Amazon appears to be preparing to sell the new updated Fire TV voice remote. This new remote reportedly connects to Fire TV devices via wifi direct, as opposed to the old voice remote which uses bluetooth to communicate with the Fire TV. It is also half an inch taller than the 1st-gen voice remote and is rated to last up to 12 months on a pair of AAA batteries.
Currently, Amazon only lists the old bluetooth voice remote for sale. Recently, they changed amazon.com/firetvremote to now point to a different product page than the old voice remote. The new product page does not currently bring up anything, but quiring the item number in the URL with Amazon’s product API reveals a message saying “this item is not accessible”, as opposed to the “invalid item” message one would get if the item truly did not exist.
When Amazon announced the new availability of the Fire TV in Japan, they began selling the new voice remote separately on Amazon’s Japanese site. We know it’s the new remote because the picture is different and the page does not mention “bluetooth”. It seems like the rest of the world will also be able to purchase the new remote very soon.
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unless that remote is $9.99, better to get the new FireTV with remote and pick up the game controller for $49.99 for a total of $149.99 before tax.
If it is $29.99 like the old remote, you wind up playing $169.99 total if you go the other way. Gaming edition and remote as add-on. I really wish they had offered a bundle with both. Oh Well….
Yup. But, the $20 extra does get you a 32GB microSD card and an extra game. If you don’t care about those, then definitely buy the $99.99 Fire TV and add the game controller separately.
Give me a remote with some IR universal remote capabilities, and I’m a buyer.
http://www.sideclickremotes.com/
Currently my remote keeps disconnecting with my new fire tv. Is this a thing or is it just me being lucky?
I much prefer the old remote. This remote is missing the rubber like feel to the plastic, so it slips in my hands a bit. I suspect the icons will come off the rubber button eventually too…
You must have the new wifi-based remote. Amazon sent me an old version with my FTV2, and it works great!
Great info – thanks for posting the differences. I wish I had read AFTVNews before trying to get the back cover off the new remote – first time was hard.
Are people still having troubles with the new remote? Went from Gen1 to Gen2 AFTV on Prime day and finally installed it.
Found the new “bane” remote gets forgotten by the AFTV and isn’t as responsive. Software version is 217 – is that the latest? Also paired the bluetooth remote that I prefer from my 1st Gen box and its software version is 352.
If you have had problems, what resolution did you get to fix the problems? I’d rather not hit my head against a brick wall and bloody it. In the US here.