What the TV remote should look like

Posted by Luph on January 11, 2012 03:48 pm 15

Nilay thinks that the key to the next generation of smart TV's is their approach to the interface, and while I don't necessarily agree I did find all the different controllers floating around at CES to be, well, laughable. Case and point:

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via i.imgur.com

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via i.imgur.com

This is all wrong. Why can't TV remotes just look like this?

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via i.imgur.com

I went back to fumbling around with my iPod touch recently and I realized that it's the perfect form factor for a TV input device. It's extremely thin and light. It's simple. There isn't a mess of buttons all over the thing.

So take out the camera, take out the storage, and take out any buttons or inputs you don't need. The only things that are essential to a next generation remote is a touch screen and voice input. Why are manufacturers for Google TV and such making ridiculous keyboard and trackpad solutions when they already have the perfect input at their disposal, i.e. touch screens? Touch screens means your user interface can be dynamic. It means you can search with a keyboard one minute and browse through channel icons or whatever the next, and all without having to have a myriad of physical buttons all over your device.