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Here are some hints — and the answers — for Connections No. 595 for Sunday, Jan. 26.

Here are some hints and the answer for Wordle No. 1,317 for Sunday, Jan. 26.

Madison Keys was a tennis prodigy, beating Serena Williams when she was just 14 years old, but had not won a grand slam title in her 15 year career.

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On Friday, a memorandum signed by Marco Rubio called for a 90-day cessation of foreign aid. That would likely put on hold the work of PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

(Image credit: Yevhenii Zavhorodnii/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

As expected, OpenAI has released its first autonomous AI agent, called Operator this week. Operator can act independently from you on your computer using a web browser doing pretty much anything that can be done in a web browser.

So, it can perform tasks like booking a restaurant table or buying groceries. You just tell it what you want it to do, and off it goes like a faithful Internet-enabled butler that potters away until the task is complete or it needs to come back to you with a question. Say, there’s no table available at 7.00pm, would Sir or Madam mind a 7.45pm table instead?

Of course, Operator doesn’t call you Sir or Madam, but it might as well. For all intents and purposes, this is the Internet butler that we were promised almost 30 years ago when Ask Jeeves was around.

Do you remember Ask Jeeves? It was a search engine from 1997 that had an image of an actual butler who stood ready and willing to find things for you online. The character was named after Jeeves, Bertie Wooster's valet in the fictional works of P. G. Wodehouse. Instead of typing in search terms, Ask Jeeves encouraged you to search for things using natural language questions, like “Find me the perfect accompaniment to a roast dinner.”

Of course, we all know that Google won the search engine war, and in 2006, Ask dropped the Jeeves persona and just became Ask.com. But somehow, we’ve come full circle with AI, and thanks to technologies like ChatGPT search and Perplexity, searching using natural language requests is back in fashion. As our Internet butlers, except now we call them AI agents...

The Ask Jeeves search engine. AGI is the real goal

It’s no secret that Sam Altman and OpenAI are really interested in AGI, artificial general intelligence, also often referred to as superintelligence. This is the ultimate goal for OpenAI, and why it was founded. Chatbots like ChatGPT might have taken the world by storm, but their popularity is almost like an unintended consequence (a theme I’ll return to later) of the race toward AGI.

In a video to promote the release of Operator, one of the OpenAI employees sitting next to Sam Altman comes right out and says, [Operator is] "about removing one more bottleneck in our path to AGI.”

While agents are clearly exciting, they’re not the destination for OpenAI; they’re just one more step along the path. AGI has the potential to change our world radically. Once we have created an artificial intelligence that’s smarter than we are, logically it should be able to construct even smarter versions of itself, and the level of intelligence rises rapidly.

We’ve just got to hope that it doesn’t decide to wipe us out. Not to worry you, but Geoffory Hinton, often referred to as the ‘Godfather of AI,’ recently upped his odds of technology wiping out humanity to 20%.

OpenAI's Operator in action. (Image credit: OpenAI)

And this is where we return to the theme of unintended consequences. Many experts see AI agents as a threat. While speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, artificial intelligence pioneer Yoshua Bengio warned that AI agents could be catastrophic for humanity.

Speaking to Business Insider, he said, "All of the catastrophic scenarios with AGI or superintelligence happen if we have agents." Bengio would rather we continue towards building AGI without using agents, which allows them to do things autonomously. "All of the AI for science and medicine, all the things people care about, is not agentic," Bengio said. "And we can continue building more powerful systems that are non-agentic."

Humanity's downfall

So, could it really be that something designed to act like an Internet butler and do menial tasks like help me buy my groceries accidentally gives AI the power to take over the world?

For now, it’s hard to imagine how an automated program that slowly plods through the process of booking me a table at a restaurant using a web browser is going to end in humanity's downfall, but AI agents will live or die by one thing - if people actually use them – and I’m not entirely convinced they will.

Personally, I don’t feel ready to hand over my credit card details to a computer program that will buy things for me to save me time because I’m just not sure I’m ever going to trust it not to make a mistake. Would you?

Perhaps OpenAI needs to give its Operator a more human face if it wants me to trust it, and as it turns out, I believe that good old Jeeves might be looking for a job these days...

