I can now talk to my TV remote {introducing: the new Xfinity X1 remote, and Xfinity Share}



*Disclosure: I have an ongoing relationship with Xfinity where I receive services at a discounted rate. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

Last Wednesday night, I headed to the Xfinity store in Plymouth, MI to learn more about the company's newest and greatest, and what they've come up with is pretty cool.

First off, the new remote: in the picture above, you'll see there's a button with a blue microphone symbol. You can now hold down that button, say a command or a question, release the button, and have your TV  screen change. It's kind of like Siri but for your TV!

Some examples that you can say to the remote are:

  • Changing the channel: “Watch ESPN”
  • Searching for movies or shows: “The Walking Dead”
  • Browsing Xfinity On Demand: “Show me kids movies”
  • Setting a recording: “Record Saturday Night Live”
  • Finding sports teams, games and events: “When do the Phillies play?”
  • Getting recommendations or seeing what’s popular on TV right now: “What’s trending?”

I created an Instagram video (forgive the fast talking, IG only gives you 15 seconds for videos) and a Periscope about the remote, and it was fun to play around with. 

A video posted by Liz Parker (@yesnofilms) on


I brought up a list of the AFI's Top 100 movie quotes and tested a few out on the remote, and it did quite well - it recognized most of them. In the store, we played around with the remote as well, and it also recognized most. You can also tweet @ComcastMI if there's a quote that you would like the remote to know that it currently does not know, which is pretty cool.

The other new Xfinity feature we learned about is the Xfinity Share. I will say that to use this, you must be a voice (phone), television, AND internet customer with Xfinity (aka the Triple Play package), which I am currently not (just TV and internet), so that's something to keep in mind.


Xfinity Share functions similarly to FaceTime, but not everyone has an Apple product to use that. Example: let's say you're attending your child's birthday party, and their grandparents live a few states over. If both you and the grandparents have Xfinity, you can live-record the party and send it to them, and they can then watch it, live, on any Xfinity device in the house. You can even watch it on your cell phone, if you aren't currently at home.


Though I don't FaceTime or Skype much, to me this is a pretty cool feature because not everyone can be everywhere at every time, if that makes sense. I've been enjoying the new app from Twitter, called Periscope, for that same reason: you get to see something, LIVE, that you normally wouldn't be able to see. 

Xfinity Share will also be getting more cool features later on in 2015, such as sharing content with anyone (sending a URL via email), sharing content with up to 5 people at the same time, being able to stop/pause/rewind the live stream, and being able to store the live stream in the X1 Photos app.

If you're currently a Triple Play package customer, click here to get more detailed instructions on how to use the new Xfinity Share feature. 


What kinds of things would you use the new Xfinity remote for, and/or what types of videos would you like to live stream over Xfinity Share?

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