Universal Remote's Days Are Numbered

theodp writes "While the universal remote has served humanity with distinction, its days are numbered, and your smartphone is to blame. Whether you want to control your music, your television or your PowerPoint presentation, there's probably a solution using your phone. Try as it might, the universal remote simply can't navigate the digital world the way the smartphone can — it's a lot easier to put the remote's abilities in the smartphone than vice versa."

Swell

[KwKSilver]

Now I'm going to need a $300.00 "smartphone" to turn on my TV, radio etc? One which will be reporting on everything I do and where I do it? (Guess that's what really makes it smart-never mind if they don't now, they will, they will. Fuck this bullcrap. George Orwell must be spinning in his grave at relativistic speeds.

Re:Yeah..

[MichaelSmith]

We have a voice recognition system where I work. In the intended environment it works fine but when we took it to a trade show to do demonstrations we found that it copes badly with background noise.

So I wouldn't want to use one to trigger the mute function.

It will die, but not at the hands of smartphones

[jrothwell97]

The universal remote (which, I must add before we go any further, is an evil invention which must die) will become obsolete anyway because all entertainment functions will be condensed into one machine (Apple TV, MythTV PC, HTPC etc.) So the scenario will go something like this:

1. User finishes his work on his computer (for argument's sake, let's say a 24" iMac.)
2. He folds the chair away and sits on the sofa in front of the machine. Digs out the included remote from down the side of the cushions, hits button on it. Machine switches to Front Row.
3. User slips in DVD/Blu-Ray video, or plays a downloaded video from iTunes (*other online video stores are available).
4. User switches to the TV tuner, watches synchronous TV (can also pause it and rewind it for far longer than the 15 minutes feeble PVRs of today, due to the fact that PCs have faster and larger HDDs allowing for speedier buffering). By the way, it's also in HD, otherwise it looks crap on the lovely big display.

THAT is the future. No faffing about with smartphonesâ"one remote controls one machine.

One remote to rule them all?

[fragMasterFlash]

With projects like the JP1 forum [hifi-remote.com] turning universal remotes into the Swiss army knife of the 21st century I hardly think the will meet their technological demise any time soon. I would rather bet my $0.02 that the killer device control app for smartphones will be remote interaction at an arbitrary distance, much like the remote DVR control applications now entering the market.

Missing the point?

[golgoj4]

I think they are missing the point in saying that the universal remote's days are numbered. Smartphones just allow another way to do the same thing, and not always better. Currently, I use my desktop when im sitting at the pc, an ir remote when not, and an ipaq when roaming around the house. All three have different situation where they are better than others so to say one will hail the death of the other is missing the point that more options are available in general. I use linuxMCE [linuxmce.org] for all my home AV needs and it allows me to use all three with the same interface. If anything I think the end result of smartphones being used more and more is less lost remotes.

Late 10 Years?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is it so common to recycle old ideas and call it the best new thing since sliced bread? My old Palm as a remote was cool for a while but I still went back to a real remote for the hard buttons.

Is it this "technology as fads and hype" thing that is to blame?

While we're on the subject of remotes

[similar_name]

Why can't I click a button on the TV to make my remote beep when I can't find it. Maybe I should patent that.

Long live the universal remote!!!

[tjstork]

The universe remote will never die. It costs at least $200 for a "smart phone" like an iPhone or a Google android, and those smart phones not as good for TV surfing as the $15 remote you get from Walmart. The buttons on the remote are the product of 30 years of evolutionary design, the user interfaces on set top boxes are not -that- bad, and you don't have to worry about hackers. By the time you jizz your finger into getting your smart appliance into channel changing mode, I can reach down from the couch, onto the floor, pick the remote up and change the channel.

Oh, and by the way, the batteries on my remote last way longer than your smart phone batteries.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:While we're on the subject of remotes

[SpookyFish]

Too late: (and these are just a few examples)

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5598143.html [freepatentsonline.com]
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6879254.html [freepatentsonline.com]
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6404349/description.html [patentstorm.us]

Interestingly, prior art to all 3 of those patents exists as many TVs and VCRs from Phillips/Magnavox had this feature built in as far back as 1993: http://www.magnavox.com/index.cfm?event=about [magnavox.com]

Sony also included it in a few TV models back in 2001.

I suspect it has not seen more widespread adoption because of battery life and penny-pinching in a cutthroat market.

Re:Yeah..

[maxume]

These generally get pretty good reviews (it's not a smartphone, but it's programmable...):

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/universal_remotes/devices/377&cl=us,en [logitech.com]

Re:FFS NO NO NO!!!!

[jonaskoelker]

Whatever happened to "Do one job and do it well".

People's needs and wants, that's what happened.

I think it's great I can communicate with my friends even in extremely noisy places.

I think it's great I can take pictures of hot chicks when I'm out on the town.

I think it'd be cool to always have some game on me if I ever get bored.

I think it'd be cool to always have all my music at hand.

I think it'd be really cool to always have all my music and video at hand.

I think it's useful to always have an address book, calendar, clock and alarm clock at hand.

Am I going to carry a phone, a texting device, a camera, a PSP or DS, an ipod, a clock, a calendar, a personal phone book and an alarm clock? Hell no. I want to have a general-purpose pocket computer device.

I vehemently disagree with "do one thing".

What I think is going on is that you're getting "several things, none done well" and you prefer "done well" over "several things", at least in the specific instances you have tried. If you had several things, all done well, would you really want to carry multiple gadgets around all the time?

Re:Yeah..

[Anonymous Coward]

I could totally see it replacing your car key. You don't need the affordances of a key.

Whereas a remote, it is useful to have a couple of physical buttons.

Re:Yeah..

[Laurence0]

Have you considered using a Wiimote to control your HTPC? That's what I do, and it works very nicely. The agent on the PC can be run in demon mode, meaning it stays loaded, so you can turn the wiimote off when the film starts, to save battery, then just hit the buttons on it to reconnect them. Pointing at the sensor bar works rather nicely, and for HTPC stuff, like starting a file playing or clicking occasional menus it's quite adequate.

I'm currently using it under Ubuntu 8.04, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work in any Distro.