The old Fios TV remote had a separate "Favorites" button. The new one has removed that button. I recognize that this was a design attempt to simplify the button configuration of the remote. It seems that Verizon has incorporated the "Favorites" function into the "Guide" function, which does have its own button on the new remote. What I discovered is that the new "Favorites" function is now treated like a "Filtered Guide" function. By appropriate configuration of the TV guide, you can change the way the Guide button works. With the 'Favorites" filter configured into the guide, when depressing the "Guide" button, you now get a filtered Guide showing the "Favorites" channels that have been configured previously instead of the complete TV guide of all channels. Now the "Guide" button works exactly the same as the "Favorites" button that was on the old remote (in the old remote "Favorites" brought up a filtered Guide and then you selected the favorite channel in that filtered guide).
This certainly simplifies the new remote without needing separate buttons for full Guide and favorites (filtered) guide. However, in this new design, you lose a very powerful capability that was present in the old remote. I believe we users want both a "full guide" and "filtered/favorites guide" function SIMULTANEOUSLY in the remote. It should not be one or the other as it is in the new remote. The reason is that even with a "Favorites" configuration, the user still wants to AT THE SAME TIME have a "full TV Guide" function. For example, I sometimes go to a non-favorite channel (e.g., a movie channel I occasionally view) and am curious what set of movies over the next couple hours are on the movie program for that channel. In the old remote I simply press the "Guide" button (i.e. for full Guide) while I am on the occasional movie channel to get my programming information.
However, with the new remote, it is either full Guide or filtered/favorites Guide for a single Guide button. But you get either one or the other. You can go back and forth in function with the new remote. However, you have to reconfigure the Guide by turning on and off the Favorites filter to switch between the full and filtered functions. This is inconvenient because there is only one "Guide" button.
This is the reason why a "Guide" button along with a new SEPARATE "Favorites" button is needed in the new Fios TV remote.
