Amazon “Fire TV” remotes - DESIGNED to be thrown away!

[eti]

I have two Amazon “Fire TV” devices. They work, JUST…. but they run THE worst variant of the already horrendous software bodge OS ever, Android. I digress…

Amazon “Fire TV” remotes - DESIGNED to be thrown away! Yes, truly the most disgusting example of a total lack of awareness on the behalf of Amazon, that things need to be REPAIRED and not tossed and replaced. Trying to open one of their “Voice remote”  remotes, demonstrates just HOW loudly and brazenly they silently shout “Hah, screw you, buy a new one!” When you discover the sheer amount of superglue used to seal the thing shut, and to add insult to injury, when you get it open you find (amongst fragments of torn remote control parts) that they SCREWED THE PCB IN!!

Why?!!!! Morons.

[SilverSolder]

Throwaway consumer electronics is becoming the norm, sadly.

[MrMobodies]

Did that just stopped working?

I have never known a remote to stop working ever.

This is why I refuse to buy new phones.

Many of them have that glue in there and I tend to get a bit concerned that I might cut a ribbon or something when trying to open it up to replace stuff.

[Bud]

I have two Amazon “Fire TV” devices. They work, JUST…. but they run THE worst variant of the already horrendous software bodge OS ever, Android. I digress…

Amazon “Fire TV” remotes - DESIGNED to be thrown away! Yes, truly the most disgusting example of a total lack of awareness on the behalf of Amazon, that things need to be REPAIRED and not tossed and replaced. Trying to open one of their “Voice remote”  remotes, demonstrates just HOW loudly and brazenly they silently shout “Hah, screw you, buy a new one!” When you discover the sheer amount of superglue used to seal the thing shut, and to add insult to injury, when you get it open you find (amongst fragments of torn remote control parts) that they SCREWED THE PCB IN!!

Why?!!!! Morons.

Pictures or it did not happen! 

[Rick Law]

Did that just stopped working?

I have never known a remote to stop working ever.

This is why I refuse to buy new phones.

Many of them have that glue in there and I tend to get a bit concerned that I might cut a ribbon or something when trying to open it up to replace stuff.

I am a "lucky guy", I got a rare TV remotes that failed...

My Auria TV remote failed in just a few months after purchase.  It was "randomly" failing.  It took me a while to figure out the pattern: Upon inserting battery (power up the remote), it works for a few presses then it stops working.  Pull out the battery, count to 10, and reinsert for a few more key presses until the next cycle.

I am now using a learning remote.  It was painful "teaching" the learning remote with the right codes.   (painful = many times of battery pulling and reinsertion).

[eti]

I have two Amazon “Fire TV” devices. They work, JUST…. but they run THE worst variant of the already horrendous software bodge OS ever, Android. I digress…

Amazon “Fire TV” remotes - DESIGNED to be thrown away! Yes, truly the most disgusting example of a total lack of awareness on the behalf of Amazon, that things need to be REPAIRED and not tossed and replaced. Trying to open one of their “Voice remote”  remotes, demonstrates just HOW loudly and brazenly they silently shout “Hah, screw you, buy a new one!” When you discover the sheer amount of superglue used to seal the thing shut, and to add insult to injury, when you get it open you find (amongst fragments of torn remote control parts) that they SCREWED THE PCB IN!!

Why?!!!! Morons.

Pictures or it did not happen! 

It happened. See photo .

[tooki]

There are numerous videos and galleries of other people opening those without shredding them to bits like you did. So despite them being glued, something about your technique sucked.

Remote controls are, generally speaking, among the most reliable pieces of electronics we use, and simultaneously one of the cheapest to manufacture.

Labor costs time. Suppose it takes 30 minutes to repair a remote control (when you include diagnosis, repair, retesting, paperwork, etc). A typical going rate for electronics repair in a developed country might be around $100/hr. So that’s $50 in labor right there. Who in their right mind would pay that when a brand new one costs that much or less??

