Do you know when a good time to standardise something is? Before the products are being made, otherwise it’s a bit of the horse has bolted moment. Regardless of timing Google has been working on a ‘reference design’ for remotes that work with the Google TV platform.
While Google isn’t mandating the button layout, they are strongly suggesting that OEMs follow the guidelines and have included a new button for ‘Watch list’ which will give users quick access to content they have bookmarked. With several devices already announced from several OEMs and it not being mandatory it feels like we’re heading in to traditional Google Fragmentation territory with this.
Watch list is an interesting feature with the ability to add content from within he app, on android and from the web. It’s good to see Google come out with strong opinions about how their ecosystem should look and feel, we just wish they would make more things mandatory, while the layout may be recommended, the presence of a ‘Watch list’ button should perhaps be mandated.
Gee the horse really has bolted on that one. I bought a Chromecast with Google TV before Christmas (which is great BTW) and their own remote doesn’t match their own reference design!
why not make the gyroscope as standard too, will act like a game controller (like apple tv’s)