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Black Mirror season 7: key information

- Launching on Netflix in 2025
- Will be six episodes
- No official trailer, but a 30-second teaser released
- New and returning cast confirmed
- First ever sequel episode based on season 4’s USS Callister
- No official plot synopsis revealed
- Brooker “in it for the long haul” for future seasons

Black Mirror season 7, the highly-praised and darkly satirical anthology Netflix series, will return in 2025. In true puzzling and curious fashion in keeping with the show’s ethos, we don’t have an exact release date or official plot details, but we have managed to gather intel about season 7 that’ll be sure to excite.

It's one of the best Netflix shows, offering a wealth of sci-fi scenarios spanning dystopias and tackling themes of surveillance, AI, and societal issues, to name but a few. For season 7, the show looks set to return with more chaotic and thought-provoking tales on the best streaming service.

Plus, there's an all-star cast already confirmed, which features returning characters in an unprecedented move for Black Mirror with the first-ever sequel. With a show like this, you're never quite sure what to expect, but we've scoured high and low for everything you need to know about Black Mirror season 7 from release date, to confirmed cast, to plot synopsis, and more news and rumors.

Black Mirror season 7: is there a release date?

Black Mirror S7 - coming 2025. #GeekedWeek pic.twitter.com/dZcfNQHc4cSeptember 19, 2024

While there’s no official release date just yet for the new season of Black Mirror, we know that Black Mirror season 7 will be released on Netflix in 2025.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in May 2024, Brooker revealed they were: “in mid-production at the moment, and it’s all quite mad right now.” While the first four seasons of Black Mirror released in differing months, season 5 and season 6 both came out in June. While we wouldn’t want to predict anything Brooker does, we’ll take a rough guess and say (hope) that we may see Black Mirror season 7 in the summer.

Black Mirror season 7: has a trailer been released?

This is by no means an official trailer, but we’ll even watch a 30-second teaser that pretty much shows a loading screen the entire time just to get a hint of what Black Mirror has in store next.

The clip reveals six episodes loading up for season 7, as well as a brief glimpse of a file titled: “INFINITY” and the USS Callister logo. We’ll delve into more on what this means in our cast and plot synopsis below. Full trailers for Black Mirror usually arrive mere weeks before the new season’s release, so we’ll be sure to update here when we can.

Black Mirror season 7: confirmed cast

The biggest Black Mirror season 7 news so far - the return of USS Callister (Image credit: Netflix)

Potential spoilers follow for Black Mirror season 7.

Black Mirror is renowned for its stellar cast list, which changes in every episode, thanks to its anthology style. And, during Geeked Week 2024, the Black Mirror season 7 lead cast was revealed and Brooker calls it: “embarrassingly stacked”:

• Milanka Brooks as Elena Tulaska
• Waleed Hammad as Po
• Osy Ikhile as Nate Packer
• Jimmi Simpson as Walton
• Paul G. Raymond as Kabir Dudani
• Cristin Milioti as Nanette Cole
• Edward Pishiyski Chlerich as Walton Clone
• Billy Magnussen as Valdack
• Siena Kelly as Maria
• Rosy McEwen as Verity
• James Nelson-Joyce as Kano
• Awkwafina as TBC
• Peter Capaldi as TBC
• Emma Corrin as TBC
• Patsy Ferran as TBC
• Paul Giamatti as TBC
• Lewis Gribben as TBC
• Rashida Jones as TBC
• Chris O’Dowd as TBC
• Issa Rae as TBC
• Tracee Ellis Ross as TBC
• Harriet Walter as TBC

Thanks to What’s On Netflix, we know a little more about some of the roles listed above, but the rest it seems we’ll have to wait to see. The report reveals that two of the characters, Verity (Rosy McEwen) and Maria (Siena Kelly) will play old schoolmates, who weren’t really mates at all, working together at the same company - an international snack company called Savorita. This episode will reportedly be titled: “Ring of Truth”.

We also know that Milanka Brooks, Billy Magnussen, Paul G. Raymond, Cristin Milioti, Osy Ikhile, and Jimmi Simpson are all cast members from season 4’s USS Callister episode. And why are their names here again? Well, we’ll delve into that exciting plot news below.

