The iOS universal remote marketplace has been invaded in the last year by new vendors selling external WiFi or Bluetooth controlled IR blasters. Gear 4, Peel, Griffin and Logitech have all entered the market to become your AV equipment remote control. Do these devices perform better than the NewKinetix Rē? Let’s take a look.
A good way to understand how competitive products fare with users is to check out their Amazon reviews. These reviews are written by users who bought the product on Amazon and have used the product.
Obviously, the NewKinetix Rē gets the highest user ranking. So what don’t users like about the blaster products? I scanned the negative comments about use that bring down the user rating and have included those problems representative of major use issues.
Griffin Beacon Comments:
“The Bluetooth is limiting since you can only pair with one device at a time. After the device goes to sleep the wake up process was not smooth. I had to play with it to get it to reconnect.”
“IR output produced inconsistent results. Position is critical and in my case I had few options for location”
Peel Comments:
“This remote cannot “learn” from existing remotes. It does not support all existing devices so if you have a device that’s not supported, then you’re just out of luck. There is NO OPTION for teaching this remote your IR codes!”
“Seems to be a 75% there solution, my biggest issue is that it needs to be 15-20 feet from the Peel cable which is connected to your router… more than that … does not work…. do not buy if your TV and router are not in the same room.”
Gear4 Unity Remote Comments:
“Does not reconnect smoothly to iPhone as advertised, you have to go into the iPhone Bluetooth settings every time you start to use it.”
“Runs on three AA batteries… And there is NO option for an AC power adapter.”
“I had difficulty getting the application to connect with the device consistently.”
“Bluetooth has a long delay between “pushing” a button and getting a response.”
Harmony Link Comments:
“the web interface you have to use to configure this product is the slowest, most clunky thing I have ever seen.”
“The connection should be automatic, and isn’t. Once you manually connect once and enter a password you should NEVER have to do this again, but it often asks for this. There is a connection timeout, and after that you need to enter your password again.”
Generalizations:
So what can we derive is wrong with the blaster concept?
1.Bluetooth and WiFi add complexity to setup and use.
2.Batteries are an expensive nuisance.
3.Bluetooth and WiFi introduce delay in controlling your equipment.
4.Blaster location is limited by WiFi or Bluetooth communications range.
Users want simplicity. Setup should be easy. Whether a Rē or a blaster, the user must define the environment he wants to control in the App. Plug in the accessory and the Rē is ready to use. Blaster products all require you to power and place the blaster where it will be able to communicate with your network or Bluetooth as well as have line of sight to your AV equipment. Then you have to setup the communications link and reconnect on every use. And don’t forget to change the batteries! Want to move from your living room TV to the bedroom TV… Buy another blaster, or just take the Re with you.
What do users value about the Rē that is missing from the competitive solutions?
“I have had numerous “universal” remotes and “smart” remotes in the past. The beauty about the Re is that I can program it for different rooms and carry my iPad around with me wherever I am. Now I have one remote for my living room home theater, the same remote for my bedroom system, and even use it for traveling at the work apartment and various hotel rooms. Now that is flexibility.”
“I bought this as an alternative to the spendy Logitech remotes. Wow I was glad I did. It recognizes all my various equipment in 3 separate rooms and is VERY easily customizable without needing a computer. All the changes are done directly on the iPhone with iPhone simplicity. It actually was really fun getting it set up. Not sure what else to say. It’s AWESOME. And messing with the TVs at the local Champs on Super Bowl Sunday should be fun too.”
Conclusion:
Portability and simplicity prove to be the key factors in using a universal remote control on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. That is why the Rē continues to outperform the blaster competition and one of the reasons that the Rē gets higher ratings from users than blasters.
