Roger Fingas / Android Authority
If you own or are buying a Fire TV device, Amazon is excited to sell you the newly released Alexa Voice Remote Pro as an optional accessory. I recently had a chance to try one out against other Fire TV remotes to judge whether it makes a difference to the media streaming experience.
Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote Pro
What is Voice Remote Professional?
In short, the Voice Remote Pro is a $35 replacement for the Alexa Voice Remote that’s compatible with most media streamers and TVs based on the Amazon Fire TV platform. It’s not available as a bundle – though the top-of-the-line Fire TV Omni QLED does come with a vanilla voice remote. It adds more buttons, backlight, remote finder feature and some minor improvements. We will get into all of these shortly.
You’ll want to check Amazon’s official compatibility list before buying one, but there are relatively few products that aren’t compatible. These include the 1st and 2nd Gen Fire TV, 1st Gen Fire TV Stick, Echo Show 15 and Element Fire TV Edition. Although the TV will be released in May 2022, you won’t be able to pair it with the Hiense U6HF ULED.It also won’t work with Insignia HD or FHD TVs, although it will work with the brand’s UHD and F20 sets.
The Pro is a $35 replacement remote that adds extra buttons, a backlight, and a remote finder feature.
I tested the Voice Remote Pro with the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, which is second only to the Fire TV Cube among Amazon’s streaming boxes and sticks. Both the remote and the Max are powered by Amazon. During initial setup, I found that you have to pair the Max’s bundled audio remote before adding the Voice Remote Pro – the stick refuses to recognize the Pro in the setup wizard. This wasn’t a big problem as I added the Pro later using the Fire TV’s settings menu. You can use both remotes at the same time and even having a backup remote can be useful for reasons we’ll explain in a minute.
What makes Voice Remote Pro better than other Fire TV remotes?
Buttons
Roger Fingas / Android Authority
From top to bottom: the standard Voice Remote, the Voice Remote Pro and the Insignia model.
The Pro adds many small but significant conveniences, the most obvious being extra buttons. There’s a separate settings menu, channel selector, and headphone button that jumps to the Bluetooth menu for quick wireless audio pairing. The latter is kind of a mystery, but why the Settings button isn’t within normal volume distance is a mystery — Fire TV users have to open Settings regularly to check notifications and force app updates. .
The biggest improvement is the addition of two customizable shortcuts.
On some third-party remotes, you’ll find a settings button (and/or channel selector), so the big deal here is the addition of two customizable shortcuts, labeled “1” and “2”. By pressing and holding them, you can assign different actions, the main choices are launching applications or running Alexa voice commands. For example, I assigned 1 to YouTube, and 2 to “Alexa, turn on the living room lights.” If you trigger an Alexa command this way, you won’t hear any voice response.
Roger Fingas / Android Authority
Customizable app shortcuts are very useful because the shortcuts on other Fire TV remotes are locked to services you don’t use. Yes, you’re probably streaming from the likes of Netflix, Disney Plus, and/or Prime Video if you have a Fire TV device, but not everyone has subscriptions to all three, and other services may be more useful to some viewers. The only catch with custom shortcuts is remembering what’s assigned to each one and sharing that information with people in your family.
Remote finder
If you lose your Pro, you can ask your Alexa device (or the Alexa and Fire TV apps) to “Find my remote.” That triggers a loud ringer, at least making it easier to track down the Pro if it’s within earshot.
There are two other caveats. The feature has a range of 30 feet (about 10 meters) around your TV, and your Fire TV device must be powered on, which can be a Catch-22 if you’re looking for a remote in the first place. This is why you should hang on to the regular Voice Remote as a backup.
Rear light
If you want to dim your lights for ambiance, the buttons on the Pro will light up every time you press or release them. It’s a smart addition that makes it easy to tell what you’re pressing, although in the pitch-black room you’ll still have to fumble around to find the remote, but it’s almost all black to begin with.
Better construction
Pro is solidly built. It’s still made of plastic, but it feels sturdier in the hand than most Fire TV remotes, and the texture is less slippery. It’s also easy to find the battery compartment, certainly with Amazon’s default voice remote. While that one’s an odd hand and finger position, and sometimes requires too much force, the Pro opens just by pressing and swiping the arrow marker — as it should be.
Is it worth buying voice remote promotion?
Roger Fingas / Android Authority
Do you need Pro? No, especially if you’re comfortable using Alexa. Added buttons save a few seconds here and there, but you can do most of what you do with voice commands. If you have a Fire TV Cube, Fire TV Omni, or a connected Alexa speaker, you don’t even need a remote on hand. You can use voice to launch apps before sitting down.
The Pro Remote accelerates common actions in a way that makes Fire TV a more enjoyable experience.
If you prefer physical controls or hate Alexa, the story changes. While the standard voice remote is capable enough, the Pro tweaks common actions to make Fire TV a more enjoyable experience. If you live in a house where people frequently mess things up, the remote-sensing feature might just come in handy to prevent arguments and save your sanity.
If you’re interested in going pro and have the spare cash, there’s no reason not to. The update is significant enough that, arguably, the product should automatically be bundled with high-end Fire TV devices.
Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote Pro
Customizable Shortcuts • Remote Finder • Backlight
Remote upgrade compatible with most Fire TV devices.
Voice Remote Pro is a standard Alexa Voice Remote with customizable shortcuts, backlight and remote sensing feature that can be triggered by Alexa. Like some Fire TV remotes, there are settings and channel selector buttons.