Review: Fire TV heats up set-top box market

• Amazon%27s Fire TV set-top box sells for %2499
• Offers voice search and faster loading of entertainment

LOS ANGELES — Amazon's new Fire TV set-top box went on sale Wednesday, promising a better experience for getting Internet entertainment off the computer and laptop and onto the TV.

The $99 box, comparable to similar offerings from Apple and Roku, touts faster loading time for channels and programs, and a voice-based search that makes it easier to find stuff, as well as tons of stuff to watch.

I got my hands on a Fire TV box Thursday, so here's my quick take: Yes, the shows do load somewhat faster (not dramatically), and while the voice search is cool, it doesn't always work — a query for season two of the Veronica Mars TV show gave me the Two Broke Girls CBS sitcom.

And more importantly, the search, for now, only works with Amazon content. That means it's still hunt and peck, one letter at a time, for content from Vimeo, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, YouTube, Netflix, Hulu Plus and other Amazon Fire offerings.

Amazon says it expects this to change in the coming months, as app developers start adapting their apps for Amazon Fire.

Let's take a closer look:

— Amazon promises over 200,000 movies and TV shows to watch — but be careful — after spending $99 for the box, you could find a constant nag to buy viewing time. The voice search did great for finding me episodes of Mad Men and Breaking Bad, or George Clooney movies — but they weren't part of the Amazon Prime system, which I'm already in for $79 a year. (Note: Prime membership has increased to $99 yearly, and includes two-day shipping and unlimited viewing of many TV shows and movies.) Tip: Look for the Prime tab, which is positioned at the top left of the title image, as a clue to let you know you won't have to pay to watch.

— It was a surprise to find several personal photos pop up on the screen. Where did they come from? Amazon Cloud Drive. It turns out I had uploaded them some time ago. With the box plugged in, I'll want to make more use of the service. (Amazon gives you 5 GB of space to post photos.) You can also download the smartphone app and have all your mobile photos uploaded to Drive automatically.

Amazon's Cloud service for listening to music isn't part of Fire TV yet but will be added shortly, Amazon says.

— Like with Roku, Fire TV has a Bluetooth remote, a great innovation I'd like to see all TV manufacturers adapt. No more aligning a light beam: The Bluetooth remote doesn't have to be pointed anywhere; it can pick up the signal even when the box is covered up in a wood cabinet — which is where I parked the Fire TV box.

My set-top box of choice has been Roku 3, with so many channel offerings to watch. Roku still offers more channel choices (over 1,000, but only a handful you'll really care about), but will Amazon Instant Video remain among them, now that it has its own box?

That's a concern, and after playing with Amazon's smart interface, competitors are going to need to catch up. The search — when it works — is an industry best, and worth emulating by Roku, Apple, Google's Chromecast and others. The interface is cleaner and easier to navigate too. I'm looking forward to seeing how Roku and especially Apple, which hasn't updated it's Apple TV box in over a year, will respond.

Readers: what's your favorite entertainment box? Let's chat about it on Twitter, where I'm @jeffersongraham.