Sony’s Google TV Remote Might Someday Silence Critics

Google — 07 October 2010
Sony’s Google TV Remote Might Someday Silence Critics

Look, there’s been a lot of complaining about the Google TV Remote that Sony let loose upon the world in an ad shown on ABC Nightline. I say let loose because people are calling it a monstrosity, a gigantic anomaly from another dimension. Or from the 80’s, as some have pointed out.

It’s not. As long as Sony actually comes up with good uses for all those buttons, and Google TV itself lives up to the hype, there’s no reason for not enjoying some oversized mixture between a remote control device and a Star Trek command deck console.

Google, on the other hand, is making an app that will let you control Google TV from the comfort of your very own Android smartphone. It’s up to you, but I’d rather my friends call me Commander when they come over to watch TV.

The Sony remote has full QWERTY keyboard, directional controls, and switches for channel selection and volume and everything else you can imagine in this reality or another. And if Google TV ever gets functions that would benefit from a keyboard, you’ll have the last laugh.

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  • http://twitter.com/joseph_foran Joseph D. Foran

    I call BS. This is Sony… the company known for the svelte VAIO, the sleek Playstation 3, stacked stereo components with a consistent look, and even designer walkmans (walkmen?). The remote is the worst-looking thing ever, and there's no way it's actually going to look like that when it hits the market. I predict the top (grey) area will remain the same, since it's a PS controller and Sony undoubtedly wants to tie their PS line into everything. The buttons, however, I expect will be replaced with a glass-based touchscreen based on some version of Android. One of the big selling points of Google TV is that you can use your Android phone to control it, so why wouldn't Sony take advantage of that?

  • techguy

    I can't believe the silliness of logitech/sony/google in designing the so-called remote for google tv. Being a user of HTPC for several months I can tell that this remote will be the key to initial failure of google tv, although eventually someone would figure out to come up with a obvious solution. What these guys need is to develop a remote with something like a droid kind of slide out keyboard and with just 5-10 large buttons on top for regular functions.