Audiovox Zentral Turns Your iPhone Or BlackBerry Into A Remote

We’ve seen IR solutions for the iPhone before, but this is the first we’ve seen for BlackBerry – and the first that also works as a garage door opener.

Unlike the Remote or L5 Remote, Audiovox’s Zentral solution doesn’t need a dongle – it communicates with a base station via Bluetooth, and that base station in turn talks to your TV (or stereo, iPod, garage door, whatever). There are three products in the line: The AV Remote for iPhone and BlackBerry, which works with up to 16 different devices ($US60 for BlackBerry, $US80 for iPhone); the Smartphone Jukebox, which lets a BlackBerry control an iPod ($US70); and the Smartphone Garage Remote for BlackBerry ($US50). They’ll all be available sometime this spring. [Audiovox]