They’re not morons for not worrying about repairability on a product that almost never fails, and stands a nearly 0% chance of being repaired if it does.

There are some truly egregious instances of wasteful non-repairability, but this truly does not qualify.

[Martin Miranda]

why are they using metal dome switches with rubber.... 

[edavid]

For once I agree with an eti rant. If they are going to make them so difficult to repair, they should sell replacements for a reasonable price.  It's usually cheaper to buy a complete Fire TV Stick than a replacement remote (right now the remotes cost $30).  It should be possible to send in a broken remote and $10 and get a new one back.

Also, while I like the fact that they use RF rather than IR, I am mystified by the way the WiFi Direct implementation insists on using the same WiFi channel that the Fire TV Stick is connecting on.  Is there some reason why that's not as stupid as it seems?

[wraper]

Amazon “Fire TV” remotes - DESIGNED to be thrown away!

No, this rather shows your hands are growing straight from an ass.  Not the best video. But preheating it a bit will make any adhesive easy to release.

[Rick Law]

...
Labor costs time. Suppose it takes 30 minutes to repair a remote control (when you include diagnosis, repair, retesting, paperwork, etc). A typical going rate for electronics repair in a developed country might be around $100/hr. So that’s $50 in labor right there. Who in their right mind would pay that when a brand new one costs that much or less??

They’re not morons for not worrying about repairability on a product that almost never fails, and stands a nearly 0% chance of being repaired if it does.

There are some truly egregious instances of wasteful non-repairability, but this truly does not qualify.

You are certainly right about the labor cost and chance of repair, but, for the kinds of remotes included with a system, it may have many device-specific keys that is not available on a generic replacement universal remote.

eBay used to be a good place to buy a used remote for a device - I had purchased a few, one for a Samsung TV, and two for WD TV-live.  These days, for whatever reason, I don't see much of those used remotes on sale at eBay anymore.

So, lucky for me that my remote's failure was not a 100% failure (works for a few keys immediately after battery removal and reinsertion), I could use a learning remote to learn the keys.  Otherwise I am left with finding a remote for a specific device or repair to regain all remote features.  Reasonably priced replacement remotes from OEM is probably the best choice.

[Sal Ammoniac]

Forget the remotes... Amazon Fire TV devices themselves are designed to be thrown away!

This is how it works: Amazon designs and sells a Fire TV device, like the Cube. It mostly works fine and the UI is responsive. They then come out with a series of newer models with updated, faster CPUs and more RAM. They add new features to the software that takes advantage of the increased CPU power and additional RAM... But now the older devices run like dogs and the UI is slow and laggy and nearly unusable. The only viable solution is to upgrade to the latest Fire TV device.

Rather than continuing on the Fire TV treadmill, I've switched to a Nvidia Shield TV Pro. Hopefully it won't have the planned obsolescence issue Fire TV does.

[edavid]

This is how it works: Amazon designs and sells a Fire TV device, like the Cube. It mostly works fine and the UI is responsive. They then come out with a series of newer models with updated, faster CPUs and more RAM. They add new features to the software that takes advantage of the increased CPU power and additional RAM... But now the older devices run like dogs and the UI is slow and laggy and nearly unusable. The only viable solution is to upgrade to the latest Fire TV device.

I am still using a Fire TV Stick from 2018, and I haven't noticed any performance problems in the UI or any of the streaming apps that I use.  Of course it's connected to a 720p TV 

[Sal Ammoniac]

This is how it works: Amazon designs and sells a Fire TV device, like the Cube. It mostly works fine and the UI is responsive. They then come out with a series of newer models with updated, faster CPUs and more RAM. They add new features to the software that takes advantage of the increased CPU power and additional RAM... But now the older devices run like dogs and the UI is slow and laggy and nearly unusable. The only viable solution is to upgrade to the latest Fire TV device.

