TW Electronics announces a new remote control that anticipates the future: more and more personalization in the viewing of TV content
TV is changing, and we are not just referring to the transition in Italy from first generation digital to the new DVB-T2, but also to streaming and to the increasing number of platforms, free or paid, for viewing a quantity of high quality content that was once unthinkable. With television, however, will also change the remote control and the first signs have already arrived.
They come from Newbury, UK, where remote control manufacturer TW Electronics has announced a new design for its devices. TW Electronics produces both remote controls for the standard equipment of modern Smart TVs and TV boxes (in its history it has produced them for , Technicolor, Sagemcom, Humax, Kaon, Arris, Canal Plus, Telefonica, Freebox), and advanced universal remotes that users can buy to replace the standard one on their TV if they don't like it that much. The latest model announced is compatible with all Smart TVs and Android TV boxes with the Google TV interface and is equipped with a multi-function key, which with a software modification can be customized to make it do three different actions.
The remote control with the extra key
The extra key of the new TW Electronics remote control for Google TVs is the evolution of the "Favorites" key, already present on almost all the most advanced remotes. A button that, normally, is used to quickly access the list of movies and episodes of TV series to watch on the streaming platform where we are browsing.
With the new button, there are three functions: the first is the standard one of Android TVs, that is, the favorites or (on Google TVs) the "Discover" function; the second is the one that allows to change the user profile; the third is customizable by the TV manufacturer. The second option is the big news, at least on Google TV where user profiles have just arrived.
However, this kind of design will be more and more the norm for the remote controls of tomorrow, as the road taken by streaming platforms is that of content customization based on user tastes. In the future, therefore, it will be normal for each person in the house to pick up the remote control and, as a first thing, press the button to change profile.
In this way, each member of the family will no longer simply watch TV: they will watch their TV.
The future: the smartphone as a remote control
There is another option coming soon, at the moment limited to the world of Google TV: using the smartphone as a remote control. This option will soon be included in the Google Home app for Android and will spread with the arrival of Android 12 on more and more phones.
Using the smartphone as a remote control, it will not even be necessary to press the button to change profile: each smartphone associated with the TV, in fact, will be automatically linked to a profile, since the smartphone is personal and each family member has his own.