THE market is flooded with solutions to the technology fan’s age old problem of having too many remotes littering their living room.
Universal remote controls are big businesses and the technology lying within is becoming cleverer every day. Newcomers to the market have to up their game.
One For All is a company that’s become fairly accustomed to upping its game when it comes to producing cutting edge remote controls and its latest ‘Simple 4’ universal remote control sports some pretty clever tech.
You’d not know it to look at it. Unlike some universal remotes, its plain white casing and hard plastic buttons give it a reserved, almost dull look.
But while it’s no oil painting, even with its attractive chrome-look pause and directional buttons, its simple layout and appearance means it’s not littered with a dizzying array of buttons.
This is great for all those people who don’t want to learn all the new functions of a remote with a million buttons and it’s good for those who just want an easily visible, easy to press, set of keys.
It does have some useful high-tech features tucked away. It’ll copy the functions of buttons on your old remotes in case it doesn’t have one built in and it also lets you control two appliances from the same mode. So, if you want to change volume on your TV while you’ve got it set to control your Sky box, you can.
Those of us who do just want a simple piece of kit will also love the remote’s ease of set up. There’s a few ways to link your remote to your appliance, depending on what make it is, and it starts with the traditional method of poring over a book of codes and punching them in.
However, the Simple 4 has a much easier option. It’s called Simpleset and at the touch of a pre-set button it will very quickly cycle through all the available codes until your TV or other device responds. When it does, you simply confirm it’s found the right code and, bingo, it’s set.
For example, my LG television was coded within the LG button, 6. So I switched my TV on, pressed the setup button, then the TV button, then I held down button 6 on the keypad and, when the TV switched off, I knew it was tuned and I released the 6 button.
This also worked on my Sky box, which I wasn’t surprised by, but when it quickly hooked up to my slightly more obscure Marantz surround sound processor I was very impressed.
I’ve used similar setup systems on other multi-function remotes but this is by far the best I’ve tried because it uses an in-built database to quickly find the right code, taking away the need to spend hours sifting through pages of numbers.
A common philosophy with One For All products is ensuring they’re future-proof. And their latest method is by far the most cutting edge. If your device is not already stored in the database you can hook the remote up to your computer using a micro USB socket hidden away under the battery cover.
The process that follows could be simpler and, despite a tutorial video guiding you through, it will require some degree of computer literacy to complete an upgrade of its codes but One For All has an excellent helpline.
I know this because I own a One For All remote control. It’s much older than the high tech Simple 4 but it’s been very reliable, still works brilliantly and I’ve often wondered what I will eventually replace it with when the time comes to upgrade.
Judging by how the firm’s latest technology performed during the time I’ve spent with the Simple 4 it’s convinced me there’s not really any point looking at other brands.
One For All, it seems, still manufactures the best universal remotes in the business.
