Re: Easter egg in the RX-51?
 

And what about Nokia's symbian applications as easter egg? I'd love to see, say, Nokia Sports Tracker, or Nokia Maps run on Maemo!

Re: Easter egg in the RX-51?
 

Sure, and since we have a camera already, we could try some
Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy like in the Mars Science Laboratory!! :cool: But it might drain the battery a bit too much, tough. :rolleyes:

Everything is better with lasers, indeed. Do you know laser cats? :D

Re: Easter egg in the RX-51?
 

Well, my coworker did use his older Nokia as an universal remote control. Remote control software exists on windows ce/PDAs, windows mobile and symbian. Most but not all Cell phones and PDAs do have too weak a signal, though.

Re: Easter egg in the RX-51?
 

That's because most PDAs implement the IrDA standard which is designed for short range and device-to-device communication - to control a TV you need Consumer IR.

Implementing IrDA would be a waste of time/space/money on the RX-51, it's been pretty much rendered obsolete these days by radio based technologies, but Consumer IR could be an interesting addition and would give the RX-51 something the opposition lacks, although I doubt it would ever replace my Harmony One.

Re: Easter egg in the RX-51?
 

Nokia Maps and Nokia Ovi runs on the RX-51.

Re: Easter egg in the RX-51?
 

The IR on my Palm Tungsten E was Very usable as a remote, all the way across a decent sized house. I really miss that. (The software the I used on it, NoviiRemote or some such, also let it learn from other remotes and had an ok default library of codes for major brands' devices)

I would love to see an IR port like my Tungsten had on more devices, for that purpose (Since the only remotes I own that actually are Bluetooth are my Wiimotes)

Re: Easter egg in the RX-51?
 

A great easter egg would be a built-in game of pong that used the accelerometer to make you RUN AROUND to hit the ball. You thought people throwing their wiimotes into their TV's was bad...! ;)

Re: Easter egg in the RX-51?
 

It was possible to fake Consumer IR (CIR) on some IrDA devices such as Palms (ie. hack the IrDA transmitter using direct register access to command it to operate at the extremely slow and non-standard 40-baud rate used by CIR), but this was definitely the exception to the rule. I tried NoviiRemote and also Omni Remote on my Tungsten and while it would control my TV which was only ~7m away it wasn't reliable, and both applications were pretty ropey anyway (certainly not worth paying for IMHO).

I think it CIR could have it's uses, but if I'm being honest I think touchscreen based remote controls are a complete nightmare and totally over-rated - who doesn't fumble around for the remote control in the dark while lying on the sofa? How's that going to work out when the remote control is just one big finger sensitive touchscreen? :)

That's why I like the Harmony One - it has a ton of hard buttons, I just have to be careful to avoid the small touchscreen (which does have it's uses!) when groping around for it...

Re: Easter egg in the RX-51?
 

Just make sure your remote control software has a nice bright theme, and it will be better than most remotes, because it will be nice and bright in the dark room.

I use the screen of my N800 all the time as a kind of flashlight to find my way around dark rooms.

Re: Easter egg in the RX-51?
 

:D

And now what's the difference between an remote control and a phone when you're in the dark on the sofa (watching TV! it's all while watching TV!)?

Hardware buttons are your friends, no matter what device.