I had a phone that had an IR Blaster. It was a Samsung Galaxy but I forget what model. (It was around after Iron Man 2 came out.) Man was that an awesome feature! Put away all my remotes because I could control my TV and home theater system with just my phone (and not having to pay for an expensive-ass Harmony remote).
I know the Galaxy S4 had it, as did the Galaxy S4 Active. Also the Active had physical buttons. I know because I rocked that thing for far longer than its intended lifetime. Still have it somewhere, actually.
…hell, maybe I should get IR software up and running on that thing.
It was the S4 I had! Thank you! As I get older, the memory gets fuzzier lol. Not sure if it’ll still support any current apps/os/anything, but if you do dig it up to try, I hope it works!
Nothing worse for me than a complicated remote that’s touchscreen only. It’s just as annoying as car infotainment touchscreens, though tbf, also like a million times safer, LOL. I’m trying to find something to watch, so I don’t want to have to look at the remote or make sure my thumb hasn’t slipped a few millimeters. I prefer a well programmed Harmony or URC (once you wade through the gatekeeping and find some software) or just committing to a simpler setup with one or two remotes.
Well, it’s been a long time so I have no idea if they still do, but Harmony made a phone app, you just had to buy their expensive-ass IR blaster kit that had a couple or so IR blasters that you stuck near your devices’ IR receivers. I’d rather have the Blaster in the phone and just download an app. And the app I had was just as programmable as the Harmony stuff.
That sounds like it’d suffer from the same problem a TV App would: if your network is having problems you suddenly can’t control your devices. The less intermediary connections between the controls and the device you’re controlling, the better.
I mean that’s still kinda cool though, it just doesn’t sound like it’d solve this specific problem.
Harmony remotes use RF to communicate with the IR blasters, so no, there’s no network issues. As for the Harmony app…I never used it, because why would I pay a couple hundred for something that I could do with a free app that uses infrared so no network issues? That, though, would probably have network issues because I don’t think cell phones do RF other than Bluetooth and WiFi.
The main thing for me is no-look tactility. I have a Roku remote app as a backup, and it’s annoying even with many fewer controls than the dedicated remote apps I’ve seen. I should be able to feel when my thumb has slipped over from the nav cross to the volume buttons. Different functional clusters should start in a sensible place and feel physically distinct from the other buttons, due to some combination of shape and placement.
I had a phone that had an IR Blaster. It was a Samsung Galaxy but I forget what model. (It was around after Iron Man 2 came out.) Man was that an awesome feature! Put away all my remotes because I could control my TV and home theater system with just my phone (and not having to pay for an expensive-ass Harmony remote).
I know the Galaxy S4 had it, as did the Galaxy S4 Active. Also the Active had physical buttons. I know because I rocked that thing for far longer than its intended lifetime. Still have it somewhere, actually.
…hell, maybe I should get IR software up and running on that thing.
It was the S4 I had! Thank you! As I get older, the memory gets fuzzier lol. Not sure if it’ll still support any current apps/os/anything, but if you do dig it up to try, I hope it works!
Nothing worse for me than a complicated remote that’s touchscreen only. It’s just as annoying as car infotainment touchscreens, though tbf, also like a million times safer, LOL. I’m trying to find something to watch, so I don’t want to have to look at the remote or make sure my thumb hasn’t slipped a few millimeters. I prefer a well programmed Harmony or URC (once you wade through the gatekeeping and find some software) or just committing to a simpler setup with one or two remotes.
Well, it’s been a long time so I have no idea if they still do, but Harmony made a phone app, you just had to buy their expensive-ass IR blaster kit that had a couple or so IR blasters that you stuck near your devices’ IR receivers. I’d rather have the Blaster in the phone and just download an app. And the app I had was just as programmable as the Harmony stuff.
That sounds like it’d suffer from the same problem a TV App would: if your network is having problems you suddenly can’t control your devices. The less intermediary connections between the controls and the device you’re controlling, the better.
I mean that’s still kinda cool though, it just doesn’t sound like it’d solve this specific problem.
Harmony remotes use RF to communicate with the IR blasters, so no, there’s no network issues. As for the Harmony app…I never used it, because why would I pay a couple hundred for something that I could do with a free app that uses infrared so no network issues? That, though, would probably have network issues because I don’t think cell phones do RF other than Bluetooth and WiFi.
The main thing for me is no-look tactility. I have a Roku remote app as a backup, and it’s annoying even with many fewer controls than the dedicated remote apps I’ve seen. I should be able to feel when my thumb has slipped over from the nav cross to the volume buttons. Different functional clusters should start in a sensible place and feel physically distinct from the other buttons, due to some combination of shape and placement.