Home automation startup Neeo claims to provide customers with control for all their devices through the Neeo, a "thinking" universal remote control acting as a single interface for the entire home.
Crafted out of a single piece of aluminium, the Neeo remote features a 3.2-inch 480x800 resolution touchscren, a handful of hardware buttons and a low-power design the makers claim runs for months on a single charge. Interestingly it also features "hand recognition" technology, allowing to to automatically display personalized favorite media, playlists and other settings, without need to flick between remotes or apps.
The hand recognition even acts as a means of parental control, Neeo adds.
"Average remotes are inconvenient especially when you have one for every device and we have seen little innovation in that field in the past decades," the company says. "We created Neeo so you can control all your devices instantly and with minimum effort so you're not jumping from remote to remote or app to app. To make it even more effortless we have designed Neeo so it recognizes you when you pick it up to give the ultimate personal experience. "
To actually control devices the Neeo remote requires connection to the "brain," a puck-shaped hub device featuring multiple antennae to support 7 home automation standards-- Bluetooth 4.0, Bluetooth LE (low energy), wifi, 6LowPAN, ZigBee, Z-Wave and Thread. It handles TVs, Sonos devices, Apple TV, Roku, Philips Hue lighting and a variety of cable STBs, and features a Learning Mode to automatically support more devices.
The system also features a same-named companion smartphone app allowing for the same control functionality as the remote, as well as an SOS alarm for the searching of lost remotes.
The Neeo remote is currently available as a preorder on Kickstarter, where it already made over $1.3 million in pledges (out of a $50000 goal). Once the crowdfunding campaign is over the system should ship from May 2015.
