In today’s world where everything has the word ‘smart’ added to it, we truly are living in the era of technology. From the geyser in your house to lighting to house security system, everything can be accessed with just a click on your smartphone or another dedicated remote control device. Some thing however which is still being done mostly the conventional way is TV viewing. I agree that many people have shifted their base of interest towards online streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube, there are still people out there who like to pass their time watching TV but TV navigation is still largely dependent on remotes which with the onset of so many new features in the new gen TVs are getting big and complicated to use. If you too find yourself facing the same problem, you’ve come to the right place as today we are reviewing the Peel Smart Remote. Wondering what is it? Read on to find out.
As the name suggests, Peel Smart Remote is a simple smart remote. To elaborate, it is an app that runs on your smartphone and turns your phone into a smart remote that can not only control your TV but also your Set-Top Box, AC and many other things which can be accessed via IR. All you need to do is own a smartphone with an IR (Infra-Red) blaster and you can use the Peel app on your smartphone. Most smartphones these days come with an IR blaster so that shouldnt be a problem.
Sounds convenient right? Using your smartphone to control your TV, Set-Top Box and your AC with just the help of an app. Well, that’s not the only thing you can do with the Peel Smart Remote.
Some interesting features of the app include:
- You can switch between the visual and the remote mode to suit your ease of use.
- Set reminders for shows or movies that you want to watch later.
- Make the controls appear on your lock screen or notification bar for ease of use.
- Stream movies or videos from online streaming services such as YouTube on your phone and your TV
- Add shows and movies to Favourites to find them quickly in the future
- Share your favourite movies and shows right from the app
As if all these features were not enough to make the app lucrative enough, the app has been specially customized for the Indian market to operate in many local languages and give you suggestions based on your location.
If all these things make the app sound like a complicated one to use, let us bust that myth for you. Peel Smart Remote is the simplest smart remote app we have used till date.
Here is a step by step guide on how to install the app on an Android Smartphone which have an IR, Here we have used Gionee Marathon M5 Smartphone:
- Launch the app. It will ask you for your location and the service provider.
2. Select the brand of your TV.
3. Point your Gionee M5 towards the IR receiver of the TV while the app tries to scan signals.
4. Tap Add Devices button on the app to add more devices for a specific device like your stereo system or your AC or any other device.
5. You can similarly set up devices in another room using the Add Room button.
6. Access the remote by tapping the icon in the bottom right corner of the app.
7. To access the advance remote, tap the arrow in the center right of the screen.
Now I’m sure many of you here must have heard of something similar coming pre-installed in a plenty of smartphones. For example, Xiaomi’s current flagship the Mi4 comes with an IR blaster and serves a similar purpose as the Peel Smart Remote app letting your control your TV on your smartphone.
So why go for Peel?
We have plenty of reasons to convince you. To begin with, the Mi4 works with a limited number of TV and SetTop Box brands, most of which are Chinese considering their main target is the Chinese market. So this means if you get a TV from a manufacturer who’s not popular in China, you wont be able to use Mi Remote with it. In contrast, Peel Smart Remote works with almost every TV, Set-Top Box and AC brand that you ever might have come across. Moving on, the Mi4 is the only Xiaomi device that supports Mi Remote while the Peel Smart Remote app works on any device with an IR blaster including on smartphones from big manufacturers like Samsung, Gionee, HTC, Karbonn and many others.
Other features on the Peel Smart Remote app that are absent from the Mi Remote include lock screen widget, reminders, localized program guide and program search amongst many others.
Another particularly interesting feature present on the Peel Smart Remote that caught our attention is its ability to learn and let you customize functions based on that.
For example, if you want to use the volume control keys on your smartphone to change channels for a particular remote button, you can easily do that by heading to Settings > My Room > Remotes and clicking on the pencil icon next to the remote you want to customize( In Our Case It’s Sony TV )
Then click on the Learn Code option.
You will see a list of actions of your smartphone open up on your screen along with a Learn Code option next to each one of them.
Now if suppose we want to use the volume buttons to shuffle through channels. So click on the Learn Code option next to the volume up or down button. You will then be required to to align your remote control’s and your phone’s IR blaster. Then click on the corresponding function on the remote button which in our case is shuffling channels up or down and voila, the Peel Smart Remote just learnt.
This feature too is absent from the Mi Remote:
So this was our review of the Peel Smart Remote App. If you too have a phone equipped with an IR blaster and use multiple devices in your house controlled with an IR remote, do not waste any time and install this app today.
Download Peel Smart Remote App from Google Play and iOS App Store today!
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