Amazon Alexa Voice Remote (3rd Gen) With TV Controls

My previous fire TV remote one day just decided not to work. What a pain in the neck there are numerous ways that you can find help both online and through your TV probably and we tried them all. We think we finally gave up and ordered a new one. It works.

This is the newest Alexa Voice FireTV remote, for FireTV, FireTV Cube and FireStick devices.

*note- Please check the compatibility list in the description, because while this remote works for most of the newer Amazon FireTV devices, it does NOT work with the older 1st Gen FireTV. *

PROS:

APP BUTTONS: The biggest change is the inclusion of the “Preset App Buttons” toward the bottom of the remote. These four buttons automatically launch Prime Video, Netflix, Disney Plus, and Hulu. I tested them out and each seemed to work well, launching the apps quickly.
CHANNEL GUIDE BUTTON– This remote now has a Guide button (shaped like a little TV) to the right of the Volume buttons. We use a FireTV Recast to occasionally watch live TV, and this button pops up the Channel Guide so you can scroll through the live TV channels. After the recent FireTV homescreen menu change, it is pretty easy already to get to the Channel Guide from the Home page, but still, this makes it even easier.

CONS:

COST: At $30, this remote isn’t exactly cheap. It works well, but might not be worth that price depending on your needs.

OVERALL: This is a great remote, but I’m not sure if it is worth it to upgrade from a previous generation remote just for the added App Buttons and the Guide Button. We personally have found these buttons to be a nice touch though, as they might save you a second or two of scrolling. If you have an older remote that you were thinking about replacing anyway, then I would definitely recommend getting this one. (Also, keep in mind you CAN add this as a second remote to your FireTV Cube if you want, without getting rid of the first one, and you can use them both. We are currently doing that with one of our TVs, because we tend to misplace the remote anyway and having two that both work seems to be less of a headache.)

I was given a new Firestick w/ remote for Christmas 2022. Within months, the remote started fully draining batteries every 12 hours or so, even without being used at all. Doing some Googling, I found that this is a well-documented problem. After spending too much money on more batteries, trying all of the “fixes” I could find and trying the same “fixes” again suggested by Amazon customer service, I was at my wits end. Twice they supposedly ordered me a new remote, but it never shipped and I would eventually get a notification that it was out of stock near me. So send it from somewhere else, I said. They told me they couldn’t do that. Then they tried to offer me a partial refund of the firestick but I’d have to cover the rest to reorder a new one. Sorry, but no. After 6 WEEKS of back and forth with nobody that could resolve anything, I pointed out that they seem to know this is a ongoing problem with their product. Suddenly, magically they had a remote in stock and I got it in 2 days.

Now it’s a year later and that replacement that hasn’t needed a battery change is suddenly draining batteries at the same rate and it’s back to square one. My other firestick has had the same batteries for 3 years with daily use. So what’s the deal?? I think I’ll try a knock-off remote this time.

I bought one of the larger echos a couple years ago, I think, and they didn’t come with remotes at the time. Makes sense since the intent was voice or touch navigation. Like a lot of people, it seems, I use mine more like a small TV with voice control. A lot of apps were pre-added and I added more, mostly to watch some shows in bed at night with a small screen, low volume and easy voice navigation. It’s great for that but the one thing that drove me a little nuts right away was the volume control. There’s just no way to get it just right with either voice or touch and the controls on top are actually hard to find and adjust in a dark room and getting out of bed to use them defeats the purpose. This remote solves that issue and several others. The volume control in the lower center is intuitive in the dark and offers much finer control of the volume than any other option. Honestly, I’d buy this just for that reason, I found the volume issues that annoying. But I have found that it makes navigating to various apps a lot easier, there are even some one-touch buttons to navigate to specific apps without a hassle. It’s also very helpful for when echo wants to be stubborn about which episode to play when I tell it a show to bring up on amazon prime video. On some shows it seems to be confused about which one to start playing no matter what I tell it and with the remote it’s no longer a problem. I can easily navigate down to the correct ep and start playing. Otherwise, I would again be getting out of bed to use the touchscreen and that was never my intended use for the echo device. So the remote just makes total sense and I believe it’s now included on the newer models. I have also seen some cases for it that include a small light. It isn’t backlit and has no light options built in so that could be handy if you don’t find it intuitive to use in the dark but I got used to the controls very quickly and don’t see a need for a lighted case. A backlit option would be a great upgrade, though, it’s so common in other remotes. As far as installation, I just followed the instructions and had no problems at all. It’s such a simple, useful addition to the echo that if I lost mine, I’d be buying another one right away.