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The Xbox One wasn't supposed to need a remote control. That was the whole point, right? With its high-tech Kinect camera, we could just talk to it and tell it what to do. Remote controls were a thing of the past, a finally bygone relic of the 20th century! Except, well, not really.

A few weeks ago Microsoft released a "media remote" for the Xbox One. They sent one out for me to review, and I've been surprised at just how substantially it has improved the quality of my experience watching movies and TV shows on my Xbox One.

The remote works about the same as an Xbox One controller does. It has one four-way navigational pad, with a center button that functions more or less as the Xbox One's "A" button. It has an Xbox button in the middle to turn the console on and go to the home screen, and lets you hit play, pause, turn up the volume, fast-forward, rewind, turn the volume up, change the channel, etc. It doesn't have a number pad, so its functionality as a cable remote is limited, though you can still use it to navigate channels on cable TV.

The media remote significantly enhances the experience of using the Xbox One as an entertainment hub. That's for a few reasons:

I've always disliked turning on my controller before selecting a TV show or program to run. It's even worse when I need to pause a movie and the "Xbox, pause" isn't working for some reason. Pressing the middle button, waiting while the controller fires up and syncs, pressing the "A" button a few times before it's quite ready to go through it's a little thing that over time becomes pretty irritating. Unlike a controller the media remote, like most remote controls, is kind of just always on, so if you want to quickly pause or flip through channels without relying on Kinect, you can grab the media remote just like you would anything other remote.

It's also nice how, thanks to the Kinect's built-in IR blaster, the media remote lets me control the volume and muting on my audio system. I really don't like using the Kinect to do thissaying "Xbox, Volume Up" over and over again is no way to adjust your volumebut using a remote makes sense. The Xbox One media remote isn't quite a universal remote, but the Xbox One can control a lot of things, and the Media Remote controls the Xbox. So.

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Some people probably won't like the form-factor of the media remote, but I actually really dig it. It's very small and coated in a smooth, rubberized material that feels awfully nice in my hand. It has a rounded back that keeps it from sitting steadily on a table, which I'd imagine will be a point of contention for some but again, I don't mind it. The buttons are springy and the controller is at least water-resistant (it's doing fine after encountering some spilled beer in a coffee table mishap). The controls are all backlit, and making it cool-looking and easy to read in a darkened room. The remote is understated and sleek in a way that the Xbox One itself certainly isn't, and fits right in with my other remote controls.

This is another one where your mileage may vary, but I rarely use the Xbox One's Smartglass app to actually control my Xbox One. It still feels gimmicky, slow, and largely unnecessary. Smartglass takes too longUnlock my phone, open up the app, and use the odd touchscreen controls to do things. Easier to just use a controller, and that doesn't drain my phone's battery. The media remote is much more direct and convenient, more evidence that for all the new tricks our smartphones can do, dedicated devices are still usually easier to use.

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The Xbox One's Media Remote Is Surprisingly Great