Just over a year ago, Funai became the first and only producer of Fire TV smart TVs in Japan. The 4K-capable Funai F340 Series and the HD-only Funai F140 Series TVs have been sold in Yamada Denki stores, one of Japan’s largest consumer electronic retailers, and have been well received on Amazon with over 4-star ratings across the board. Funai is now updating its line of Fire TV Smart TVs with 2nd-generation models, called the Funai F360 Series (4K) and F160 Series (HD).

The new Funai F360 Series Fire TVs are nearly identical to the F340 Series models they are replacing. They come in 43, 50, and 55-inch sizes with support for 4K HDR10 and HLG high dynamic range formats, meaning there is still no support for Dolby Vision or HDR10+ video. These TVs still have 3 HDMI ports, of which 1 is ARC compatible, and an array of Japan-specific TV tuners. Remaining is also the unique capability of being able to record over-the-air programming onto an external USB hard drive, which is only possible on these Funai’s Japanese Fire TVs. The 32-inch F160 Series HD Fire TV is also nearly identical to the F140 Series TV it replaces.

2022 Funai Fire TV Remote (left) and 2023 Remote (right)

The most significant change between the 2022 Funai Fire TVs and the new 2023 models seems to be the included remote. The 2022 remote, seen in the image above on the left, was a variation of Amazon’s UK Fire TV remote. The new 2023 remote, on the right, isn’t radically different from the remote it replaces, but does make a few notable changes. The new remote now includes a dedicated button for switching inputs and a button for quickly accessing DVR recordings on an attached USB drive. The new remote also now includes four app shortcut buttons, instead of two, moves the colored circle buttons from the bottom to below the playback buttons, and enlarges some fonts.

This seems to be another example of Amazon allowing TV manufacturers to customize the remote being included with Fire TV Smart TVs. The trend started with Xiaomi Redmi Fire TVs earlier this year and was very obvious with the completely proprietary remote included with Panasonic Fire TVs this month, which may be the best Fire TV Smart TV remote to date.