Black Mirror season 7: story synopsis and rumors

The crew of the USS Callister - minus two - star in Black Mirror season 7 (Image credit: Netflix)

Full spoilers follow for previous Black Mirror seasons below.

The biggest announcement for Black Mirror season 7 so far was made during Geeked Week 2024 where creator Charlie Brooker revealed: “We’ve got six episodes this time, and two of them are basically feature-length. Some of them are deeply unpleasant, some are quite funny, and some are emotional.”

The last time fans were treated to six episodes was back in season 4 and that is very relevant when it comes to what Brooker said next: “Fans of the show will recognize the cast of a certain spaceship from one of our episodes reappearing. We’ve done a sequel for the first time in Black Mirror history. Normally, I kill off all the characters at the end of an episode, and I kept some of ‘em alive. I’m growing as a human.” And, that episode is season 4’s USS Callister.

It’s no secret that Brooker loves to utilize shock and awe in his story-telling and in USS Callister he killed off Robert Daly, played by Jesse Plemons. Plemons’s name being vacant from the season 7 cast list all but confirms his death was final. Plus, the official synopsis for the episode is: “USS Callister will return… Robert Daly is dead, but the crew of the USS Callister, their problems are just beginning.”

Creator Charlie Brooker has more sci-fi tales to tell (Image credit: Netflix)

But, why now? According to Brooker who spoke to THR, it’s always been on the cards: “It was something we were looking at for quite a long time. There were various iterations it went through, various versions we wanted to do and were discussing on and off for several years. But there are a lot of schedules to sort out, and then the pandemic got in the way. It was something that looked like it wasn’t going to happen, and so I was delighted when it did.”

While we know about one episode of season 7, news on the ground regarding the others is, in true Black Mirror style, kept mysteriously under wraps. Though Brooker teased in May 2024: “We are doing something really cool right now that we’ve never done before - but I can’t say what it is.” We wouldn’t want to guess given how unique and perpetually shocking each Black Mirror episode is, but it's true to form for the sci-fi series.

When it comes to season 7 as a whole, Brooker revealed to Tudum, that it will feel: “a little bit OG Black Mirror.” He said: “It’s back to basics in many ways. They’re all sci-fi stories, but there’s definitely some horrifying things that occur, but maybe not in an overt horror-movie way. There’s definitely some disturbing content in it.”

The beauty of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror is the wealth of directors brought on to tackle different episodes and amidst the cast list reveal, there's Ally Pankiw (season 6's, Joan is Awful), Luke Taylor & Chris Barrett (Cautionary Tales), Haolu Wang (Bodies), Toby Haynes (season 4's, USS Callister), and David Slade (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch) all listed. While that doesn't tell us the plot, it gives us an idea of the kind of directors and style we can expect for Black Mirror season 7.

Will there be more seasons of Black Mirror?

We'd love to see more Black Mirror, and so would Charlie Brooker (Image credit: Netflix)

With six seasons under his belt and a seventh on the way, the question emerges as to how much more there is to come from Brooker, but thankfully The Hollywood Reporter posed this very question to the man himself. With an anthology series, the possibilities are seemingly endless, though he said: “I’m sure I’ll find out when we’re not doing any more seasons! It will be made apparent to me at some point, I’m sure. But I’m in it for the long haul. I’m not going anywhere.”

After taking over Black Mirror from Channel 4 in 2015, the fate of the show now belongs to Netflix - though there’s been no official news from them yet as to whether a season eight is coming.

For more Netflix-based coverage, read our guides on 3 Body Problem season 2, Stranger Things season 5, Arcane season 2, and One Piece season 2.

• GeneralPurpose.8xlarge delivers 32 virtual cores and 128GB memory plus 275GB storage
• This is far cheaper than Azure or Google Cloud, but more expensive than onprem if you plan to keep it for 6 months or more
• You will - of course - need a separate computer to access that virtual workstation

AWS has expanded its WorkSpaces desktop-as-a-service offering with the introduction of two new workstation-grade instance types.

The company says these new instances will provide its customers with powerful cloud desktops for resource-intensive Windows workloads.

The new instance types, GeneralPurpose.4xlarge and GeneralPurpose.8xlarge, feature 16 and 32 virtual CPUs (vCPUs) with 64GB and 128GB of memory, respectively. Both include a 175GB root volume and 100GB for user file storage.

