360° Coverage VooMote One iPhone Universal Remote Control Review
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VooMote One iPhone Universal Remote Control Review
Jun 10 2011, 10:12am CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr
Over the last week the I tested VooMote One Universal Remote Control accessory for the Apple iPhone. With the VooMote you can control all your home entertainment components directly from your iPhone. The VooMote works with the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPod touch (2G, 3G and 4G) running iOS 4.x.
In Use
German start-up Zero1.tv unveiled the VooMote last year at the IFA and is on sale since last month. The VooMote ONE connects to an iPhone or iPod touch and controls all infrared enabled devices such as TVs, DVD players or set-top boxes via the iPhone touch screen. The VooMote ONE accessory slaps onto the back of the iPhone or iPod touch and contains the iR emitter on the front. The iPhone remote control comes with a free VooMote ONE App available in the Apple iTunes App Store.
The VooMote One base has a clever design to make it work with the iPhone 3G, 3GS and iPhone 4. Small plastic adapters adjust the slide-on back to fit the different iPhone models. The accessory is pretty light and does not add much bulk to the iPhone. Once connected the VooMote One app can be used to setup new devices. The user interface of the VooMoote One is very clean and attractive. To setup your TV for instance you first setup a room. That is right you can manage several groups of devices organized by rooms. I have setup my living room and my office.
To add a device I just need to choose the type of the device and the manufacturer from a list. Then the VooMote uses codescan to identify the correct model. The VooMote tells you to push a serious of buttons and watch if your device reacts accordingly. After a couple of these code tests the device configuration is finished.
The VooMote works like many conventional universal remote controls. A code library is used to identify your devices. Devices that are not in the library can be configured with a teach-in function. You just point your original remote control toward the LED transmitter at the bottom of your VooMote One and hold down the button on your original remote control that corresponds with the button on the touch screen. All my devices have been though in the code library.
For each device you get several screens of buttons for controlling it. In a future version of the VooMote software you will be able to edit the layouts. The buttons are large enough to make it easy to use them on the iPhone touchscreen. You can easily slide between different button groups for the device. You are also able to create combined virtual remotes with a feature called One View.
Another announced upcoming feature is One Touch. One Touch which will allow you to configure a sequence of commands. This will be a very powerful feature allowing you for instance to start up all your components needed for a movie evening.
I did not experience any additional battery drain using the VooMote One.
Verdict
Pros
- Ease of Use
- Clean Remote Layouts
- Upgradeable through App
Cons
- Some powerful features not available yet (coming August)
- Code Library could use a Search Function
Conclusion
The VooMote One is a very easy to use universal remote control and ideal for people that want to do everything with their iPhone or iPod touch. The VooMote One is currently only available in Europe for 69.90 Euro. You can buy it on the Voomote site. The free VooMote One app is available on iTunes.
The company is currently in negotiations with retail partners to bring the VooMote One to the United States.
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Luigi Lugmayr
Luigi Lugmayr (Google) is the founding chief Editor of I4U News and brings over 15 years
experience in the technology field to the ever evolving and exciting
world of gadgets. He started I4U News back in 2000 and evolved it into
vibrant technology magazine.
Luigi can be contacted directly at ml@i4u.com.
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