Comcast's new Xfinity Large Button Voice Remote has a plethora of accessibility features.
In what the company hails as an “industry first” product, Philadelphia-based cable giant Comcast announced the Xfinity Large Button Voice Remote. The announcement was made in a press release published on Wednesday.
Comcast boasts its new remote, which is available free of charge to X1 and Xfinity customers via the Accessibility Support Center, blends accessible design and inclusive packaging to create a “breakthrough” experience that makes it easier than ever before for people with disabilities to access their favorite entertainment. The device was built for “users with mobility, dexterity, or vision impairments.”
At the heart of the remote’s design is voice control, which can be used to change the channel, access the system’s many accessibility features, and more. In addition, there’s a shortcut button that, when pressed, helps users access functionality such as a screen reader, larger text, and other accommodations. In fact, the buttons themselves are designed using high contrast colors and a large, bolded font to increase readability. In terms of physical motor skills, the remote includes a removable wrist strap, as well as a pull-tab battery compartment that helps make removing and inserting the batteries more accessible.
In a rarity, even the remote’s packaging is accessibly and inclusively designed. It features large font and Braille embossed right on the box. An audio-based setup process is meant to help someone pair the remote to their television in “less than a minute,” with haptic feedback alerting users when pairing has finished.
“For more than 60 years, Comcast has pioneered advancements in entertainment and connectivity and delivered industry-shaping experiences to customers,” said Comcast’s global chief product officer Fraser Stirling in a statement included in the press release. “Our longstanding commitment to accessibility has unlocked profound innovation across our portfolio time and time again—shaping everything we do from the way we design our products, to the content we create, to the experiences we deliver. Inclusive design, for us, is just better design.”
The remote was created alongside members of the disability community, with accessibility features and functionality were “top priorities.” Comcast credited New Horizons, an organization that provides people with physical disabilities housing and other social services, with participating in the research and testing phases of building of the remote. New Horizons chief executive Carol Fitzgerald said in a statement New Horizons is “very proud” to have played a role in making the device a reality, calling it a “truly a game-changing innovation.”
The Xfinity Large Button Voice Remote is available now.