I am still using a Fire TV Stick from 2018, and I haven't noticed any performance problems in the UI or any of the streaming apps that I use.  Of course it's connected to a 720p TV 

You're lucky. I had a Fire TV Cube about two years old that gradually got slower and more laggy with each new FW update until I ditched it for the Shield Pro. The last straw was the complete UI overhaul that came out a few months ago that was very poorly designed and implemented. It's almost like they hired an expert on user experience to design their new UI and then did the exact opposite of what he recommended. And then there's all the bugs and crashes... 

[SilverSolder]

Forget the remotes... Amazon Fire TV devices themselves are designed to be thrown away!

This is how it works: Amazon designs and sells a Fire TV device, like the Cube. It mostly works fine and the UI is responsive. They then come out with a series of newer models with updated, faster CPUs and more RAM. They add new features to the software that takes advantage of the increased CPU power and additional RAM... But now the older devices run like dogs and the UI is slow and laggy and nearly unusable. The only viable solution is to upgrade to the latest Fire TV device.

Rather than continuing on the Fire TV treadmill, I've switched to a Nvidia Shield TV Pro. Hopefully it won't have the planned obsolescence issue Fire TV does.

That sounds like the business model for smartphones too...    fill them with "updates" that destroy them,  keep the cycle of "improvements" going...

[eti]

There are numerous videos and galleries of other people opening those without shredding them to bits like you did. So despite them being glued, something about your technique sucked.

Remote controls are, generally speaking, among the most reliable pieces of electronics we use, and simultaneously one of the cheapest to manufacture.

Labor costs time. Suppose it takes 30 minutes to repair a remote control (when you include diagnosis, repair, retesting, paperwork, etc). A typical going rate for electronics repair in a developed country might be around $100/hr. So that’s $50 in labor right there. Who in their right mind would pay that when a brand new one costs that much or less??

They’re not morons for not worrying about repairability on a product that almost never fails, and stands a nearly 0% chance of being repaired if it does.

There are some truly egregious instances of wasteful non-repairability, but this truly does not qualify.

You clearly lack the ghastly experience of having owned a fire tv & remote. It’s the biggest piece of junk ever, being buggy, laggy, battery draining, tactile keys go mushy very quickly, the fire tv stops responding, the remote will randomly decide to oscillate-key press (repeats play/pause/play/pause infinitely, many many times a second until you press it again to break it out of the loop.

Another demonstration of Amazon being utterly clueless on how to design products. They’re utterly ghastly.

[eti]

This is how it works: Amazon designs and sells a Fire TV device, like the Cube. It mostly works fine and the UI is responsive. They then come out with a series of newer models with updated, faster CPUs and more RAM. They add new features to the software that takes advantage of the increased CPU power and additional RAM... But now the older devices run like dogs and the UI is slow and laggy and nearly unusable. The only viable solution is to upgrade to the latest Fire TV device.

I am still using a Fire TV Stick from 2018, and I haven't noticed any performance problems in the UI or any of the streaming apps that I use.  Of course it's connected to a 720p TV 

You're lucky. I had a Fire TV Cube about two years old that gradually got slower and more laggy with each new FW update until I ditched it for the Shield Pro. The last straw was the complete UI overhaul that came out a few months ago that was very poorly designed and implemented. It's almost like they hired an expert on user experience to design their new UI and then did the exact opposite of what he recommended. And then there's all the bugs and crashes... 

Yeah, the new UI (it’s different just for the sake of being different!) is such an utter mess.

[eti]

why are they using metal dome switches with rubber.... 

Because they’re Amazon, the same brainless wonders that did this (and there’s countless more examples of this idiocy): https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/its-clearly-ridiculous-amazon-slammed-20285894

[eti]

Did that just stopped working?

I have never known a remote to stop working ever.

