What's stopping him from making the command word "Rawr"?
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You're well within your purview as GM to say no to something you think is an exploit. If you don't have Animal Archive you should defnitely look into it (or have your player do so). There is the circlet of speaking that grants an animal the ability to speak. This would allow the T-rex to activate its armor if its smart enough (INT 3+).
--Vrockasaurus (Saltantus vulturem ruinam)
He might need to teach his AC the perform trick to use a command word.
It is entirely fair to disallow an animal to activate a command word item, even if they have an INT of 3 (or a fair bit higher for that matter.)
Custom magical items, which is what an alternate activation method would be, are of course entirely within control, and you should feel free to disallow them for anything you wish, including not having the right 'feel.'
All that being said, as long as the item is still a standard action to activate, it wouldn't be unbalanced and the few times it would be an advantage over a different activation method, would be quite rare.
I will note though that with it's teeny little arms, poor T-rex may have just as much difficulty activating by touch.
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If your homegame resorts to the PFS framework for rules (many do), then there is an FAQ restricting Animal Companions from activating Magic items (with the exception of Ioun Stones for Animals with an Int of 3+).
If you go by that, then your player's T-Rex would be incapable of activating a magic item. If you don't go the PFS framework, then the call is totally up to you.
Let him make it a command word that anyone can activate if stated within 20' (or whatever). Still takes a standard action from someone. Command could be "Smiley, Grab!"
/cevah
Can I improve my companion’s Intelligence to 3 or higher and give it weapon feats?
No. An Intelligence of 3 does not grant animals sentience, the ability to use weapons or tools, speak a language (though they may understand one with a rank in Linguistics; this does nct grant literacy), or activate magic devices. Also note that raising an animal companion’s Intelligence to 3 or higher does not eliminate the need to make Handle Animal checks to direct its actions; even semi-intelligent animals still act like animals unless trained not to. An animal with Intelligence of 3 or higher remains a creature of the animal type unless its type is specifically changed by another ability. An animal may learn 3 additional tricks per point of Intelligence above 2.
/cevah
PFS FAQs are glorified houserules. They're not really relevant here in a "How does this actually work" sense.