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Vizio Builds Universal Remote Control Into Android Tablet
Android tablet ($350) has IR blaster built into bezel and universal remote control software that supports 95% of CE devices.
Vizio “spent a lot of time and effort on customizing the UI [user interface] to make it really easy. ... Android’s not very good at UI stuff.”
Vizio is building an Android tablet with an IR blaster and remote-control technology built in.
“That’s something that the other tablets don’t have” said technology reporter Robert Scoble in an interview with a Vizio official at the company’s Oakley, Calif., headquarters.
Shipping in July, the $350 tablet has a built-in remote control application that “covers about 95 percent of all CE products,” the Vizio official says.
An IR blaster is built into the thin edge of the device.
“What’s great about a software-based remote control,” he says, “is when you pair it to your device, it’ll only show you the keys for that device.”
He adds, “It’s not like a remote control you buy at RadioShack that has 150 buttons on it.”
Today, numerous apps exist for using an iOS or Android device as a universal remote control. But you have to add an external IR blaster to the device, or pair it with an RF module that converts commands to IR for controlling TVs and other CE devices.
IR blaster embedded in the edge of Vizio tablet
The Vizio unit does it all by itself.
Other features: The unit has “great stereophonic sound” via two speakers at the front of the tablet, and an HDMI output.
Media-shifting functionality a la Apple’s AirPlay is “absolutely” part of the plan for the tablet, but will not be available in the first version.
Also, Vizio “spent a lot of time and effort on customizing the UI [user interface] to make it really easy,” says the Vizio guy. “Android’s not very good at UI stuff.”
The UI on the tablet is similar to what you would see on a Vizio TV’s on-screen display.
(Jump to 4:00 for discussion about remote-control functionality)
“That’s something that the other tablets don’t have” said technology reporter Robert Scoble in an interview with a Vizio official at the company’s Oakley, Calif., headquarters.
Shipping in July, the $350 tablet has a built-in remote control application that “covers about 95 percent of all CE products,” the Vizio official says.
An IR blaster is built into the thin edge of the device.
“What’s great about a software-based remote control,” he says, “is when you pair it to your device, it’ll only show you the keys for that device.”
He adds, “It’s not like a remote control you buy at RadioShack that has 150 buttons on it.”
Today, numerous apps exist for using an iOS or Android device as a universal remote control. But you have to add an external IR blaster to the device, or pair it with an RF module that converts commands to IR for controlling TVs and other CE devices.
IR blaster embedded in the edge of Vizio tablet
The Vizio unit does it all by itself.
Other features: The unit has “great stereophonic sound” via two speakers at the front of the tablet, and an HDMI output.
Media-shifting functionality a la Apple’s AirPlay is “absolutely” part of the plan for the tablet, but will not be available in the first version.
Also, Vizio “spent a lot of time and effort on customizing the UI [user interface] to make it really easy,” says the Vizio guy. “Android’s not very good at UI stuff.”
The UI on the tablet is similar to what you would see on a Vizio TV’s on-screen display.
(Jump to 4:00 for discussion about remote-control functionality)
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Article Topics
News · Product News · Home Automation and Control · Control Systems · Universal Remotes · Android · Vizio ·About the Author
Julie Jacobson, Editor-at-large, CE Pro
Julie Jacobson is co-founder of EH Publishing and currently spends most of her time writing for CE Pro, mostly in the areas of home automation, networked A/V and the business of home systems integration. She majored in Economics at the University of Michigan, earned an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and has never taken a journalism class in her life. Julie is a washed-up Ultimate Frisbee player with the scars to prove it. Follow her on Twitter @juliejacobson.
4 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
Oh, quit your whining. Just press the buttons enough times and eventually you’ll get there!
“It’s not like a remote control you buy at RadioShack that has 150 buttons on it.”
The handheld remote crowd want those 150 buttons 
.
Something like this might put a dent into harmony sales. Would be great for adding something cool to the budget home theater. All depends on how programming happens and what the capabilites are. Macros? Is it a learning device?
“Android’s not very good at UI stuff.”
I agree
I doubt very much that the RC software does much, but now I’m curious. Will try to find out.
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That’s great coming from a company that can’t figure out how to make discrete IR commands for their TVs.