Ever since its announcement, the Xbox One has been more than just a video games console. Even with the latest Phil Spencer led focus on ‘games, games, games’, the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of owners will now use Xbox Music, Xbox Video, Youtube, play Blurays or route their cable TV at some point through Microsoft’s latest box of fun.

The thing is, with all these there are only two ways to control the goings on. You can sit there happily shouting at your console and hope that the power of Kinect picks up your voice accurately enough or you can sit with your Xbox One controller fired up and waste a couple of AA batteries during the process.

Or you could get hold of an Xbox One Media Remote just like Protek have dropped into the market.

Weighing a measly 85g, and coming in at approximately half the size of a usual TV remote, the Protek Media Remote for Xbox One is happy to sit there calmly minding its own business until you need it at a seconds notice, at which time it’s ready to pounce and as long as you have line of sight to your console, you’ll be able to use it for all the usual music/video forwarding, rewinding and playing. You’ll also be able to put it go good use at those lazy times when you’re just sat on the sofa flicking through the Xbox One Games Store or checking out your friends latest videos on your activity feed as the inclusion of some directional buttons means it’s fully compatible with everything on the One dashboard.

You’ll find it has all the buttons you’ll ever need on a remote including a very handy one that takes you directly to your tv listings – from which you can instantly check out your desired channel. A numerical keypad would have been a nice addition in this instance but it’s not a necessity and without it, Protek have got the remote down to a decent size. With a curved back that slides off to reveal the battery compartment (2 x AAA batteries), it fits nicely in the palm of your hand and can be operated easily with just the one hand. As with most remotes, I’d expect months and possibly even years of power to come from one set of batteries, but that is obviously something only really long term use can determine.

Range wise we’ve tested it up to around 15ft away from the console and it works fine, but as previously mentioned, you will need that all important line of sight. The remote does on occasions need a good hard press of the soft rubbery buttons (especially the up and down arrow buttons for some reason), but on the most part, inputs are recognised well as long as the button is pressed down firmly. I’ve noticed issues with the Xbox One refusing to take commands whenever you hit the buttons slightly on the side and this can be ever so annoying. It’s not as precise in it’s movie navigation as say a Sky+ remote and its this lack of responsiveness that is the only downside to the Protek device, but as they are focusing on ‘straightforward and affordable’ products, this is to be half expected.

At the end of the day, the Protek Media Remote for Xbox One is just that…..a bog standard remote. If however you’re fully encased in the Xbox way of life and subscribe to Xbox music, watch Xbox videos and purchase tv shows from the Xbox store, then you could do a lot worse than pick up the Protek media remote, especially if you are one of those new breed of Kinect-less Xbox One owners.

The Protek Xbox One Media Remote may seem the most simplest of kit, but it fills a void that you probably never realised needed filling and at only £7.99 from Amazon, it’s less than half the price of the official Microsoft offering, albeit probably not quite as responsive.

It’s most definitely a case of ‘you get what you pay for’.

What’s in the box?

1 x Protek Media Remote

Dimensions:

Length 128mm

Width 49mm

Depth 20mm

Weight 85g

Buttons:

Xbox Guide button (titled Menu)

Xbox View button

Xbox Menu button

Navigational arrows

Enter button

Back button

Volume Controls

Channel Controls

Mute

Play/pause/stop/fastforward/rewind/chapterskip

Protek also have an Xbox One Play and Charge Kit and Xbox One Pro Thumb Sticks available. Check our thoughts by hitting those links.