Every time you take a look at the latest models of smart phones, there is always something new to be seen. The manufacturers are not sitting idle for sure – they are continuously adding as many features as possible to the smart phones. Many of the Android based smart phones are now coming with infrared LEDs that allow your smart phone to be used as a remote control for your TV, music system, DVD player, TV set-top box, air conditioner and basically anything that requires an infrared LED based remote control. This is not only useful when your regular TV remote goes missing, but it also gives you a universal remote for all the compatible devices.
However, if your Android smart phone did not come with an infrared LED, even then you can buy a cheap infrared gadget that you can attach to the 3.5 mm jack of your phone and turn it into a remote control. These infrared LED gadgets are available anywhere from US$5 to US$10 depending on their quality. And if you are an electronics hobbyist, then you can make your own using dozens of schematics available online. The following picture shows a commercial infrared remote control gadget and a simple schematic that can be used to make such a gadget.
If you have a smart phone with built-in infrared LED, then it should come with its own remote control app. However, if you are using a third party gadget, then you can download an app like IR Universal Remote from the Playstore. The IR Remote app can be used to control all different types of TVs, music systems, air-cons and so on.
By default, the IR Universal Remote uses the Samsung TV keypad format, but you can easily choose one of your supported device remote patterns from the settings. You can choose TV remotes, cable set-top box remotes, aircon remotes, music system remotes and many other different types of remotes. You can even customize the remotes and save them to the database.
Conclusion: With your smart phone in your pocket, you do not really have to look for the remote controls for your TV or air-conditioner. You can use your Android phone as your universal remote controls. All it takes is a small IR gadget and a simple IR Universal Remote app.
You can download the IR Remote app for Android from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.freeiruniversalremote.