The launch of the Apple Vision Pro sparked renewed interest in extended reality experiences, both those offered by full-blown and heavy headsets as well as those pushed by more straightforward glasses. The latter often rely on your smartphone or a dedicated remote control to navigate through apps projected in front of you, an indirect interaction method made more awkward by the standard design of these devices. Remote controls might be fine for TVs and appliances, but not when you can barely see your own hand. This concept design tries to challenge convention by redesigning the face of a remote, offering a more ergonomic and simpler way to move around mixed reality while wearing those XR glasses.
Designer: Yiqiao Liu
XR or eXtended Reality glasses like the Xreal Air and TCL RayNeo can probably be called the poor man’s Vision Pro. They practically display a virtual monitor in front of you, which may or may not be pinned in an arbitrary location or follow your head around. This allows the glasses to be lighter, cheaper, and less conspicuous, though they do look like overgrown sunglasses. This also makes using the XR platform feel a bit more familiar because they more or less correspond to familiar operating systems like Windows or Android.
Moving around and interacting with objects in this XR space is then a simpler matter as well, and some even use the phone itself as a pointer and remote control, which is difficult to use when your vision is partially obscured by the glasses and all your fingers can feel is a flat and featureless surface. On the other hand, conventional remotes with their numerous buttons and straightforward layout can also be cumbersome to use as well.
The XR Glasses Controller concept takes the minimalist design of something like an Apple TV remote and tilts it at an angle. Visually, this soap-shaped device looks like an unbalanced remote, with the top buttons leaning to the right and the bottom touch dial sliding to the left. It’s not a design that was made just to look different, though it definitely gives it a distinctive appearance.
The theory behind this design is the mobility and limited range of our thumbs when holding a remote. As many smartphone designers already know by now, the thumb holding the remote moves naturally in an arc, and that up-and-down movement can cause more strain. The controls are thus aligned with this arc, making it easy for the user to switch between buttons and touchpad without having to overextend or bend their thumb. Along with the significantly reduced number of buttons, the remote is easier to use as well, though it does limit itself to Android-based XR platforms since those buttons perfectly match Android’s navigation scheme.
Isn’t it funny that somehow we went from universal remotes in the early 2000s to suddenly having these complicated hubs to connect all the devices in our smart homes? I won’t lie but talking to a hub isn’t as great as it promised to be. It’s a lot easier to point a remote at something and press a button than to tell Alexa to reduce the volume of music or raise the temperature of the AC… and while Amazon, Google, Apple, and the like just think hubs are the answer, one company is reverting back to the remote days. The Haptique RS90 is perhaps the world’s first universal remote controller designed to operate practically any wireless or smart device you’ve got around you. It uses a combination of infrared, WiFi, and Bluetooth to interface with devices around your house from smart TVs to Bluetooth speakers, ACs, soundbars, projectors, air purifiers, and even your PS5. You don’t need to talk to a hub, and better still, you don’t need to install twenty apps on your phone to manage multiple devices around your house.
The Haptique RS90 departs from the clunky look of traditional universal remotes. Instead, it takes on the shape of a smartphone, albeit with physical controls along with a 3.2-inch touchscreen. This display serves as the central hub for navigating menus, controlling smart home features, and even watching tutorials. A well-curated set of essential buttons line the bottom, providing quick access to core functions like volume control, channel surfing, and playback options. This thoughtful blend of touch and physical controls caters to both those who prefer a tactile experience and users who want the ease of a touchscreen. The overall design of the RS90 sticks to a recognizable linear format of most remotes, which gives you a feeling of familiarity. Hold it and you intuitively know how to use it – there’s a minimal learning curve with the controls, and even less so with the touchscreen. The remote is sleek without being too sleek – it’s less likely to get lost, thanks to a tilted design that makes it impossible to slide in between sofa cushions. Simultaneously, the tilt allows the screen to face you when you’re holding the remote horizontally – a clever detail that ends up becoming the RS90’s defining iconic silhouette.
The Haptique RS90 isn’t just about controlling your TV – it aspires to be the central nervous system of your entire smart home. It boasts broad infrared (IR) compatibility, allowing it to command traditional TVs, projectors, sound systems, and more. But its true strength lies in its ability to connect with smart home devices too. The RS90 promises seamless integration with popular smart home interfaces like Philips Hue, Home Assistant, Tuya, Sonos, Zigbee, with Homey and Smart Things in the works. The remote can directly control popular streaming services like Netflix and Spotify, or devices like Apple TV and Amazon Fire Stick, eliminating the need to juggle multiple apps or even actual remotes. The list goes on, with integrations planned for Roku, and game consoles like the PS5 and Nvidia Shield too!
