Re:Sony launches universal remote control with e-ink screen
by Zigurd on Tuesday February 16, 2016 @01:42PM
(#11112103)
In a world where everyone can have a personalized remote in their smartphone, smart remotes are a tough product to justify making. A Bluetooth IR blaster and app should win on capability and usability and be much much cheaper.
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Re:Sony launches universal remote control with e-ink screen
by forgetsusername on Tuesday February 16, 2016 @02:13PM
(#11112346)
>A Bluetooth IR blaster and app should win on capability and usability
Without physical buttons, phone-based remotes won't win on usability.
Re:Sony launches universal remote control with e-ink screen
by Zigurd on Tuesday February 16, 2016 @08:47PM
(#11114577)
Physical buttons are one dimension of usability that hasn't been decisive in any other product domain where smart mobile devices have replaced dedicated buttons in UI. On the other hand, smart mobile devices add multi-device sync, personalization, persistent configuration and preferences, memory of where you left off, etc. Music players, snapshot cameras, GPSs, etc. all had dedicated physical user interfaces. None were important enough to save those product categories.