A few weeks ago, Amazon added the ability to receive Ring Doorbell Camera notifications on-screen and view full-screen video on their device. One particular enhancement has come to the Fire TV Cube (2nd Gen), as well as 2020 4K Toshiba Fire TV Edition and 2020 4K Insignia Fire TV Edition. You will now see a video feed in the top right corner, when a visitor presses your Ring Doorbell.
To pull-up the camera feed, just say “Alexa, show me [Ring device name]” or “Alexa, talk to [Ring device name]” to speak with the visitor. Picture-in-picture is currently compatible with Ring doorbell cameras and non-doorbell security cameras from Ring, Nest, Wyze, and Logitech, among others.
While right now, P.I.P support does not extend to being able to view two video streams from streaming services at the same time, like on Apple TV – this appears to be a first step in that direction.
Earlier this month, Amazon enabled the ability pair a third-party webcam with Fire TV Cube to place and receive hands-free Alexa video calls from their TVs to any other Alexa-enabled device with a screen, such as another Fire TV Cube, Echo Show, or the Alexa app on a phone or tablet.
While a lot of it has to do with people staying at home, Fire TV’s VP and GM, Sandeep Gupta, also believes that the success of Fire TV devices also stems from the fact that it offers people more than just a slew of apps. “It’s been quite a journey from the very beginning. We started with just a few apps and the landscape has continued to change. We’ve seen more and more types of content come about on devices like Fire TV,” he stated during the Parks Associates’ Future of Video Conference.
“What we’ve been able to do with our service is expand what we offer to our customers and simplify that landscape. What we’ve always tried to do with Fire TV since the beginning is making things simple for customers—we were the first to launch with voice, first to drive content for user experience,” he explained.