Tactile buttons (with backlights) provide a traditional remote control experience
With great power, as the saying goes, also comes great responsibility. Having a centralized remote for all your smart home gizmos also means needing to make sure your 12-year-old doesn’t go messing with devices around the house. The remote boasts fingerprint-based security, allowing you to pretty much lock it the way you would a smartphone (available in the higher-tier model). Aside from locking your remote, you can also personalize its UIs with macros and shortcuts (something even smartphone apps don’t let you do) to ensure that you have every possible command right under your fingertips. After all, nothing feels more frustrating than fumbling with a remote trying to figure out basic functions, right?
The Haptique RS90 arrives at a pivotal time in the smart home revolution. While it doesn’t currently support Matter, the new industry-wide standard for smart home communication, it demonstrates a clear understanding of the need for interconnectivity. Thankfully, the developers have indicated that Matter support is planned for future updates. This future-proofing ensures that the RS90 won’t become obsolete as the smart home landscape continues to evolve.
While discussing the battery life of a remote control seems pretty trivial, the RS90 is clearly more than your average remote control. Given how much functionality it packs, it also arms itself with a 2000mAh battery that keeps it going for days (the small screen helps reduce battery drain too). To charge your remote, the RS90 is also accompanied by a slick charging hub that lets you simply dock your controller when it needs a battery boost. This also means your remote is less likely to get lost because you aren’t carelessly leaving it around the house.
The Haptique RS90 ships in two variants – the regular RS90 itself with 1GB RAM, 2.4 GHz WiFi, Android 8.10.0, Bluetooth 4.1 (and BLE), and a Quad Core ARM chip. Alternatively, the higher-tier RS90x model ships with 2GB RAM, Dual-band WiFi, Android 12, Bluetooth 5.0 (and BLE), an Octa Core ARM chipset, and the fingerprint sensor to help you lock your remote. Personally, the RS90x just seems like a better future-proofed option, running newer OS on more powerful hardware. Smart homes aren’t going anywhere, in fact, they’re only going to expand. If hubs annoy you, it makes sense to own the best possible version of a universal smart remote that lasts you for years, doesn’t it? The RS90 starts at $257, while the RS90x has a starting price of $321. Both models come in silver and gun-metal grey options, and ship with the charging dock and USB-C cable included, along with a 3-year warranty.
Even with the advent of smart TVs and streaming, remote controls are still an indispensable part of that user experience, imperfect as it may be. The basic design of remote controls has changed very little, save for the extra minimalist variants that, in exchange for simplicity, sometimes make you crawl through menus and options just to get to the function you need. More importantly, however, the complexity of these electronic accessories has made them too stressful to use, and their tendency to get stuck in the corners of couches was a meme even before there were memes. This concept tries to revolutionize the remote control design to deliver a more tactile experience that lets you operate or even pick it up without looking at it at all.
The traditional remote control design has always been one of practical convenience rather than comfort or enjoyment. It’s meant to let you quickly change channels or the volume, but the irony is that it often takes more time to look for the right button or, worse, look for the remote itself. Even with more minimal designs that reduce the buttons to half a dozen or so, the rectangular shape of the device itself lends it to being lost too easily.
The Sightless Remote Control proposes a rather drastic change to the standard design in order to address these issues. Instead of a flat rectangle, the remote has a T-shaped form that ensures it won’t slip through the gaps in couches and chairs. It also makes it easy to pick up the remote, whether from those corners or from the top of a table, all without even looking at the remote and just using our sense of touch instead.
The same is true for the buttons themselves, which are no longer distinct circles or ovals. Instead, there’s a single column in the middle of the remote’s top surface with wedge-like shapes rising on opposite sides almost like waves in the ocean. Instead of using printed icons, text representing the functions are instead embossed, again allowing for “blind” use by letting your fingers do the seeing. It will still require a bit of muscle memory to help place that finger in the right area, but it won’t be as tedious as on a typical remote with very smooth buttons.
