CES a chance for companies to show off their latest, most efficient products and devices. After introducing a solar-powered Eco Remote for its 2021 TVs, Samsung is back with a new version that comes with a pretty cool trick.
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Like the previous Eco Remote, this one can be charged with solar power, but Samsung has also added radio frequency harvesting capabilities, which allow the remote to conserve its battery by “harvesting radio waves from routers and converting them into clean energy.” This isn’t something we see in many gadgets, mainly because it’s only really practical for low-power devices. But remotes definitely fall into that category.
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In addition to the new RF collection option, the Eco Remote can be charged by both external and internal light, or for faster results via USB-C. Samsung says it's introducing a white model of the remote this year, which the company says is intended to better match its "lifestyle" TVs, such as The Frame, Serif , and Sero.
As with the original remote, the intention here is to eliminate AAA batteries. Samsung previously estimated that switching to solar-powered remotes could prevent 99 million discarded batteries over seven years.
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The company has also explored other ways to self-charge the internal battery, such as “harnessing the kinetic energy created when the remote is shaken” and “using the vibrational energy created when the microphone picks up sounds.” But this time it settled on adding radio frequency harvesting as another way to keep your remote running whenever you need it.
