pass-through HDMI only).

You do not get TV controls with this device – that's reserved for the Fire TV (the $40 version) and the more grand Amazon Fire TV devices like the Fire TV Stick 4K (2018) and the Fire TV Cube (2019).

The reason you'd buy a Fire TV Stick Lite is a lack of need for anything more extravagant than 1080p video and no really fancy audio. You'll get the very basic bits of smart TV for just about as cheap a one-time price as possible.