More than just enabling sightless use of the device, this design tries to bring back the joy of using an analog device in an age of smartphones and touchscreens. It makes entertainment not just a pleasure for our eyes and ears but also for our sense of touch, all while helping reduce the cognitive overload that multi-functional screens and phone apps bring to our brains.
Our homes and appliances are becoming more powerful, but they are also becoming more complicated. Many interfaces are fortunately being reworked to simplify our interaction with these devices, but almost all of them still require a clear view of what the interfaces are. Sure, there are voice commands nowadays, as well as AI, but as any smart homeowner has experienced, these aren’t always fast or reliable. Unfortunately, all these new interfaces, even the minimalist ones, tend to cut off those with vision disabilities, depriving them not only of enjoyment or convenience but also of a sense of confidence and security in their own homes. It doesn’t actually take much to design with accessibility in mind, and as these three smart device concepts show, such creative designs might be useful or even fun for those who can see perfectly as well.
Designer: Jaehee Lee, Byeonguk Ahn, Minseok Kim
Many smart devices today tend to value aesthetics or functions too highly without considering how those would negatively impact the experience of people who are either blind or visually impaired. Some have too many buttons or have buttons that are all shaped similarly, making it difficult to tell by touch which one is which. Worse, there are those that use only touch controls on flat glass surfaces, which are completely useless unless you can see their marks. Beyond Sight is a collection of concept designs that address these flaws by using unambiguous motions and shapes that actually look fun to use, regardless of the state of your vision.
A smart speaker, for example, uses simple taps to play or pause the audio. Volume is controlled by sliding a ball up or down a pole while changing tracks involves turning the dial at the top. For people who can’t see or can’t see clearly, these definite tactile controls leave no room for guessing their functions. For those that can see what the speaker looks like, the design adds an element of fun and play to a device that has almost become too utilitarian these days.
The smart remote control might look and feel like a toy flashlight, but its polygonal shaft does more than provide a good grip. To change channels, you roll the device to one or the other side. To turn the TV on, you simply put the remote down from a standing to a lying position. The head of the device is a dial that you can turn to adjust the volume, and a large button lets you summon your voice-controlled AI assistant to do the more advanced functions that the remote doesn’t support. Admittedly, the rolling gesture might be a bit cumbersome, especially if you need to go through many channels quickly.
Lastly, a timer imitates the primary mechanism of rotary phone dials of the past so that people can slip their finger into the large hole and read the time in Braille. Setting the timer involves just turning that dial to the desired amount of time in 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 30, and 60-minute intervals. The circular surface of the device slopes down toward that hole, easily guiding the finger to where it needs to be.
For those with visual impairments, the designs of these concept devices give them enjoyment and security in a home that’s increasingly becoming impersonal and intimidating for them. For those that can see clearly, the devices’ designs give them a toy-like character that hints not only at their ease of use but also at their fun controls, proving that accessible designs can truly benefit everyone.
In theory, the TouchSense Remote sounds like a brilliant idea. It could work with practically any TV or set-top box, replacing the need for multiple remote controls, and giving you one device with one interface that’s easy to understand and master. The dynamic touchscreen surface can easily transform to display the UI of any streaming service (in any language too), giving you the ability to more ‘universally’ control your devices. Want to switch apps, want to browse media, want to accurately seek through videos? That’s where a touchscreen display offers much more flexibility and functionality over simple buttons.
It’s quite surprising why a touchscreen remote hasn’t been made the default reality yet. Sure, remote controllers are designed as accessories and as auxiliary devices to the actual hardware – the TV or set-top box, but the TouchSense elevates the humble remote to a powerful interface for browsing content. It comes with a uniquely longitudinal screen that lets you browse apps, content within apps, and even control playback with sheer precision and intuition.
The only barrier I personally see with the TouchSense is that unlike with normal remotes (where you can use them blindly without taking your eyes off the screen) the TouchSense requires a bit of getting used to. The flat surface means your hands can never get used to any layout, and you HAVE to look down at the remote every time you use it. While that does seem like a problem, the TouchSense has some clever workarounds. The fact that the entire remote controller is a display means that you can look away from the TV and still see the content on your remote. Scared you’ll miss a scene, the remote could theoretically be displaying the same content as the TV, so you could look down without missing a thing. The long display also means you can’t operate the remote with just one hand. Chances are, you’ll need both hands – one to hold the remote and one to browse. The lack of bezels on the display could accidentally register palm touches, but that’s splitting hairs, to be honest.
