I’ve previously reviewed a couple of relatively inexpensive products to turn your iPhone into a universal remote. The RedEye and POWER A remotes are pretty cool, but the one thing that always sunk it for me was the lack of hard buttons. Plus, I’m always on the lookout for a decent contender on the iPad. [Note that we covered Savant Systems’ iOS and Mac mini solutions for automation and AV several months back. -Ed.]
Crestron, maker of high-end AV and automation solutions for home and office/presentation use, has a solution for both: the iPanel, which surrounds the iPad in a hardware dock with buttons for key functions. At US$500, it’s not something I’m going to be running out to buy, but the option is there.
Obviously, at $500 it should do more than change the volume on your TV, and it does. Lighting, music, media centers … all the usual Crestron fun stuff. It’s also cheaper to turn your iPad into a touchscreen Crestron remote than it is to buy an actual touchscreen Crestron remote. The 13 hardware buttons also function without the iPad connected, so you’re not up a creek if your iPad is off charging and you need to change the channel or dim the lights.
The iPanel will be shown at the CEDIA Expo 2010.
[via Engadget]
TUAWiPanel will turn your iPad into a very expensive remote control unit originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 19 Sep 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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