Windows-only

Amazon is positioning the two new offerings as being ideal for developers, scientists, financial analysts, and engineers who need to run demanding applications.

“Developers can handle large compilation and development tasks with tools like Visual Studio, IntelliJ, and Eclipse, while engineers and scientists can run complex simulations with MatLab, GNU Octave, R, and Stata,” the company says.

The GeneralPurpose.8xlarge instance is AWS’s first to offer 32 vCPUs but it’s not cheap. With Windows licensing, the 32 vCPU version costs $590 per month, while the 16 vCPU model is priced at $295 monthly. Hourly rates of $4.56 and $2.28 are also available for an additional $19 monthly fee.

Three’s no mention of pricing for Linux users, so it looks as if this is a Windows-only offering for now. Users with their own Windows licenses (BYOL) can save a small amount – the 32 vCPU version drops to $544 ($4.40 an hour) while the 16 vCPU model is $272 ($2.20 an hour).

Although AWS’s 32-core virtual workstation offers competitive hourly rates compared to Azure and Google Cloud, it remains pricier than on-premises options for extended use. Additionally, users will obviously still require a separate device to access these cloud desktops.

In parallel to this announcement, AWS also introduced updates to its EC2 Image Builder, allowing Microsoft Windows ISO files to be directly converted into Amazon Machine Images (AMIs), simplifying the process of using existing Windows licenses with Amazon WorkSpaces.

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The dismissals began Friday night, according to two people cited by The Associated Press. An email sent by one of the fired inspectors general said "roughly 17" inspectors general had been removed.

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• Apple has some catching up to do in AI
• Siri upgrades are reportedly a priority
• Apple also wants improved AI models

We've seen Apple Intelligence launched with a whole lot of hype over the last 12 months, and it seems there's a lot more to come in this area – with a newly leaked memo revealing Apple's top two AI priorities for the rest of 2025.

The memo was reported in an article by Bloomberg (via 9to5Mac), which states that highly rated Apple executive Kim Vorrath has been moved to the AI division with the task of "whipping artificial intelligence and Siri into shape".

John Giannandrea, Apple’s head of AI, announced the news in an internal memo that also apparently reveals two key goals for the division in the coming months: improving the Siri digital assistant and building better in-house AI models.

There is an acknowledgement that Apple is still some way behind when it comes to AI. We've just seen the AI-packed Galaxy S25 phones launched by Samsung, while Google is pushing its advanced Gemini AI into just about all of its apps and devices.

AI upgrades

Siri has already had some Apple Intelligence added (Image credit: Apple)

The two aims reportedly highlighted by Giannandrea make sense. Siri was ahead of its time when it made its debut back in 2011, but since then its been overtaken by its rivals – and it's an Apple product that users often complain about.

OpenAI's ChatGPT is an example of an AI assistant that's much more versatile and far-reaching, and Apple has added a ChatGPT extension to Siri with iOS 18.2 – an admission that Siri currently isn't up to par.

Eventually, Apple will want to cut ties with rival AI assistants, and improving its own Large Language Models (LLMs) will help with that – the second goal. The likes of OpenAI, Google, and Meta all have extensive LLMs powering their AI technology.

We've previously heard that Apple's own LLMs might have developed sufficiently by next year for a truly next-gen Siri 2.0 to emerge – so expect more news to appear when Apple unveils its plans for iOS 19 sometime in June at WWDC 2025.

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Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED TV review: Two minute review

The new Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED enters a seriously competitive mini-LED TV market, taking on Samsung, Hisense, TCL and Roku. It doesn’t stand out in this crowded arena, but it is a solid all-around TV for the price.

The Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED’s picture quality is pretty good overall compared to the best TVs. Colors are vibrant, textures and details are lifelike and contrast is well-balanced. Motion handling is good for both sports and movies. Unfortunately, it suffers from crushed black levels in some picture modes, resulting in a loss of shadow detail.

Audio quality is a mixed bag on the Omni Mini-LED. Sound is accurately placed with a good sense of direction, speech is clear and there’s generally good bass. While the sound can go beyond the borders of the screen, it feels narrow and contained, especially with Dolby Atmos effects. For those wanting a full home theater experience, I’d recommend one of the best soundbars.

