I’ve been without the Echo Dot speaker that I have in the living room for a few days now and I feel a bit strange, it must be said. Not only because I can’t see the time itself (it was the model with a clock) but because I have lost access (easy way) a good part of the home connected.
Now everything is about using your phone to turn on lights, check the status of thermometers, play music… that or using Fire TV and a menu that many people don’t know about. A kind of secret menu that turns the TV into the hub of the connected home.
Fire TV to the rescue
I have a Fire TV Stick connected to the TV. Tucked away in the back and doped up, there are times when I even forget it’s there. But now, without my Echo Dot, I’ve used it to make up for the absence of that one and still have the ability to control connected devices.
Ok, it’s not as simple as using your voice, but it’s much simpler than relying on the Alexa app on your phone. All I have to do is press a button and that, when I’m watching TV, is not a problem.
This secret menu of the Fire TV Stick is Available from the Alexa button which has the remote control. That button that, in addition to allowing you to activate the Amazon assistant, can also be used to control the connected home.
To do this you just have to Press the Alexa button once and quickly on the Fire TV remote (long press activates the assistant and voice control) and on the screen, a series of controls related to the connected home appear at the bottom.
So from the TV I can control lights, cameras and in general everything. Alexa compatible devices I have.Other Alexa-enabled speakers, cameras, lighting systems, and any compatible device appear.
Camera
In addition, among the options offered, there is the possibility of seeing in a secondary screen in PiP mode (Picture in Picture) which happens, for example, with the webcams that we have installed.
Camera in PiP mode
It tells you the weather in your area
But what’s more, the Fire TV and its secret menu has more options. In the same bar of icons and functions there is a shortcut to the weather application, a news hub to keep up to date with the latest information on your TV or even a shortcut to Alexa in the option “Begin”.
In this section, what it does is offer access to a kind of tutorial to learn how to use Alexa using the remote control.
This way the Fire TV can become a control center for the connected home and all compatible devices.