Online retail and tech giant Amazon has announced the launch of company-built and Alexa enabled smart TVs, revolutinsing the way entertainment is consumed and experienced.

In an interview published on the company website, Amazon Vice President of Entertainment Devices and Services, Daniel Rausch, said that smart TVs have been around for decades, and, while the viewing experience has certainly improved in that time, people still don’t really use them for much outside of basic entertainment like watching movies or gaming.

“However, we firmly believe TVs can and should do more for you, “ Rausch explained, adding, “We unveiled (in the US) the first-ever Amazon Fire TV smart TVs — the Fire TV Omni Series with 4K Ultra HD and Alexa hands-free voice so you can control your experience from across the room, and the Fire TV 4-Series with 4K Ultra HD.”

Both the Fire TV Omni Series and 4-Series will soon be available on Amazon.com and Best Buy.

Amazon’s vision is to deliver a smarter and more intuitive TV that is seamlessly integrated with the other smart home products throughout a consumer’s home. And, it should be simple to use. The Jeff Bezos-founded company said it was one of the “biggest announcements for Fire TV to date”, with new devices and features that deliver on the company’s vision.

Some other TV manufacturers like Toshiba too are working closely with Amazon to integrate the hand-free Alexa feature, along with other innovations.

So, why is Amazon creating its own smart TVs by trying to reinvent the wheel when there are other global companies that specialise in manufacturing high-end and intelligent TV sets?

Rausch explains: “When we thought about designing our vision for an intelligent ambient entertainment device, we wanted to combine two experiences customers love — the intelligent, always-available power of Alexa and Fire TV’s content-forward approach. And, we knew that to build the deep integration I’m describing, we wanted to create a fully integrated smart TV. The Fire TV Omni Series reimagines what a TV can do.

“We’re investing in new features and experiences that provide a more natural way to interact with content. For example, later this year, Alexa Conversations will launch in beta on Fire TV, as an interactive experience for customers to get tailored recommendations on what to watch. Even if you don’t have a movie in mind, simply say, ‘Alexa, what should I watch?’ and you will instantly see recommendations. Tell Alexa you’re in the mood for a romantic movie then use your voice to narrow down choices, for example by asking ‘Which of these movies can I watch on Prime Video?’ Once you see the movie you want to watch, say, ‘Alexa, play Cinderella’ and there you have it; the movie begins.”

Some of the other features in the Fire TV Omni Series and the Fire TV 4-Series include an all-new smart home dashboard coming this year that will allow customers to view and control all the connected smart home devices in their household. The smart home dashboard automatically populates with any smart devices a consumer has  connected to Alexa. Later this year, Fire TV will be the first smart TV to support Zoom and the new video calling features will help customers stay connected to friends and family in an all-new way.

Announcement of Alexa-enabled TV sets is not the only innovation Amazon is looking at.

“We are also building on the success of a customer favorite with the new Fire TV Stick 4K Max, which is 40 percent more powerful than our most popular streaming stick in the US, Fire TV Stick 4K. Fire TV Stick 4K Max features a new quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM, for even faster app starts and more fluid navigation, and it is Fire TV’s first device to support Wi-Fi 6 for smoother streaming in 4K and cloud gaming with Amazon Luna,” Rausch said.

And, since customers are also gaming more than ever on their Fire TV devices, there are some updates on cloud gaming service, Luna too.

“We’re adding two new channels: the Family Channel and a retro gaming channel (coming soon). We’re also adding more games on Luna+, a great multiplayer feature called Luna Couch, and the ability to play Luna on Fire tablets and Chromebooks,” the Amazon executive added.

Now, hang on! Don’t start salivating over the prospect of putting to use the new Alexa-enabled intelligent TV set from Amazon yet. It’d take some time for this innovation to wing its way to the Indian shores.