The Omni Mini-LED has a good stock of gaming features including 4K 144Hz, Dolby Vision gaming, VRR (AMD FreeSync Premium Pro is included) and ALLM support. Performance is smooth and while it won’t beat the best gaming TVs from LG and Samsung, it provides a good mid-range alternative, though its graphics could be better.

Amazon’s Fire TV smart TV platform performs well enough and has a good number of picture settings for those who like to experiment. While Fire TV can be on the cluttered side, and there’s occasional stutter, it's a perfectly decent smart TV platform.

With a similar price to its main competitor, the Hisense U7N, the Omni Mini-LED’s real value comes down to what sort of prices it can hit during Prime Day and Black Friday. Discounts are already appearing, so it has the chance to seriously up its value when the sales begin.

Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED TV review: Prices & release date

(Image credit: Future)

• Release date: November 2024
• 55-inch: $819.99 / £849.99 (about AU$1,316)
• 65-inch: $1,089.99 / £1,149.99 (about AU$1,750)
• 75-inch: $1,499.99 / £1,599.99 (about AU$2,409)
• 85-inch: $2,099.99 / N/A (about AU$3,373)

The Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED series is the latest entry in Amazon’s Fire TV range, following the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED. It is the first Fire TV to feature a panel with a mini-LED backlight and is available in 55, 65, 75 and 85-inch (US-only for the 85-inch) sizes.

Its launch prices are strikingly similar to the Hisense U7N, one of the best mini-LED TVs on the market. The U7N has seen major discounts since its release in April 2024, especially during Black Friday, and the Amazon Mini-LED is already following suit.

Despite a relatively recent release, the 55-inch Mini-LED (the size I tested) is already down to $699.99 / £749.99 (about AU$1,122) and the 65-inch is down to $959.99 / £949.99. I expect these prices will drop even further during peak trading events in 2025 such as Amazon’s own Prime Day and Black Friday.

Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED TV review: Specs Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED TV review: Benchmark results Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED TV review: Features

The Amazon Omni Mini-LED features two HDMI 2.1 ports, a first for an Amazon Fire TV (Image credit: Future)

• First mini-LED panel in Amazon’s TV range
• 4K 144Hz support for gaming
• Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ high dynamic range

The Amazon Omni Mini-LED is the first set in Amazon’s Fire TV range to feature a display panel with a mini-LED backlight, a step-up feature from its LED and QLED TVs. The Omni Mini-LED features 512 dimming zones and supports both Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ high dynamic range.

Gaming support on the Omni Mini-LED includes 4K 144Hz, VRR (including AMD FreeSync Premium), ALLM and Dolby Vision and HDR10+ gaming. A game mode provides optimal picture settings for gaming but does not feature a game bar, a useful feature in gaming TVs from brands like LG, Samsung, Hisense and Panasonic. It also only features two HDMI 2.1 ports.

(One HDMI-related issue occurred during my testing. When switching a source from HDMI 2 to HDMI 1, the TV kept switching back to HDMI 2. I found that turning the TV off at the wall fixed the problem, which is something to bear in mind should this issue happen to you.)

The Omni Mini-LED has a 2.1-channel speaker array with Dolby Atmos support plus several preset audio modes including Standard, Movie and Sport.

The Omni Mini-LED uses Amazon’s own Fire TV as its smart TV platform. Fire TV supports all major streaming services such as Prime Video, Netflix and Disney Plus as well as UK-based streaming services such as BBC iPlayer and ITVX. It also has an Ambient Experience, where photos and artwork can be displayed on the screen when the TV is idle and it supports hands-free Alexa voice control.

• Features score: 4.5 / 5

Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED TV review: Picture quality

The Amazon Omni Mini-LED demonstrates very good detail (Image credit: Future)

• Bold color and accurate detail
• Better than expected contrast
• Black crush in darker scenes

The Omni Mini-LED’s peak HDR brightness as measured on a 10% white window pattern was 845 nits in the Standard picture preset and 973 nits in Filmmaker Mode. These results were with out-of-the-box settings for both picture modes, where the backlight was set to 80 and 70, respectively, and are roughly in the range of the Hisense U7N, which hit 807 nits in Standard mode and 1,074 nits in Filmmaker Mode.

