Amazon Fire TV Cube Turns Your Voice into Your Remote

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If you’ve ever wanted the super power of controlling your TV with your voice, your wish is about to become a reality. Amazon has announced that on Thursday, June 21 the Fire TV Cube will be available, providing new powers for Alexa. If the tens of thousands of skills Alexa already has aren’t enough for you, the ability to control your TV with your voice may become Alexa’s most important skill.

Amazon Fire TV Cube is a combination of a Fire TV streaming device and an Echo that uses Alexa, Amazon’s digital assistant. With the Cube you can use Alexa as you would with any other Echo: to play music, get the weather forecasts, ask questions, play games, and control smart home devices.

But the killer feature of the Cube is the ability to use your voice to control your TV. Instead of having to press buttons on a remote, you can just speak aloud to command Alexa.

No more searching for a lost remote control or fumbling for buttons in the dark. No more wiping your hands free of chicken wing sauce to change the channel or adjust the volume.

With the Fire TV Cube you can just tell Alexa what you want to watch, how loud you want the sound to be, which channel to turn to, and how far you want to fast-forward or rewind your show.

The Cube doesn’t just control Amazon Prime Video using your voice, it also can control cable TV boxes so you can ask Alexa to tune into local channels or any other channels you watch with your cable TV subscription. Compatible cable boxes include Directv/AT&T U-verse, Dish, Comcast, Spectrum, Verizon, Cox, Altice, and Frontier.

TV commands you can ask the Cube include:

• Watch Game of Thrones
• Turn up the volume
• Turn on the TV
• Find comedy shows on Hulu
• Open Netflix
• Tune to HGTV
• Change the channel to a local TV station

This video shows how Cube works:

The Cube not only has the power of Alexa, it also has the power of sound. A built-in speaker is included in the Cube plus it can connect to external sound bars and play sound with Dolby Atmos.

Fans of high-definition video will also appreciate that the Cube can play video in 4K Ultra HD and HDR.

In addition to showing Prime Video shows, the Cube is compatible with third-party video services such as:

• Hulu
• Netflix
• HBO
• Showtime
• CBS All Access
• PlayStation Vue
• Sling TV

You can use the Cube to listen to music from Prime Music, Spotify, and iHeartRadio. The Cube can also let you surf the Internet and can show you websites using either Silk or Firefox browsers. Your TV can become a digital photo frame, just by asking Alexa on the Cube to show you your photos.

See => How to Turn Your Echo Show or Spot Into a Digital Photo Frame

Like to fall asleep to the TV? Later this year, Alexa will be updated to add a sleep timer to the Cube.

What Else You Need to Know

Before getting a Cube, make sure your TV service is compatible with it. Not every service that is available on the Fire TV is currently available on the Cube. For example, Directv NOW is available on the Fire TV, but not on the Cube.

Not all Alexa skills are available (yet?) on the Cube. According to Amazon, “Alexa Calling & Messaging, multi-room music, and Bluetooth connections to mobile phones are not currently supported on Fire TV Cube.”

A full list of compatible voice-controlled devices and more information about the Cube are available at the Fire TV Cube Voice Control Compatibility page at Amazon.

Availability

The Fire TV Cube will be available on June 21 at Amazon and pre-orders are available now. The price of the Cube is $119.

The Cube is only available in the United States.

Your Thoughts

What do you think of the Fire TV Cube? Do you like the ability to control your TV with your voice? Have you ever lost your TV remote and wished you could use your voice to control your TV?

Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!