One For All launches £25 universal remote

The Gadget Show  Friday 15 January 2010

The world at your fingertips for £25

Universal remotes are a godsend for any home entertainment gadget obsessive – and we’re certainly bought-and-paid-up members of that club here at the Gadget Show.

Our one problem tends to be with the price, but the solution to that problem seems to have arrived in the shape of the One For All SmartControl.

To be fair, that shape isn’t in any danger of being described as alluring, especially after all the sleek and swanky designs shown off at CES, but we’ll look the other way considering the £25 asking price.

For that, it’s makers claim you get a remote that’s truly universal – saying it works with all of “HDTV, DVB-T, iPod docks, Blu-ray, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Full HD LCDs, home cinema systems and MP3 players”.

Where appropriate, the SmartControl can control more than one device at a time – you can forward a scene on your DVD player then press the volume buttons to adjust your TV’s volume without switching modes, for example.

The SmartControl runs on a quartet of AAA batteries, and is on sale through Argos and Comet.