Another clever set of details on the TouchSense are the presence of hardware buttons on the side for doing things like changing channels (on a regular TV) or increasing and decreasing volume. A set of buttons and a rotary dial on either side of the remote allow you to intuitively browse channels or alter volume without looking away from the TV.
The TouchSense comes with a rather handy design (unlike the slim, easy-to-lose Apple TV remote) that houses a large battery and charges via USB-C. The fact that it has a touchscreen display also means you won’t accidentally press any buttons with your butt… although you may want to be careful of damaging such a high-end tech accessory!
The TV remote control is both an essential part of home entertainment as well as its bane. In the past, the large slab of plastic had more buttons than a scientific calculator yet still managed to often get inexplicably lost underneath inside and couches. Thanks to streaming devices and dongles, as well as the influence of a certain fruit-named company, some remotes have now been distilled to their bare essentials. That said, they remain in your typical rectangular form that leaves plenty of unused space just to conform to that traditional design. There’s definitely a lot of room for improvement and experimentation, and this concept shrinks the remote control even further, turning it into something that can easily be mistaken for and used as a toy.
As TVs became more complicated, the number of buttons on their remote controls exploded like bunnies. While that did mean that some functions are just a button press away, it requires more training and muscle memory to really become convenient. There’s no standard layout for those buttons either, so you often get confused and lost every time you switch to another remote. That’s why remote controls for home entertainment systems have earned such a bad rep over the years, and the LIL ROC concept design turns that on its head by turning it almost into a game.
This twist on the remote control design is almost indistinguishable from a large pebble you’d see in Zen gardens or riverbeds. Its small shape and smooth curves make it look less daunting and more approachable than even the simplest Apple TV remote. More than just its looks, however, the LIL ROC’s functions encourage a more tactile approach and reinvent the whole remote control experience into something akin to a game.
Each side of the LIL ROC, for example, is mapped to a specific control, with volume controls on opposing sides while channel controls take the remaining edges. Rather than pushing buttons, however, you simply push down on the assigned edge, which makes the device rock a little as it returns to its resting state. There is a button in the center that maps to the power and accepting actions, while a twisting motion lets you navigate through a TV’s menus.
It’s not hard to imagine how this remote control design can easily become an addictive toy in someone’s hand while watching a show, though it’s not clear whether it can distinguish intentional gestures from accidental ones. At the same time, however, its smaller size might make it easier to lose the remote, which is one of the biggest problems that plague this kind of device. Regardless, it’s a rather fun reimagining of what is commonly regarded to be a daunting and cumbersome tool, proving that there are plenty of opportunities left to design the ultimate remote control.
Fact: I have a lot of over-the-top subscriptions. Also fact: I spend a lot (and I do mean a lot) of time trying to figure out what to watch or listen to as I am spoiled by all the choices available. So if there’s a service or a device that can help me decide easily what movie to watch or what TV show to binge next or what playlist to listen to, I would gladly welcome it with open arms. I need to get some of my time back from deciding and spend it on actually consuming media that I subscribe to.
Designer: Soyoon Lee
DOTT is a product concept for a device that can help solve some of the problems that people with too many OTT services have. Some issues that users have include managing all these services, all the various devices or remote controls you may need for some of them, and of course the difficulty in choosing content because of too many choices. What the designer came up with is a smart controller for these OTT services called Device for OTT (hence, DOTT).
The device is made up of a hub and a remote. The former has a small screen where you can see what service or content is on your connected large screen. It also has a built-in speaker which will supposedly bring you an “optimized sound experience” although of course you probably have a better speaker in mind for watching and listening. The remote meanwhile is the main DOTT device that uses Bluetooth to connect to any device. The remote is located on top of the hub and uses a sliding motion to park or to actually use and connect to your main device.
When you take out the remote, you’ll see what devices are available for pairing. Tapping on the new button will recommend whatever is new to any of your connected services. The archive button meanwhile will show you the currently used services according to category and genre and displayed according to the most recently used ones. It uses a scrolling motion similar to what you use on your mobile devices. I don’t know really if such a device can solve indecision problems but at least it can help narrow down your choices.
This ingenious remote control almost solves all the hangups people have with complicated remote and flat smartphones while giving your finger an almost familiar sensation.
