• zarathustrad@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      It’s for searching (so you don’t have to type words on a virtual key pad with a remote with no alpha-numeric key pad).

      It would actually be OK, if they all had a hardware switch that cut power to the mic, but I doubt that how they work.

      • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Having the mic on the remote always on and streaming back to the host would drain the battery in about a day.

        • zarathustrad@lemmy.world
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          10 hours ago

          I don’t know how they work but I would assume that the mic is not always streaming, as you say it can’t be due to battery.

          I do not feel comfortable to assume that there is ZERO possibility that the mic can be made to stream without the physical button pressed …

          … unless I did the work to understand how it’s wired and controlled, something I don’t care to do. So I’ll just assume they are unsafe spy devices until proven otherwise.

          • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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            11 hours ago

            I recall it being about a day when I worked on those exact devices. For comparison, my tiny Bluetooth earpiece can run for about six hours.

      • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        12 hours ago

        Pretty sure the Roku remote went to that. Physical button to turn on off it listening for hey Roku commands, but the physical button could instigate it to listen as well. Haven’t ever cared to look into them though, so it could be a lie

    • shynoise@beehaw.org
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      13 hours ago

      How often are you switching channels these days??

      It’s to search instead of using the on-screen keyboard via remote.

    • ElJefe@lemmy.ca
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      14 hours ago

      Streaming services have a search feature, but you have to scroll through each letter of the alphabet to spell out whatever you’re looking for. The microphone does away with both this process, and privacy.

      • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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        13 hours ago

        It would be okay if it was local, and a simple voice recognition could work. Smart phones have that ability when the connection isn’t present. But they’re going to make it cloud driven because that’s easier and opens up more “features”.