Raising the backlight to 100 for both modes, the Omni Mini-LED hit 1,081 nits in Standard mode and 1,333 nits in Filmmaker Mode. While the higher backlight settings resulted in much higher brightness levels, I found it made highlights look blown out when watching movies.

Measuring fullscreen HDR brightness on a 100% white window pattern, again with out-of-the-box settings, the Omni Mini-LED hit 431 nits in Standard mode and 481 nits in Filmmaker Mode. When bumping up the backlight to 100 in picture settings in those modes, the Omni mini-LED hit 538 and 633 nits, respectively.

For picture testing and measurements, I used the Omni Mini-LED's out-of-the-box settings. When measuring color and grayscale in Filmmaker mode (with local dimming set to Medium), it averaged 2.9 for color accuracy and 4.8 for grayscale accuracy.

However, I did find that the Omni Mini-LED has potential for those who want its picture calibrated. After using the TV's calibration tools in Filmmaker Mode (SDR), it averaged 1.7 and 2.5 for color and grayscale accuracy, respectively, which are notable improvements.

Watching an HD stream of Fight Club via Disney Plus, the Omni Mini-LED did a solid job of upscaling, with both textures and contrast improved. It also did a good job of displaying the movie’s murky, dark color palette.

Color on the Omni mini-LED was very good overall. A 4K Dolby Vision stream of Star Wars: The Last Jedi on Disney Plus showcased vivid reds during the throne room fight scene. They verged on oversaturation but were still pleasing to the eye. A 4K Blu-ray of La La Land also demonstrated stunning color reproduction, with Mia’s yellow dress given a dynamic punch.

Measuring the Omni Mini-LED’s HDR color gamut coverage, it yielded results of 70.3% for BT.2020 and 94.9% for UHDA-P3 – both good results that are comparable to the Samsung QN85D and Hisense U7N.

The Amazon Omni Mini-LED delivers solid contrast (Image credit: Future)

Contrast was generally strong, with the Omni mini-LED displaying a good balance between light and dark tones, something that could be seen in the opening crime scene and aerial shots of the city when watching a 4K Blu-ray of The Batman. I found that Dolby Vision Filmmaker Mode was the best overall picture preset, though setting local dimming to Medium in the picture settings resulted in the best contrast. Also, when watching the black-and-white scenes in Oppenheimer, there was a good range of gray tones throughout.

Black levels and shadow detail were a mixed bag on the Omni Mini-LED. The contrast was solid and it demonstrated decent backlight control, but I found it would crush black tones in darker scenes, resulting in a loss of shadow detail. For example, in the same opening crime scene of The Batman, with local dimming set to Medium in Dolby Vision Filmmaker Mode, the detail in clothing was lost. Brighter picture modes such as Dolby Vision IQ or Dolby Vision Bright rectified this, but contrast also looked less accurate in those modes.

Textures were generally very good on the Omni Mini-LED, with facial features and details in a wide range of movies including The Batman, Top Gun: Maverick and Oppenheimer all looking accurate and true-to-life. Pictures could occasionally look on the soft side compared to more premium mini-LED TVs, but they were still solid for a mid-range model.

Motion in Sports TV mode was accurate out-of-the-box. When watching an HD stream of a soccer game, I found that setting Smoothness (judder reduction) at 4 and Clarity (blur reduction) at 10 were the optimal adjustments. For viewing sports, I found the Omini Mini-LED to be better than both the Hisense U6N and U7N, which required a lot more setup.

Motion was also good for movies, with the Omni Mini-LED easily handling the intense, fast-moving flight sequences in Top Gun: Maverick. Interestingly, I found I couldn’t alter the Natural Cinema motion setting in Dolby Vision Filmmaker Mode, but it did not seem to make a noticeable difference when tested on other picture modes.

• Picture quality score: 4 / 5

Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED TV review: Sound quality

The Omni mini-LED has average built-in sound quality, so movies such as La La Land could benefit from a soundbar (Image credit: Future)

• 2.1-channel speakers
• Good accuracy and placement
• Sound is narrow and contained

The Omni Mini-LED has a 2.1-channel speaker system totaling 24W of power. It supports Dolby Atmos and comes with several sound modes targeted towards different types of content such as Movie, Sports, and Music. In my testing, I generally found Movie to be the best sound preset.

