[ale] Ultimate Cell Phone remote?

[JD]

On 04/08/2011 10:23 AM, Calvin Harrigan wrote:
> Being the Luddite that I am about portable telephone technology I'm 
> turning to the ale community for what might seem like easy questions. 
> I'm looking for an ultimate remote control for my mythtv/boxee/hulu/xbmc 
> HTPC.  After seeing some of the newer phones with slide out 
> keyboards/touch screens etc. I thought these phone would be ideal for an 
> uber remote.  The question I had was:  Can these phones, IPhones, 
> BlackBerries, generally be used without having service.  As in dedicated 
> use as a remote control that communicates via wifi/bluetooth?
> Any ideas along these lines?  Obviously I would have to develop an app 
> for the platform, just feeling the waters for now.
> 

I have a Nokia N800. There isn't a pre-built XBMC app for it and the
XBMC dev team has deprecated the REST interface - leaving only the JSON
version. I was ready to write an app using the REST interface, but not
the JSON one.  The built-in web interface for XBMC is really lacking
too. Barely worth looking at, IMHO.

Have you considered getting a remove that has an HID interface and a
keyboard - like the Lenovo one?
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Multimedia-Remote-with-Keyboard/dp/B0036VO67I/
 or the Logitech diNovo Mini.  But without the standard remote-control
buttons, daily use would be less than ideal, IMHO. This could work
ProMini Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard
http://www.amazon.com/ProMini-Wireless-Bluetooth-Keyboard-TouchPad/dp/B003ZJEUBI/
but the reviews are "eh."

I use a $17 Rosewill Windows7 Media Center remote with XMBC and it works
pretty well, except when it is time to type. At that point, I walk over
to the netbook and use the normal keyboard. That happens only when
making connections to new media CIFS locations. Searching hulu or
youtube doesn't really happen here.

If you are really looking for all-in-one, as much as I hate Apple, a
used Apple iPod Touch is probably the best choice. I feel dirty.