Bang & Olufsen Beo 5 Remote

Bang & Olufsen may be one of the more interesting electronics companies out there. Not because I think they make great stuff—it's so ridiculously expensive that I never even consider buying it, something which I'm sure breaks their hearts—but because they exist in a rarified stratosphere somehow exempt from traditional good taste and design.

In the strange fairy land of high-end retail, products like the Beo 5 remote control are allowed to flourish, despite glaring deformities like an awkward screen perched on a spindly neck, like a lolling Hapsburg prince too rich to be quietly sequestered but too ugly to be seen.

I do like the round body, though. I bet it's got heft, like a baseball or a hunk of cheese. I bet you could bean a pauper real nice with that.

No price yet. If you have to ask...

Bang & Olufsen shows off Beo 5 remote control [EngadgetHD]

[#1 posted by Tubman , September 6, 2007 8:35 AM]

It's not really a weapons-grade remote, as it's a lot smaller and lighter than it looks in the pictures. It actually weighs in at around 200g and to give you an idea of scale, the display's a 2.5 incher.

Pricing's expected to be around €400-500.

[#2 posted by Joel Johnson , September 6, 2007 1:10 PM]

Smaller is better, for sure, but it's just so gawky. Maybe if the screen wasn't square it would be less jarring.

[#3 posted by Tubman , September 6, 2007 3:22 PM]

I think you're being unkind.

With the right lighting and blood alcohol level it could easily pass for a North Korean knock-off of a now defunct zaibatsu's pre-school toy based on the design of an iMac G4.

[#4 posted by felsby , September 7, 2007 12:43 AM]

no-one calls a Mercedes "ridiculously expensive" because it costs twice as much as a same-size-and-horsepower Ford. It´s just The Law Of Diminishing Returns in action.
-said the Ford-driving B&O watcher