Watching the Batmobile freeway chase sequence in The Batman, the Omni mini-LED demonstrated good sound placement and accuracy – as cars swerved across the screen, the sound of the screeching tires also swept across the screen. Bass was decent, with a good level of rumble stemming from the Batmobile’s engine. When watching Top Gun: Maverick, the sound exceeded the confines of the screen during flight sequences, giving it an expansive quality, and the dialogue was clear throughout my viewing.

Even so, in both The Batman and Top Gun: Maverick, Dolby Atmos effects were so faint as to be unnoticeable, with the rain in The Batman and height channels in the Mach 10 scene in Top Gun: Maverick never hitting – something to be expected from a TV with basic, 2.1-channel built-in speakers. For those using the Omni Mini-LED mainly for watching movies, I’d recommend adding a soundbar.

• Sound quality score: 3.5 / 5

Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED TV review: Design

The Amazon Omni Mini-LED's tall feet allow plenty of space for a soundbar (Image credit: Future)

• Tall feet allow space for a soundbar
• Hand-free voice control
• Bland design for the price

One of the Omni Mini-LED’s best design features is its supplied feet. They are tall enough to easily fit a soundbar without the soundbar obscuring the bottom of the screen, a common issue with many TVs.

Otherwise, the Omni Mini-LED’s design is very uninspired, with a rather generic and slightly bulky appearance compared with mini-LED rivals from Hisense, Samsung and TCL. I expected a slimmer depth at this price.

The Omni Mini-LED comes with Amazon’s latest generation Alexa Voice remote, which still feels a little cheap and flimsy compared to remotes from other brands. Hands-free Alexa voice control is available via the TV’s built-in microphone – a welcome feature that can also be turned off in the settings.

• Design score: 4 / 5

Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED TV review: Smart TV & menus

Fire TV has access to plenty of apps but its home screen is taken up by a large banner ad (Image credit: Future)

• Fire TV smart TV platform
• Sometimes stuttering performance
• Advanced picture setup options

The Omni Mini-LED uses Amazon’s Fire TV smart TV platform, which is featured on the Amazon Fire TV Stick range as well as TVs from other brands.

Fire TV’s home screen provides a good number of movie and TV recommendations (especially for Prime Video) based on your viewing history and lets you easily jump back into programs you’ve previously been watching. It also has a large, revolving banner ad at the top that takes up roughly one-third of the screen.

Performance-wise, Fire TV is generally responsive when navigating though there were occasional stutters and freeze-ups during my testing. Menus, while fairly easy to get around, could be a little more user-friendly. There are plenty of settings to tailor the picture to your taste and even 2-point, 11-point and Color Grading calibration tools for those who want advanced fine-tuning.

While Fire TV gives preference on its home screen to Prime Video movies and TV shows, it does provide access to a wide array of streaming services including Netflix and Disney Plus.

• Smart TV & menus score: 4 / 5

Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED TV review: Gaming

The Amazon Omni Mini-LED, shown here with Battlefield V, has a good stock of gaming features and performs well (Image credit: Future)

• 4K 144Hz and Dolby Vision gaming
• 13.4ms input lag time
• Only two HDMI 2.1 ports

The Omni Mini-LED is well-equipped with gaming features, including support for 4K 144Hz, VRR (including AMD FreeSync Premium Pro), ALLM and Dolby Vision gaming. It is the first of Amazon’s FireTVs to feature 120Hz support, but only features two HDMI 2.1 ports, which is currently the case for all TVs not made by LG or Samsung.

The Omni Mini-LED performs well, even at higher frame rates. Playing Battlefield V on Xbox Series X, I found chaotic battle sequences, quick targeting and panning shots all ran smoothly and showed quick response times. When I measured the input lag time, it hit 13.4ms, which is similar to TVs from Hisense, TCL, and Sony, but doesn’t quite beat the best gaming TVs from Samsung and LG. Still, it sits below the 15ms threshold gamers look for.

