Owning the most awesome television in existence is an accomplishment to any man. But without a proper remote, it’s a bit like purchasing a Bugatti Veyron without a steering wheel. A smart remote isn’t just a convenience gadget to help push the buttons that are already on your TV. It’s more like hiring a qualified assistant to help guide you on your path to becoming the king of your own media empire inside your smart home.
A smart remote will control all your media, and we do mean all – including over a thousand different brands and hundreds of thousands individual devices. It will keep track of your media, while also helping to keep it organized. It will follow your favorite shows and remind you when they are on or a new season is premiering. It pays attention to what you watch and will eventually get to know you well enough to make suggestions based on the types of media you already enjoy (or don’t).
This is a serious purchase (or should we rather say, upgrade) for the man who rarely leaves any gadget of his in ‘stock’ condition. If you are looking for the world’s best remote – we’ve got four for you to choose from:
The Neeo
The Neeo comes with a slick simple design, perfect size and a ‘brain’ that is able to control every other smart device in your home, including lights, temperature units and window shades. It is built to last with its aluminum case and Gorilla Glass touchscreen display. It comes with an SOS feature to help find it if it should get lost and is fitted with a battery that is measured in months, not weeks.
The Savant
While the Neeo proves that you don’t necessarily have to spend big bucks to get a premium gadget, sometimes its perks are worth the extra dough – as is the case with the $500 Savant. The Savant comes with a matte black finish, balanced weight and curved glass display. A lot of work went into just how the remote both functions and feels in your hand. It features voice controls that work the vast majority of the time. In fact, the designers said this feature wasn’t even worth including unless they could get it right on – and they certainly succeeded..
The Blumoo Universal
This Blumoo claims it can help simplify your life and it will accomplish this by controlling every smart device in your home from one easy to use app. It aids you in finding your favorite shows and does most of the work for you, so you can focus more on enjoying your favorite media than finding it. They are continually updating its software and have plans to extend its usability to Echo, Hue and IFTTT devices. The only problem we can see, is that if you can share this remote with any device in your home (including the Apple Watch) there is no longer such a thing as being ‘The King’ of the remote – but you’ll figure something out.
The Ray Super Remote
We try not to be too cliche, but we have saved the best one (in our opinion) for last. Better than the Harmony Ultimate? We’ll let you decide. What you are looking at above is a remote that is every bit as capable as your top notch smart phone… but it is not. It isn’t trying to add onto its already busy list of uses or trying to bend itself into something it’s not – it is simply a remote. Well, a remote that accomplishes its job so well, it is being touted as a super remote.
It is faster than a speeding bullet thanks to its dual-core ARM processor and can leap over the tallest walls in your home with its multiple signal capability, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and IR (infrared). It’s big touchscreen also enables you to search info and ask questions from the remote and not feel inconvenienced by it. Yes indeed, the Ray looks cool!
