Review Roku Voice Remote Pro: Affordable upgrade that needs a smarter assistant

Roku is new Voice Remote Pro is the company’s biggest upgrade in recent years to its controller. Typically, Roku retains much of the same look as the company’s other remotes, but the $ 30 accessory has some big improvements under the hood – especially a mid-field microphone for voice control and a rechargeable battery.

Both features are excellent paper additions. The new microphone allows the ability to simply say “Hey Roku, find my remote” to click to make a sound from wherever you are – a game changer for those who are constantly rummaging through sofa cushions. Roku remotes can quickly chew on batteries, and the ability to recharge means you no longer have to keep a spare AA. And Roku’s other extras, namely headphone jack for private listening and programmable shortcut keys, are as welcome as ever.

On the other hand, the remote control still has work to do, especially when it comes to executing voice commands. If you like to use voice instead of buttons, especially if you’re used to the flexibility of Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, Roku’s assistant may seem a bit silly. The new remote control has a lot of advantages and offers a cheap way to improve your Roku TV or streaming device, but I don’t recommend it as a “mandatory” Roku upgrade.

After spending the last few days testing the new remote control, here’s what is good, bad and all you need to know if you are thinking of offering a small home theater at home.

Read more: Update the Roku remote control with voice control, headphone jack and more

Good: convenience is key

I’m a fan of the simplicity of Roku controllers, which work very well with the company’s easy-to-use software. Setting up this remote is surprisingly fairly simple, go to “Remote control and devices” in Settings on Roku and follow the on-screen instructions after choosing “Set up a new device”.

For those used to using one of the company’s “enhanced” remote controls (also a $ 30 accessory or included in the Roku Ultra box), the front looks the same. There is a regular range of power buttons, home, back and a top microphone with a directional buffer and regular jump back, microphone, star and fast play / scroll / fast forward below.

Below this are the two customizable shortcut keys labeled “1” and “2” that can be configured to open applications, switch inputs (on a Roku TV), or perform tasks such as skipping a specific show. You can set this up by saying a voice command and then pressing and holding one of the two buttons. Roku’s famous four streaming shortcuts are at the bottom (for me and the early versions of this remote, which is Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu and Sling TV. Roku is in the process of switching the Sling button to one for Apple TV Plus).

Only when you turn to the left do you begin to see something new: a switch to turn on a hands-free mid-field microphone above the 3.5mm headphone jack. With a range of about 12 feet, the microphone did a nice job in my fairly quiet apartment, hearing my commands to turn on the TV, switch inputs, turn down the volume, and play shows. He even heard me on a TV in full blast.

I liked the remote search feature and I hope Roku and others make it a standard feature in the future. For me it is by far the most convincing part of this product, with the saying of that simple “Hey Roku, find my remote” triggering a sound from the rear speaker of the remote control.

Even with the remote buried under a pile of clothes and a Yankees game echoing from the TV, I managed to make the remote respond and start beeping, even if the speaker in that scenario is a little weak. You may want to use the Roku app on a phone to turn off your TV if you feel compelled to search.

The rechargeable battery is also pleasant and for those who find themselves frequently changing batteries, this aspect could quickly justify the price of 30 USD. Roku says it should take about two months, with a full charge lasting two to three hours. I couldn’t test the battery life in a few days with the remote control.

The bad guy: He’s not smart enough

Although Roku has added some nice features to Voice Remote Pro, it is not without its flaws.

First, the obvious: use micro-USB for recharging. Once the default charging standard for BlackBerry, Galaxys and almost anything small, rechargeable and non-Apple, if this remote came out a few years ago, this port would have been a nice addition. In an increasingly popular 2021 world with USB-C? It’s a big miss, even if Roku includes a cable in the box.

I can understand Roku keeping micro-USB on small sticks and streamers, devices meant to be just connected to the TV and left alone. With a remote control that you should use for years, the choice to go with a standard that is becoming more and more obsolete with each passing day – especially when its successor is so readily available – simply not makes sense. It requires people to keep another special cable a few times a year when you need to charge this device, as opposed to going with the cable, they probably already need to charge their phones, tablets or computers.

However, Voice Remote Pro really disappointed me, it’s in Roku’s voice assistant. While the company plays nicely with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri to control the operating system with this remote control, the company relies on its own voice assistant. Although functional for playing shows or movies, I found it much less reliable and significantly more limited than using Alexa or Google Assistant. You can’t adjust to a specific live TV channel on a service like YouTube TV or Sling TV, and you can’t control smart devices in your home, such as lights.

Asking for seemingly simple requests, such as showtimes, sports scores, or weather, is also not allowed. When asked for the weather, an indicator said that the functionality “is not yet accepted”, suggesting that it could come at some point.

Switching inputs must also be very specific and clear. Switching to cable TV requires saying “Hey Roku, go to cable TV” I tried to say “Hey Roku, go to TV” and “Hey Roku, go to cable”, but none worked the same way I wanted to – the latter was just looking for an application called AnthymTV, which has “cable” in its description.

When I asked to play The Beatles or Taylor Swift, the software insisted on opening Pandora, although I did not install the application. Roku says you need to set up which music provider you want for voice commands on its website (there’s no way to do this on Roku itself), but these options are currently limited to Pandora, iHeartRadio and TuneIn. If you don’t use any of these services (I have Spotify on Roku), you’re out of luck now.

Unlike the Google Assistant on a smart speaker, which plays a sound when you say “OK, Google”, you won’t hear a sound that warns you that the Roku remote is listening when your TV is turned off. (A Roku TV will continue with a small notification in the corner to alert you that it’s listening, but the screen on a Samsung TV I tried went dark Even if Roku is listening.)

Roku says this is because it’s based on sound TV speakers – but given the always-on nature of this remote, it’s a good idea to have sound from the remote speaker.

Other observations

• Requesting a Roku TV to play a show or movie, such as WandaVision on Disney Plus, will not open the show immediately, even if you have profiles set up. Although there is no way to set a default profile, you can say “Hey Roku, OK” to choose the highlighted option and get streaming.
• Unlike its Ultra cassettes, there are no headphones in the box. It’s not a big deal, but it would have been a nice gesture.
• Once, the TV turned on randomly when it seemed that nothing had been said and did its own search for the Alchemist.
• I had trouble opening the MLB application with voice, the wizard either does not recognize the command or searches for unrelated things.
• There is no battery life indicator on the home screen: check by saying “Hey Roku, tell me my battery level” or by accessing Remote control and devices section in settings. Roku says that “the battery level will also occasionally flash in the upper right of the screen when it is low”, with indicators that will appear briefly when it drops to 75%, 50%, 25% and “more persistent below it”.