Just too damn lazy to reach your phone? Pick up the remote

HTC's latest handset has a truly innovative feature, a remote control for those too lazy to reach out and pick up their increasingly oversized handset. The remote is called the HTC Mini and once paired (using NFC) with the Chinese-only HTC Butterfly it can make and receive calls as well as controlling media playback and …

[Paul E]

Convergence

Which is better. Carrying a phone and a tablet or carrying just a tablet that has a connected, but otherwise fairly dumb, handset?

I can definitely see the appeal having the one larger main device but having a less obtrusive way of using it as a phone.

[TeeCee]

Re: Convergence

I already had a solution for this when smartphones were like housebricks and holding the thing to my ear for any length of time gave me cramp.

It's called a "Bluetooth headset" and "Voice dialling" and meant I very rarely ever touched the device to make or receive calls.

The thing that stopped me was moving from WinMo to Android and finding that Android's inbuilt Bluetooth voice dial support is a pile of useless steaming crap, especially when compared to the shining beacon of perfection that was MS's old Voice Command product.

[dogged]

Re: Convergence

WTB - ability to post picture of Xzibit.

"yo dawg I heard you like phones so we put a phone in your phone so you can phone while you phone..."

[TheProf]

I want one!

I have Airdroid and PRemoteDroid why wouldn't I want one of these?

[Warren Sealey]

Bigger fleas have lesser fleas

How about a blue tooth headset for the remote control? Or, as the remote control gets larger perhaps it will, in turn, need its own remote. Or is it just "remotes all the way down"?

Escher could have done a lovely picture of this...

Mine's the one with the coat in it's pocket.

[Ralph B]

Double Niche!

Hmm, it's a bit like a Pebble Watch except without the advantage of it being nice and small and conveniently attached to your wrist. And it's a bit like a bluetooth headset except without the advantage or it being nice and small and conveniently attached to your ear.

So, it combines two devices to avoid the advantages of both of them!

Erm ... For The Win ... ?

[Anonymous Coward]

The Onion...

...saw this (more or less) happening 6 years ago:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-remote-control-can-be-operated-by-remote,1666/

[Anonymous Coward]

I love the music...

It's SO uplifting.

If I close my eyes and listen, I'd swear someone was announcing a cure for cancer.

Did anyone ever say .. stop!? at any point during its development?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Gimme GPS instead ;-)

Because with GPS I'll be able to locate my remote no matter where it has gone to ;-)

[TeeCee]

Re: Gimme GPS instead ;-)

No point. I know damned well it's down the back of the sofa and a GPS fix isn't precise enough to tell me which cushion it's under.

Assuming it could get a fix while indoors and stuffed into a sofa of course......

[Ageless Stranger]

What if you are too lazy to pick up the remote?

Will there be a remote for the remote?

I can see this getting recursive.

[El Presidente]

Already possible

To control a PC and an Android media player from a Nexus 7

[Esskay]

It's amusing that we've reached the point that

We need a remote that does the basic "phone" functions that phones could barely manage on their own 15 years ago...

[Lusty]

This just seems to be trying to justify why NFC is in the phones? Surely if lack of a wireless connection to the stereo is the issue it would be more prudent to include a Bluetooth audio adapter to plug into the stereo? Given this would basically be a Bluetooth headset with phono jack it would probably cost less than this pointless remote.

[Don Jefe]

Re:

When Bluetoooth came out it was the same drill. It was included in all kinds of stuff in an attempt to justify its existence. It eventually caught on (partly after legislation in many U.S. states required it to use the phone when driving), maybe NFC will catch on too. The best way to get sales is to cram it down people's throats you know.

[Haku]

"Phablet"

Is it just me or does that mashup of a word just sound wrong?