Ever rushed out of the house only to realise half an hour later that you’ve forgotten to set the video? Sky users need never miss their favourite programmes with Sky’s Remote Record facility.

Remote Record lets you browse the TV schedules just as you would on your Sky digibox, check out programme information, and set your Sky box to record any programme. Sky advises that you should give the system 30 minutes’ notice before recording a soon-to-start show, but we found some programmes recorded when as little as 10 minutes notice.

You only need to download the small Sky by Mobile application to get started, and as the application’s interface is a scaled-down version of the regular electronic programme guide (EPG), there’s no learning curve for Sky users. The time it takes to load a new page can be quite slow, and as the EPG only displays 45 minutes’ worth of programmes at once, there’s a lot of scrolling and waiting to be done.

Saying that, the Programme Search facility which lets you search by programme name, channel, date and time, is a great time-saver, and being able to record programmes from the train, office or pub is not just very handy, it’s also very impressive!

Apart from Remote Record, Sky by Mobile also offers the latest news, sports and entertainment headlines, and access to Sky Bet so subscribers (you’ll need a separate Sky Bet account) can place bets on all manner of events straight from their mobiles.

On the downside, you may need to tweak your GPRS settings to get the programme to work at all, and Sky’s technical support have a habit of sending you back to your mobile network provider rather than attempting to talk you through the fix. The correct settings are included along with our guide to installing and using Sky by Mobile and Remote Record.

How to install and use Sky by Mobile

Information on Remote Record at Sky.com