Amazon Fire TV finally gets Echo support
I'm not sure how I got here, exactly, but I seem to be all-in on Amazon home devices lately. I have one Amazon Echo and two of its smaller Dot models. I can use these voice assistant devices to control my television, lights, surveillance cameras, and thermostat. Last week, I bought a Fire TV stick to replace my Nexus Player, because my TV provider does not support HBO go on Android TV -- weird, but true. You know what? I couldn't be happier.
Well, actually, I am a bit happier today. Why? Because my Echo devices can now control my Fire TV stick; perfect timing! While the Fire TV supports Alexa with a button-press on the remote, I can now bypass that and just use speech. Cool right? Best of all, this is a free feature for existing standalone hardware, meaning you can take advantage of it immediately without hassle. Support for televisions with integrated Fire TV will be coming very soon.
"Amazon today announced new Alexa features for Fire TV that make it even easier to control your movies, TV shows, and more using just your voice. You will be able to pair any Fire TV with any Echo device and easily control your Fire TV -- just ask, and Alexa will start a show, help you find a good movie to watch, control playback, and more," says Amazon.
The company shares the following example commands.
- "Alexa, watch Bosch"
- "Alexa, show me action movies"
- "Alexa, go home"
- "Alexa, open Hulu"
The company is not stopping there, however. Amazon also explains, "Coming soon, Amazon will also enable you to use your Fire TV to view live video feeds via Alexa from your compatible smart home cameras by simply saying 'Alexa, show my kitchen camera.' You will be able to see who's at the front door or check on a sleeping baby in the nursery. Smart home camera support on Fire TV works with a range of devices from companies including Ring, Arlo, Nest, EZVIZ, Vivint Smart Home, Amcrest, Logitech, and August."
As cool as this functionality is, it is sort of surprising that it took Amazon this long to get it going -- it should have been done sooner. After all, the tighter it integrates its products, the more "sticky" it can make consumers. In other words, once you are in the Amazon ecosystem, you might be less likely to leave and switch to a competitor. The surveillance camera support will take this further too.
Are you excited to use an Echo to control your Fire TV devices? Tell me in the comments.
Photo Credit: George W. Bailey/Shutterstock