What Are The Buttons On The Fire TV Cube?
By Trae Jacobs,
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With technology going through different innovations, Amazon found a way of combining the power of streaming services with their famous Alexa technology into a Fire TV Cube. Although you can interact with the Cube using a remote control, there are some buttons on the device to aid with this task as well.
Fire TV Cube has four buttons located at the top. They include:
- Microphone
- Action
- Volume up
- Volume down
Although they’re not named, the buttons have symbols on them to indicate their purpose. They’re also large enough for easy accessibility.
That’s not all, as you still need to know how the microphone and action buttons work and how to troubleshoot the Cube if the buttons are not responsive, which you will learn if you read on.
How Do the Buttons On the Fire TV Cube Work?
Video streaming is the main thing, with Amazon Fire TV Cube being among the best streaming technology in existence. Manual operation is vital even for sophisticated devices like the Fire TV Cube, and that’s why it comes equipped with four buttons to serve this purpose.
The buttons are located at the top of the device, forming an inverted square shape. The buttons are large enough to allow all finger sizes to access them. They also come with clear labels that help you to know the function of each one.
The volume up button has a ‘plus’ (+) symbol, while the volume down button has a ‘negative’ (-) symbol. The ‘Action’ button has a small white dot on it, with the microphone button having a crossed circle as a symbol.
The symbols are translucent, allowing light to pass through them to ensure the buttons are visible even when the room is dark. This way, you can differentiate the buttons in the dark, but only when the device is powered on.
What are the Purposes of Each Button?
The volume buttons are self-explanatory, as they allow you to dictate the sound volume. However, the trick lies in the other two buttons, as they each have a distinct role in how the device operates.
The action button has several functions depending on how long you press the button. Such functions include:
- Activating Alexa – It works the same way as saying the Alexa activation word. Make sure you don’t press the button for too long, or you’ll miss the intent.
- Shutting down the device – Pressing the action button for close to 10 seconds will present you with an alternative way of powering down the Fire TV Cube.
The microphone button helps deactivate the Cube’s microphone, which comes in handy if you don’t want to use the Alexa functionality. By turning off the microphone, the Cube only functions as a streaming device without any Alexa assistance.
What to Do When the Fire TV Cube’s Buttons are Unresponsive
Fire TV Cube might be an impressive device second to none, but that doesn’t mean it cannot run into some problems. Besides the software bugs, the buttons might also become unresponsive, which might end up frustrating you more. Before calling support to complain about the problem, it’s best to try some troubleshooting solutions. The technical support will suggest these steps anyway, so knowing about them beforehand would save you time and frustration.
The first and most common action that many people take is to switch the device off. You can do this by pressing the ‘Action’ button for close to ten seconds until it goes off or by unplugging the power cable from the device. Give it some time, maybe 60 seconds, before powering it back on. Sometimes the unresponsiveness is caused by a software bug, and restarting the device will help fix this problem.
If you’ve restarted the Cube, but the buttons are still unresponsive, it’s time to try another troubleshooting fix. You’ll have to press two buttons together this time: the volume down and the mute buttons. Press these buttons down together for 40 seconds until you notice the light flashing blue. Give the device a few seconds to come back online, and the buttons should be working just fine.
However, if these two troubleshooting methods don’t work, it’s time to call customer support to inquire about technical help. Such a problem might be caused by malfunctioning hardware that needs replacing. No matter what you do, never open up the device, as doing so will void the warranty.
Outro
Fire TV Cube is one of the best streaming devices we have today. It comes equipped with four buttons located at the top. You can use these buttons to control the volume, mute the microphone, or activate Alexa. Long pressing the ‘Action’ button helps to shut down the device. Try switching off the device or pressing the volume down and mute buttons to troubleshoot a Cube with unresponsive buttons. If all fails, contact customer support to get professional help.