• 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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          12 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