Smart home products are invading our houses, be it in the living room or in our personal sanctuaries. From lights to speakers to TVs to even ovens, almost anything can be controlled with a smartphone these days. That’s not always the most convenient way to control all these devices, even when they’re located in a single place. A dedicated remote control can free your phone for other uses, and this configurable device could be the only one your fingers will ever need.
Traditional TV remotes are often considered to be the bane of usability and simplicity with their dozens of buttons, but few would deny the benefits that tactile and haptic feedback has on our minds, especially when it comes to developing muscle memory. Some smart TV remotes have ditched all but the most essential buttons but at the cost of flexibility.
Smartphones seem to offer the best of those two worlds since controls can change at a moment’s notice to control almost any smart device, but it sacrifices the physicality of control in the process. Additionally, using the phone as a remote means not using the phone as a phone, which cuts into the time you might otherwise spend on social media. A dedicated remote is still a better option, and the Ruwido Liza might actually have the perfect blend of all three worlds.
It doesn’t have the dizzying number of buttons as a typical remote, but the Liza easily has three or four times the “buttons” as an Apple TV remote. What’s special about these concave buttons is that they are actually tiny touch screens that provide haptic feedback when pressed. Unlike a phone’s screen, the vibration of each “button” gives better tactile feedback, even if they’re not exactly like a physical button that you can feel when it goes down at each press.
Unlike many programmable remote controls, the Liza does show the icons that you assigned for each button, including cover art for your favorite albums or playlists, for example. This takes away the guesswork when switching between different smart appliances and helps develop the muscle memory that conventional remotes are best known for. All that’s left now is for the Liza to support more smart home products and services beyond Spotify, Sonos, Philips Hue, and some TVs, and it will truly be the one remote you’ll ever need.
With heatwaves blazing across the globe, staying cool is at the forefront of all of our minds. Whether you have air conditioning or not, having an extra blast of fresh, cool air is key to surviving the heat of the summer months. Upright fans keep our homes and bedrooms nice and cool while we’re there, but we can’t bring them to the beach or the park. The Inno Portable Fan is an upright fan that can shrink down to five inches so we can bring it to the beach for those hot days that call for a cool blast.
The creators behind Inno say that the portable fan “was literally born out of sweat.” Instead of throwing money into air conditioners and buying a bunch of different fans for every occasion, Inno allows users to bring cool air with them anywhere they go, anytime. Inno was designed with a telescopic pole that pulls out to 35 inches at its tallest and shrinks all the way down to 5 inches.
Inno is a wireless fan with up to 24 hours of battery life to get cool air anywhere, anytime. When you want to bring Inno to the beach or pack it up to go camping, after the pole retracts to its shortest height, the fan can fold in half for easy storage and portability. With 24 hours of battery life, you’ll have cool air for days once Inno is fully charged and its rechargeable battery makes sure of that.
In addition to cooling the room down, Inno features a built-in oil diffuser that works with the fan to spread a good smell and vibes throughout every room. Inno can also fold in half for ultimate portability.
Inno comes with a remote so users can control the fan speeds and oil diffuser from any room. Fans are a must-have during the summer months, especially if you live in cities prone to heatwaves. When the heat comes, all we want to do is lounge by the pool and let the water cool us down. Whether we’re lounging by the pool or hiding out in our bedrooms, the Inno Portable Fan can go anywhere to keep us cool all the time and anytime.
Your Xbox can run Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, YouTube, and Spotify, which sounds pretty impressive at first till you realize you have to navigate those apps with a gaming controller. If you’re the kind to use your Xbox for bingeing as much as you do for gaming, 8BitDo’s Xbox Media Remote might come in pretty handy. Designed to let you use your gaming console as a media console too, the remote gives you a traditional television-style experience, with the appropriate navigation, playback, and volume control buttons.
While it’s essentially a third-party controller, the Media Remote looks like it belongs right in Xbox’s design family, and works wonderfully with the gaming console too. It comes in the same colors as the Xbox (black or white) and two sizes – a smaller remote with all the basic controls, and a longer one with a few extra buttons. The remote works seamlessly with Xbox One, Series X, and Series S, allowing you to wake up your console just by pushing the main button and navigating through the interface just as comfortably as you would with a TV remote. If you’re in a gaming mood, the remote comes with XYAB buttons too, although don’t expect to pull off any spectacular victories with that! That remote’s for Netflix and Chill, not GTA and Thrill!
