Amazon has updated the remote control that comes with the Fire TV Stick. The new remote control now comes with dedicated hotkeys for streaming services and a slight redesign. The new Fire TV remote control has dedicated hotkeys for Netflix, Prime Video, Amazon Music and a dedicated button to bring up your app's library. It also has a button to bring up live TV.
Since the OTT hotkeys are at the bottom of the new Fire TV Stick remote control, the mute button has moved to the left of the volume rocker. The rest of the buttons like playback controls, navigation and power remain the same. While the voice button to bring up Alexa is in the same place, it is now blue with the Alexa logo.
The new Fire TV Stick remote control is compatible with the Fire TV Stick (2nd and 3rd Gen), Fire TV Stick 4K and Fire TV Stick Lite (review). So, it looks like the original 1st gen Fire TV Stick is the only one not compatible with the remote control.
As of writing this story, only the third-gen Fire TV Stick comes with the new remote control in the box. The others come with the old remote control.
This isn't the first time we have seen the Fire TV Stick remote control come with OTT hotkeys. The AmazonBasics Fire TV (review) and the Akai TV Fire TV edition (review) come with a remote control sporting the same OTT hotkeys as the new Fire TV Remote control. The Onida TV we reviewed back in 2020 came with a remote control with dedicated hotkeys for Prime Video, Netflix, SonyLIV and ZEE5.
The new Fire TV Stick remote control with OTT hotkeys is available for Rs 1,999 and will release on April 21, 2021