Not everyone is completely comfortable severing dependency from their phone while relaxing to watch a movie. Until now, there was no way to talk on the phone while using an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch based universal remote. Now you can use that old iPhone in one hand to keep channel surfing while you tell mom about your week on your new iPhone 4. But you don’t necessarily have to be upgrading with a new iPhone or iPod touch. You don’t even have to be an AT&T user. Used versions are available everywhere. Check out the eBays and Craigslists of the world and you won’t have to search for long. Just remember you need to be able to charge it up (get a charger too) and make sure it’s functional.

Another great advantage: if you are anything like me, I need to keep my remotes, or in this case, one remote for every entertainment device, in one spot. This way I always know where it is and can always leave it charging, so I know it’s ready when I need it. Having dedicated hardware for the Rē allows you to always keep your remote with your entertainment devices.

Let’s go over the figures. Top rate universal remotes, limited in usability and features in comparison to the Rē, can cost around $200. (Yes, people pay that and more, actually). The Rē hardware costs $70 bucks and the required app is free. Even if you upgraded to a new phone, bought a used iPod touch and a Rē remote control, you would have a better universal remote and save money. Hmmmm…I think I know what I’m doing with my old iPhone, and now I can sleep better at night knowing I’m helping out those old 3G iPhones adjust to retirement.

On my way home from work I stopped at my mother-in-laws for dinner and in the 5 minutes after dinner before I left I was able to program in her TV, DVD, and audio receiver so the next time I come over I will have “Control”.

When I got home it took only moments to program the TV and DVD player in my bedroom. I eliminated the buttons I didn’t need, moved a few around and, Viola!

RE has taken all the necessary things with a universal remote and made them WAY better. The ability to configure buttons, move them around, and even eliminate them is great! I haven’t even tried the Macros yet, but If the form and function of what I’ve seen so far is any indication of what they will be like, I can’t wait!

All in all, this thing ROCKS!

The Rē offers nearly unlimited options to automate your Activity Remotes with macros. In this paper, I’ll review some of the different ways that you might want to setup your Activities to power devices on and off and switch inputs to the correct video source. I’ll use a typical setup with a TV, Cable Box and DVD player and two activities, Watch TV and Watch DVD.

Preparation

After setting up each device and before I setup activities I test each device remote to verify the On/Off, Pwr On, Pwr Off, and input switch buttons. Some devices support the discrete Pwr On and Pwr Off, and some do not. If any of the power buttons don’t function as expected, I delete them so they will not be used in the Start and All Off macro in activities I later setup. I also identify and note the correct I/O switching buttons that I will need in my activity macros. Generally I’ll verify all of the buttons in the device remotes to verify that I have the best IR Code selected, and delete extra buttons and learn any missing buttons from the original remote before creating activities.

Default Activity

When you set up an activity, the Start and All Off macro are created for you. The software puts the Pwr On button in the macro for each device selected to be a part of the activity. If the device doesn’t have a Pwr On button, the On/Off toggle is used.  Similarly, the All Off macro uses the Pwr Off or On/Off buttons. The remaining button groups are created from your selections by device.  See the online User’s Manual for more general details on setting up activities.

Often, I will include all of the devices in each activity even though they are not used so I can control the power for all devices in the All Off macro. I didn’t do that in this example.

Standard Start Macro

The most common way to add input switching to an activity is to add the input select button to the Start macro as shown at the right. In many cases you will need to add a delay after the power on steps to allow the TV to warm

up so it will see the IR signal to switch to the Cable input.

Alternative Switching Method

In the previous method, you may find that it is inconvenient to hold the remote pointing at the TV for 15 seconds waiting for the warm up delay. Since the Rē allows any number of macros in an activity remote, you may want to make a 2^nd macro button instead of adding delays and switching to the Start macro.  You press the Cable button to switch the TV to the Cable input after the TV warms up as shown in the Watch TV activity below. This example uses a one button macro, but if you have more switching to do, you can include that in the new macro as well.  You can do this in the Watch DVD activity remote as well.

