Google TV Remotes May Support Indoor Light-Powered Self Charging Battery: Report

TW Electronics, the company manufacturing most Android TV and Google TV device remotes, has announced a new battery design for its future remotes. The latest battery design allows the remote to be self-charged by utilising indoor light available in the TV remote's environment. The remote control technology was developed in partnership with Swedish company Exeger, and is ready to be paired with Google TV devices.

Self-charging remote controls have been developed in the past for smart TVs by the likes of Samsung. Meanwhile, even Amazon is tipped to be working on a self-charging Fire TV remote, according to a report by AFTVnews.

The company that unveiled its latest technology-enabled Google TV-ready remote control at CES 2023 also took to Twitter to widely share the announcement.

Excited to announce the launch of a self charging, battery free #remotecontrol powered by indoor light. Developed with #Exeger,the device is #GoogleTV ready and easily integrated into your existing system. Get in touch with us for more details.#CES2023 #solarpower pic.twitter.com/pO1bycCC2b

The technology that enables self-charging on TV remotes involves the use of a photovoltaic panel. In the case of TW electronics, the remote showcased at CES 2023 retains the basic button layout seen on many Google TV remotes, apart from the addition of a photovoltaic cell panel at the bottom of the remote control device.

However, it is not clear when this self-charging remote will actually launch paired with a Google TV product, added a report by 9to5Google.

TW's G10 remote was widely seen on Android TV and Google TV streaming boxes and dongles launched over the past year. However, the report added that the more recent G20 design from TW has not often been seen on new products.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.