When Google TV set up their site, they showed off the nifty feature of your smartphone, whether Android or iPhone, acting as the remote. There was a good reason for this apart from the coolness aspect. And it's the stuff of nightmares.

Take a gander at this remote via Techcrunch and Engadget. ABC ran a Nightline special on Google TV and Engadget caught some screen shots from Sony's upcoming media buy.

It's a horrific, clunky beast with more buttons than seems wieldy. Sure, a lot of that is the QWERTY keyboard alone, and Playstation fans will appreciate the gamer-style top level controls, but it doesn't look like it sits nicely in the hands and the buttons strike us as a tad non-ergonomic. What appeals to us about Google TV is the software end of things where navigation looks intuitive and it builds on skills we already possess.

Granted, this is just our first impressions of the device based on pictures, and not any hands-on testing, but we're surprised the Engadget crew is so tweaked out about this one. The smartphone remote seems far more likely to get our regular usage, though there are some issues with battery-life and auto-lock features when you pursue that route. Still, think of your current remotes with their scads of buttons and dial that up a couple dozen notches. There's no way you're going to teach your parents to use this one.

Meanwhile, Apple TV's remote seems a tad under-featured for our tastes.

Why won't someone just make this beautifully envisioned magic remote? That's definitely more our speed.