Activity Control as an Activity

Another possibility for setting up power and input switching is to create an activity remote that exclusively handles power and input switching for all of your activities. This gives you a single control panel that is easy to access to start any activity.  Another benefit is that it allows you to remove all of the power buttons from the activity remote screens so you don’t accidentally tap a button that turns of the power in the middle of a movie or TV show.  You can do this for any number of Activity Remotes.

In this example, I can elect to power all the devices on with the All On macro or power on/off individual devices.  All Off powers down everything at once.  The DVD and TV buttons switch the inputs so you are ready to use the appropriate activity.

I included the switch buttons in each activity as a convenience so you don’t need to return to the Activity Control Screen to change from watching TV to watching a DVD.

Creating the Different Setups

I was able to quickly set up the three examples of controlling power and switching by using the copy/paste function in the Re. I created the Family Room, setup the three devices then created the default macro example.  After that was done, I simply created Family Room 1 and Family Room 2 and copied the setup from the Family Room and pasted it into the new rooms. Next I edited the setups to illustrate the different macro usage techniques.

This is also a good illustration of the personalization of the Rē.  I could easily create two different Family Room setups for me and my wife. They could be started from a common setup but each extended to meet the preferences of each user.  This example is for a shared iPod touch, but it could easily be extend between different iPhones, iPod touches or iPads by using Bump to transfer the settings. See more on Bump in the User’s Manual.

Some of the Rē features include:

• Features typically found only on High-End Dedicated Universal Remotes
• Easy to Setup and Fun to Use
• Works Everywhere – Take it from Room to Room and to the Office
• Remotes for all of your Devices are Instantly Accessible
• Transfer your Rē setup from one iPhone to another with Bump
• Supports Virtually all Brands & Types of AV Equipment
• PS3 compatibility using Schmartz wireless hardware
• Upgradable – It Won’t Become Obsolete

Not only does the Rē have the practical use of turning your iPhone or iPod Touch into a universal remote, it also has great prank playing possibilities. Imagine your dad hanging out at his buddies house and taking control of their tv, stereo, etc. Hilarious!

Working out of our office here in Portland Oregon, we haven’t rested since the gratifying launch of the Rē IR Universal Remote Control in March, upon which Ali Heriyanto, co-editor of the online tech and gadgets boutique, ChipChick.com, had this to say “Compared to other iPhone remote control devices we tested recently, the Rē came in heads and shoulders above the rest in terms of ease of use and functionality.” Reviewers and the rapidly growing user community have been giving high marks to their use of the Rē on their iPhone, iPod touch or new iPad.

As software engineers, we like to focus on usability and after gathering lots of user feedback, we are happy to announce the release of this update-our first- just 2 months following our initial worldwide release. We feel it is very important to quickly address any requests and feature demands as we continue to evolve, and we understand that our product can only be at its best with the help of our customers. With V1.1 software, Rē users can expect an even more user-friendly experience when controlling their AV devices. Here is what we’ve added for you:

• Transfer part or all of your personalized Rē setup from one iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to another through the popular data transfer program “Bump”, which is incorporated into the Re App.
• More brands have been added to the already extensive IR database list.
• Additional remote editing features and view customization.
• Includes compatibility with Sony PS3 using the Schmartz wireless Infra-red adapter.
• Auto-dimming can now be enabled in settings, with automatic activation based upon movement.
• App specific timer that can control when the iPhone or iPod goes to sleep. V1.1 also offers vibrate on/off and volume control for button click specifically within the Rē app.

A major differentiating feature of using a Rē is the customizable Activity Remote interface that can control entire activities within one meta-remote, such as “Watch TV, “Play a CD”, or “Watch a Movie”. With an unlimited number of activities that can be programmed and an unlimited number of devices that can be controlled, we decided it would best serve you to include customizable skin colors you can assign to devices and activities to easily distinguish between them. You can personalize your  with selected background images as well.

We also love diving into the intricate technological aspects of the IR transmission codes, giving the Rē a significantly enhanced performance advantage. For instance, not all devices respond to the same IR signal timing. The Rē now compensates for the varied IR signal demands by integrating device specific IR timing control. The addition of these controls is invisible to the typical user, but the fact that they exist provides confidence that the Rē can handle demanding applications.

Download and see the features of the Rē Universal Remote Control App for free from the App Store.

Buy your Rē here