FiOS TV customers are getting an innovative new way to control the functions on their TV sets – and enjoy some enhanced features as well. All they have to do is reach for their Verizon Motorola Droid or HTC Imagio mobile phone.

Effective immediately, FiOS TV customers who have an HD set-top box and a can use the phones as a television remote control. The mobile remote has virtually the same functionality as the standard FiOS remote, plus additional features including instantly transferring photos from the handset to the TV screen. Verizon will expand this service, Verizon FiOS Mobile Remote, to additional mobile phones in the coming months.

“With FiOS Mobile Remote we’re leveraging the in-home FiOS network to marry the cell phone to the TV for simpler, more convenient navigation, along with entirely new phone-to-TV experiences that cable can’t match,” said Shawn Strickland, vice president of FiOS product management for Verizon. “This kind of feature underscores for customers how powerful the FiOS in-home network is — and the potential it has for constant innovation.”

FiOS TV customers, including small-business customers, access the new feature through the applications store on their mobile phone handset and then pair the device with their in-home FiOS network by opening up the Mobile Remote Widget on FiOS TV and selecting either the Motorola Droid or HTC Imagio icon. Customers will be asked to register their wireless telephone number, using the widget. Customers can register their handsets on any FiOS TV, at home or away.

Once set up, FiOS Mobile Remote offers these features for Motorola Droid and HTC Imagio customers:

• My Remote — Controls a FiOS TV set-top box from the mobile device, with features including changing channels, adjusting volume, managing parental controls and using DVR functionality such as pause, rewind, fast forward or record live programming. Customers can also use the handset to control the FiOS TV onscreen full QWERTY keyboard, or use their handset’s keyboard to search for TV programming and video-on-demand titles or manage the Facebook and Twitter widget applications.
• My Photos — Photos stored on the handset can be instantly transferred from the phone to the TV, with two options. With the touch of a finger, subscribers can flick one picture at a time and see it appear on the TV screen. Subscribers can also display an entire slide show of stored pictures.
• My Favorites — Users can import to the mobile device favorite-channels lists currently stored on the TV set. The mobile device can then be used to flip through and select channels from the lists.
• Tele- TV Mute — Automatically mutes the TV when a call is answered with the handset and resumes the previous TV-volume level after the call is ended.

Mobile Remote is easy to set up. You simply access the feature through the application store on the mobile handset and then pair the device with the in-home Wi-Fi network by opening up the Mobile Remote Widget on the TV and selecting either the Motorola Droid or HTC Imagio icon. You will then be asked to register your telephone number using the Widget, and you’re all set to go.