YouTube Remote app controls YouTube, on the TV or PC, from Android phones and tablets

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The smart phone is increasingly becoming one more living-room remote control.

Not long ago Apple came out with its Remote app for the iPhone and iPad, which can be used to control iTunes when synced with a computer or Apple TV device.

Today, Google introduced YouTube Remote, an application available free on the Android Market that will let users find a YouTube video on their Android smart phone or Android tablet, then push that video from a hand-held device to a computer or Google TV-equipped television set for watching on the larger screen.

The YouTube Remote app creates a “virtual connection” between any Android phone or tablet and YouTube Leanback -- YouTube’s user interface for Google TV.

For those who don’t have Google TV, YouTube Leanback is also available for the computer at YouTube.com/leanback.

Connecting an Android device with a YouTube Leanback display requires only the two apps and signing in on both apps via a Google account.

Once signed in and synced, the Android device can also work a remote control that can play, pause, rewind and control volume for the desired YouTube videos.

As of now, YouTube Remote works only in the U.S. and is available only through Google’s Android Marketplace.

Google, which owns both YouTube and the Android operating system, has not announced any plans to make a YouTube Remote app for the rival iPhone or iPad from Apple.

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

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