A few years ago I got sick of juggling all the remotes in my living room and purchased a Harmony Universal Remote. After extensive set up and tweaking of the configuration it was finally able to replace all my other remotes, and I’ve been using it exclusively ever since.
Now with the HTC One and quite a few of the recent Samsung devices including an IR Blaster and a rebranded version of the Peel app, the question arises whether your android device can successfully replace your living room remotes. Peel takes the approach of providing a TV guide and when you select what you want to watch it will change the channel for you. A limited button remote is also included but it misses a lot of those extra buttons meaning you’ll end up reaching back for the original remote.
Color Tiger have taken a different approach with Smart IR Remote, going back to the traditional universal remote approach. You can add remotes from a huge database of devices sorted by category and brand. On selecting a device you’re instructed to leave it powered down and then repeatedly press the power on button until your device comes to life. I was able to find and set up all my devices very easily.
The main screen of a remote shows big buttons with the most used functions like Vol+, Vol-, Ch+, Ch- and arrow keys. If you press at the bottom of the screen a number keypad appears whereas swiping to the left brings up another scrollable panel of buttons. What’s really nice here is that you can customise each remote as much as you like – adding, removing, moving and renaming as much as you like. I was able to find all the buttons from the original remotes and once set up was complete there was no need to go hunting for the original remote to find that elusive function.
Once all your individual remotes have been added, you can also set up a “Smart Remote”. This essentially gives you a blank canvas to add buttons from a combination of the other remotes, so for instance you can add buttons from both your TV and your set top box so that you don’t need to keep switching between them.
There are a few other options available such as a customisable chat head remote, air gestures and automated tasks (where you can automatically send commands under certain conditions, for example muting the TV when you receive a phone call). You can also backup and restore your remotes through Google Play Services.
Overall Smart IR Remote does an excellent job of providing the universal remote experience on your Android device. The small IR blaster on my S4 does need to be pointing directly at the device’s IR port, so can’t really compete with the big bulb on a good remote. However if you have a compatible device and like the idea of customising a remote and tailoring it to your own usage pattern then this is the app for you.