With respect, there’s ~7BN people on earth, and you’re a sample count of ONE person. I agree that IR remotes are very reliable on the whole, but even then I’ve got an LG which is kept immaculately clean, and yet the buttons of which decide to stop being tactile, or responding.

[edavid]

You clearly lack the ghastly experience of having owned a fire tv & remote. It’s the biggest piece of junk ever, being buggy, laggy, battery draining, tactile keys go mushy very quickly, the fire tv stops responding, the remote will randomly decide to oscillate-key press (repeats play/pause/play/pause infinitely, many many times a second until you press it again to break it out of the loop.

I guess I am lucky, I've never really had those problems.  I've had one Fire TV stick randomly complain it's not paired to the remote, even though the remote still works    Otherwise they've been pretty solid, definitely above average for consumer electronics.  I love that CEC works well, even with some pretty crappy TVs.  Voice control often works too.

[NiHaoMike]

Rather than continuing on the Fire TV treadmill, I've switched to a Nvidia Shield TV Pro. Hopefully it won't have the planned obsolescence issue Fire TV does.

I'm disappointed Nvidia haven't upgraded it by much compared to the original in 2015. Mainly just a slightly faster version of the same CPU, 3GB RAM while the much cheaper Raspberry Pi 4 is available with 8GB.

I would say that a PC would be the most future proof, although obviously for a higher budget. Would be an interesting challenge to see how much it would cost to build a PC (using only new parts) with performance comparable to a Shield TV. Back when the original Shield TV was new, building a PC with equivalent performance would be a lot more expensive. I'd be surprised if that's still the case nowadays.

[SilverSolder]

Rather than continuing on the Fire TV treadmill, I've switched to a Nvidia Shield TV Pro. Hopefully it won't have the planned obsolescence issue Fire TV does.

I'm disappointed Nvidia haven't upgraded it by much compared to the original in 2015. Mainly just a slightly faster version of the same CPU, 3GB RAM while the much cheaper Raspberry Pi 4 is available with 8GB.

I would say that a PC would be the most future proof, although obviously for a higher budget. Would be an interesting challenge to see how much it would cost to build a PC (using only new parts) with performance comparable to a Shield TV. Back when the original Shield TV was new, building a PC with equivalent performance would be a lot more expensive. I'd be surprised if that's still the case nowadays.

How high performance does it need to be to show TV content though?   I've always used middling PC builds to run projectors etc. (playing dvd and BluRay rips) and it was a pretty good experience overall...

[MrMobodies]

Did that just stopped working?

I have never known a remote to stop working ever.

With respect, there’s ~7BN people on earth, and you’re a sample count of ONE person. I agree that IR remotes are very reliable on the whole, but even then I’ve got an LG which is kept immaculately clean, and yet the buttons of which decide to stop being tactile, or responding.

Aaah I have seen some remotes in the past say residential homes and living accommodations where some buttons didn't work too well obviously wear and tear and some had been dropped/ labels worn off and filthy condition but never came across one that stopped working in good condition and looked aftered.

Here's a fault you might know about:


I brought a One4all LCD remote like the one above in 2005. I really liked and it worked fine for about a year but one day when it went flat so I changed the batteries. Then it kept on draining them every two weeks and eventually a week. I tried different AA batteries, Duracell, Panasonic and some rechargeables. I can't remember what I did with it but I lost it at some point.

Obviously something in the circuit started to draw a lot more power.
Any ideas how that could suddenly happen?

[Monkeh]

With respect, there’s ~7BN people on earth, and you’re a sample count of ONE person.

Well now, you have something in common!

It never ceases to amaze me how you expect top notch quality and design for repairability out of bargain basement loss-leading products.

[eti]

With respect, there’s ~7BN people on earth, and you’re a sample count of ONE person.

Well now, you have something in common!

It never ceases to amaze me how you expect top notch quality and design for repairability out of bargain basement loss-leading products.

Setting up a straw man does nothing. I expect it TO WORK, it’s not asking much.