Wow - what is really sad is that the maker - NewKinetix bet the farm on this one product.
Requiring a dongle just makes this pointless. When do you attach it? When do you put it back on. How do you dock to charge your phone. I would put money that any use of these types of devices will drop to near zero after the first month or so of ownership. Assuming that you still know where the dongle is.
Having had a similar app on a Sony variation of the Palm PDA (with strong _built_in_ IR) I used it occasionally but not often. The App was 10 bucks, and I had the PDA with me all the time - still it was easier to grab a real (tactile) remote. And I never had to worry about the dongle.
@scobb Actually it's not too sad to see Darwin's magic hand at work.
About 2 years ago (EE here) I thought about doing something like this for myself, and then maybe productizing it. It's very simple electronics & it would be fun to do. Plus it would have been a good excuse to write an iPhone app. Then I realized:
- you'd be able to get a real remote with a hu-frigging' mungous database and real buttons for about the same price I could do the product
- the touch screen is inferior to tactile buttons for most things
- having a large tumor hanging off my iPhone would suck
- how does person "X" in the house use this cute little toy when I'm at work with my iPhone? Nice $70 paperweight ya got there.
- how do you mute the TV during a phone call, etc.?
- sucks the battery life out of your phone - I'd rather save the battery for talking. My Harmony One lasts about 10 days with normal usage on a single 1-hr charge. Can my iPhone do that?
Anyway, I made a business decision to pass on the product development, which obviously at least 4 other guys/firms didn't. We'll see if they're laughing all the way to the bank, or if they're in Darwin's waiting room.
To paraphrase Chris Rock, just because you *can* do something, that doesn't mean it's to be done. (Just ask Mr. Hands).
@DOGBREATH It's not good if you use the traditional channel up and down/ volume and number keys like a regular remote... what if you actually used what a large touch screen is good at, though? You could just display a large TV Guide where you just touch the show you want to watch. You could touch a later show to set a reminder.
I love my Logitech Harmony One, but I'd trade it fast for an iPad with a TV Guide that could change my cable box.
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Wow - what is really sad is that the maker - NewKinetix bet the farm on this one product.
Requiring a dongle just makes this pointless. When do you attach it? When do you put it back on. How do you dock to charge your phone. I would put money that any use of these types of devices will drop to near zero after the first month or so of ownership. Assuming that you still know where the dongle is.
Having had a similar app on a Sony variation of the Palm PDA (with strong _built_in_ IR) I used it occasionally but not often. The App was 10 bucks, and I had the PDA with me all the time - still it was easier to grab a real (tactile) remote. And I never had to worry about the dongle.
@scobb Actually it's not too sad to see Darwin's magic hand at work.
About 2 years ago (EE here) I thought about doing something like this for myself, and then maybe productizing it. It's very simple electronics & it would be fun to do. Plus it would have been a good excuse to write an iPhone app. Then I realized:
- you'd be able to get a real remote with a hu-frigging' mungous database and real buttons for about the same price I could do the product
- the touch screen is inferior to tactile buttons for most things
- having a large tumor hanging off my iPhone would suck
- how does person "X" in the house use this cute little toy when I'm at work with my iPhone? Nice $70 paperweight ya got there.
- how do you mute the TV during a phone call, etc.?
- sucks the battery life out of your phone - I'd rather save the battery for talking. My Harmony One lasts about 10 days with normal usage on a single 1-hr charge. Can my iPhone do that?
Anyway, I made a business decision to pass on the product development, which obviously at least 4 other guys/firms didn't. We'll see if they're laughing all the way to the bank, or if they're in Darwin's waiting room.
To paraphrase Chris Rock, just because you *can* do something, that doesn't mean it's to be done. (Just ask Mr. Hands).
@DOGBREATH It's not good if you use the traditional channel up and down/ volume and number keys like a regular remote... what if you actually used what a large touch screen is good at, though? You could just display a large TV Guide where you just touch the show you want to watch. You could touch a later show to set a reminder.
I love my Logitech Harmony One, but I'd trade it fast for an iPad with a TV Guide that could change my cable box.