Advertisement

Any Alexa device can control your Fire TV

It's surprising this didn't happen earlier.

You'd think that Amazon would have made it possible to control a Fire TV from external Alexa devices as soon as it was an option, but no -- you've had to use the Fire TV itself if you wanted to play a video using your voice. At last, though, sense has prevailed. Amazon has updated all versions of the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick to add support for voice control from another Alexa-enabled device. If you want to skip to the next episode of a show, you can talk to your Echo or smartphone instead of scrounging for the Fire TV's remote.

Does the feature sound familiar? You're not alone. One of the centerpieces of Google Home is its ability to queue up video on a Cast-enabled TV, and Amazon is effectively matching that feature note for note. Not that we're complaining. This is arguably one of biggest omissions in the Fire TV's feature set, and it only makes sense if you live in a household with more than one Amazon device at your beck and call.