smart home dashboard: Amazon is bringing Smart Home Dashboard and several new features to Fire TV – Times of India

Amazon is adding new features and functionalities to its Fire TV streaming devices and Fire OS powered smart TVs. The most notable feature is the new Smart Home Dashboard which is a smart home hub interface similar to what we have already seen on Fire tablets and Echo Show smart displays.
The Smart Home Dashboard includes quick toggles for smart home devices such as lights, plugs, switches that are connected with Alexa. Along with that the dashboard also includes a dedicated section for smart cameras with dedicated thumbnails. Although, users need to click on those thumbnails to start the live video footage from the cameras.
The idea of integrating smart home dashboard into TVs isn’t new. Samsung already offers the SmartThings dashboard, Xiaomi too has Mi Home integration and same applies to LG ThinQ. On Fire TV devices, users only had the option to control smart home devices via voice commands and now with the new dashboard, users can easily do that using the Alexa Voice remote.
Amazon has also confirmed that new features like smart home groups, thermostats will be added to the dashboard next year.
Apart from the new Smart Home Dashboard, the company has also added a new Alexa Shortcut Panel that is a part of Alexa voice command interface which appears on the screen when the Alexa button is pressed on the remote.
The section includes smart home controls, news, local video library and weather details.
The features are currently rolling out in the US and Canada and the company hasn’t said anything about the global roll out as of now.