14 DAY TRIAL // One of Sony Ericsson's patents that describe a mobile phone that can be used as a universal remote control has recently been discovered.
The handset is meant to feature a touchscreen that can display different remote control user interfaces as well as the necessary electronics for controlling a device.
Sony Ericsson wasn't the first to think about producing a remote control phone, and there are already phones on the market acting almost like a remote. UPnP-equipped mobile phones will also allow the user to control other UPnP gadgets.
But so far, nothing has worked as well as to be tagged a remote control mobile phone. The Sony Ericsson handset described in the patent seems to be much closer to the actual idea of a remote control and would be capable of switching TV channels, controlling a TV program guide, controlling other devices such as DVDs and VCRs. The company also anticipates the remote control user interface to be implemented as a 'skin', therefore downloadable.
This would simplify things a lot, since the only thing a user would have to do to use the handset as a remote, regardless of the device he/she wants to control, would be to download a new user interface on the phone according to the device. Since the patent was filed in August 2005, we could draw the conclusion that Sony Ericsson has given up the idea of including this feature in a mobile phone.
Mobile phone manufacturers' list of priorities has been more than odd lately, with low-end and extremely high-end devices being the only thing they seem to be focusing on. As for Sony Ericsson, features in their phones have mostly been upgraded, without bringing something new, and most of their users seem to be bored of their phones' UI. With mobile phones doing everything these days, it would be very interesting to see a Sony Ericsson phone acting as a remote control, aside from its usual features.