In addition to the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube, which was expected, Amazon has also announced a new premium remote, the Alexa Voice Remote Pro, for use with Fire TV Sticks, Fire TV Cubes, and even Fire TV Smart TVs. The new optional remote retains all the capabilities of the 3rd-gen Alexa Voice Remote and adds several new capabilities to make life a little easier.
One long-requested feature among the Fire TV community that is available on the new remote is a remote finder. By saying “Alexa, find my remote” to any Alexa device or by pressing a remote finder button in the Fire TV mobile app, the Alexa Voice Remote Pro will begin to ring through its built-in speaker. The remote finder will work as long as the remote is within 30 feet of your Fire TV and the Fire TV is powered on.
The new remote has several buttons not found on any other Fire TV remote, but before diving into them you should know that all buttons are backlit. The buttons automatically illuminate when the remote is picked up, likely detected by an accelerometer in the remote. It’s worth noting that, unlike the Roku Pro Remote which has a rechargeable battery, the Alexa Voice Remote Pro is still powered by two included AAA batteries, so you should expect the remote to go through batteries a little quicker than a traditional Fire TV remote, thanks to the backlight. Amazon does specify that the backlight should only light up in low-light environments, so the extra drain may not be too bad.
As for the new buttons, the most exciting are two customizable buttons, labeled 1 and 2, just above the four app shortcut buttons which are set to Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu in the US. At the most basic level, these can be set to launch any app you want. However, their use can get much more advanced because they can be set to execute any Alexa voice command. That opens up the buttons to an endless number of possibilities, from executing a specific search, to controlling smart home devices, to playing music, to launching an entire suite of Alexa commands by assigning them to execute an Alexa routine. Configuring the buttons is as easy as long pressing them, which will open up a side panel that lists your recent apps and voice commands to select from.
At the top right of the premium remote is a new headphone button. Pressing it will open the Bluetooth menu so that you can quickly pair or unpair Bluetooth headphones. This feels like a bit of a cop-out to adding a headphone jack to the remote, which it doesn’t have. Sure, saving a few menu button presses is nice, but you could already do that with my Bluetooth Shortcut app. The new remote also has channel up and down buttons not found on the standard Fire TV remote. These can be used to flip between live channels in many different apps.
The Alexa Voice Remote Pro is compatible with most modern Fire TV models including all Fire TV Cubes, the Fire TV Stick 4K and 4K Max, the 2nd & 3rd-gen Fire TV Stick, the Fire TV Stick Lite, and even the 3rd-gen Fire TV pendant. That just leaves the 1st and 2nd-gen Fire TV boxes and the 1st-gen Fire TV Stick as stand-alone models that aren’t compatible. The new remote can also be used with select Fire TV Smart TVs, including Amazon’s own Omni and 4-Series TVs. Amazon also lists Toshiba and Insignia Fire TV Smart TVs as compatible, both 4K and non-4K models, so it seems like all of those will work with the new remote as well. If you need help identifying exactly which Fire TV model you have, you can use my Informer app or follow this guide.
The Alexa Voice Remote Pro is available to pre-order for $34.99 and will be released on November 16th.
Pricing & Availability:
- US: Alexa Voice Remote Pro – $34.99
- UK: Alexa Voice Remote Pro – £34.99
- Germany & Austria: Alexa Voice Remote Pro – €39.99
- Canada: Alexa Voice Remote Pro – $44.99
- Mexico: Alexa Voice Remote Pro – $1,099.00
- India: Alexa Voice Remote Pro – ₹2,499.00
- Italy: Alexa Voice Remote Pro – €39.99
- France: Alexa Voice Remote Pro – €39.99
- Spain: Alexa Voice Remote Pro – €39.99
- Japan: Alexa Voice Remote Pro
- Australia: Alexa Voice Remote Pro
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That headphone pairing button seems like it would be hit with a lot of people.
Need TV tuner for OTA antenna to make it perfect
This should be included in the new Fire TV Cube box. Or at least offer an option to REPLACE the bundled remote with this one. Instead, you’ll have to buy this at full price and end up with two remotes at hand.
True when Amazon decided to add the channel buttons with the refresh of the 2020 firesticks. I think eventually Amazon will have a full refresh for all devices with this new remote. I’d rather not pay more for just one remote when the other one is older and still offer the same functionality.
Been wishing for this for a while. Only care about the backlit buttons. Happy to pay the price.
Now Amazon needs to make a premium cube model with more RAM, much more storage, and a better CPU. I’d pay $250 for it. I’m tired of the stuttering and pausing just trying to navigate through the menu. Press right twice… Nothing .. press right two more times… Suddenly it jumps right 4 times. It can’t keep up with basic navigation.
This should have been included with the Omni TVs. I recently purchased from Amazon.
Can this control the volume on my Bluetooth ear buds