For picture quality during gaming, the Omni Mini-LED delivers good detail and dazzling colors along with solid contrast, again shown in desert and night missions in Battlefield V. I did find that textures took on a soft, muddy tone in some cases, which detracted from the experience a bit, but overall the Omni mini-LED is a solid gaming TV.

• Gaming score: 4 / 5

Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED TV review: Value

The Amazon Omni Mini-LED is supplied with the Alexa Voice remote (Image credit: Future)

• Extremely competitive mini-LED TV market
• Closely matches rivals’ prices
• Potential for discounts

The Omni Mini-LED enters a highly competitive mini-LED TV market dominated by Samsung, Hisense and TCL, and also competes with budget models from Roku.

Its primary rival is arguably the Hisense U7N, which delivers similar features and performance and has very similar prices. For the 55-inch model I tested, we’ve seen the U7N average about $598.99 / £699.99, and it has gone as low as $480 in Black Friday sales. But the Omni Mini-LED has already hit $699.99 / £749.99 only months after release, and as an Amazon product, it has the potential to drop lower during Prime Day and Black Friday.

The Omni Mini-LED is a solid TV for the money, offering good performance and many features that will please most TV buyers. It doesn’t quite beat the Hisense U7N in terms of value, but that could all change come Prime Day.

• Value score: 4 / 5

Should you buy the Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED TV?

(Image credit: Future) Buy it if...

You want a TV ready for sports
Compared with other budget mini-LED TVs, the Omni Mini-LED is ready for sports out-of-the-box, requiring almost no setup in its Sports mode.

You want a good-value TV
The Omni Mini-LED is well-priced for what it offers and has the potential for big discounts during sales events such as Prime Day and Black Friday.

Don't buy it if…

You want the best built-in sound
The Omni Mini-LED's accuracy and sound placement are very good, but it lacks in other areas.

You want the best smart TV platform
While Fire TV has its plus points, a cluttered home screen and sometimes stuttering performance means it falls short of the likes of Google TV and LG's webOS.

Also consider

Hisense U7N
The Omni Mini-LED's closest rival, the Hisense U7N offers a similar list of features, plus similar picture quality and overall performance. The U7N isn't quite as good for sports, but it's better for sound. Your choice should come down to the price at the time of buying. Read our full Hisense U7N review. View Deal

Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED
The Omni QLED is the step-down model from the Omni Mini-LED, using a QLED panel that doesn't offer as good a picture or as many gaming features as it's limited to 60Hz. It is, however, a good budget option if you're looking for something cheaper. Read our full Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED review. View Deal

Samsung QN90D
A much more premium mini-LED TV, the Samsung QN90D offers impressive picture quality and superb motion handling for sports. Plus, it comes with a full suite of gaming features and better built-in sound. Be prepared to spend a lot more on this TV, however. Read our full Samsung QN90D review. View Deal

How I tested the Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED TV

• Tested in light light-controlled environment
• Used SDR and HDR sources for testing picture quality
• Measurements were taken using Portrait Displays' Calman color calibration software

(Image credit: Future)

To test the Amazon Omni Mini-LED, I first conducted casual viewing to establish the TV's most accurate picture mode. In this case, it was Filmmaker Mode, which I used to carry out both subjective and objective testing.

For subjective testing, I used reference scenes from both SDR sources, such as HD streaming and broadcast TV, as well as 4K Blu-ray and streaming HDR sources. I tested the Omni Mini-LED's color, contrast, detail, motion handling, and black levels. Some of the same reference scenes were also used to test the Omni Mini-LED's built-in audio quality.

I also tested the Omni Mini-LED's gaming features and performance using an Xbox Series X.

For objective testing, I took measurements of the Omni Mini-LED's brightness, color and grayscale accuracy, and HDR color gamut coverage. The measurements were taken using a colorimeter, test pattern generator and Portrait Displays' Calman color calibration software.

Brightness measurements were taken using both SDR and HDR white window patterns, ranging in size from 1-100% with a focus on 10% (peak brightness) and 100% (fullscreen brightness). Color and grayscale accuracy were taken in SDR, using Delta E values, looking for a score below 3. HDR color gamut coverage was measured for the BT.2020 and UHDA-P3 color spaces.

For input lag testing, measured in milliseconds, I used a Leo Bodnar 4K HDMI input lag tester.

• First reviewed: January, 2025
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