THE COMPLETE UNIVERSAL REMOTE PACKAGE FOR POCKET PCs

       by be-attitude and buhduh

        Man's best friend, contrary to popular quotes, is not the dog.  It is the remote control.  Don't believe it?  Try taking a man's dog for a walk in the middle of a game or movie.  Now try taking his remote for a walk.

        This little program may just be the dog's ticket back up the ladder of importance.  Install the Ultramote software on your PDA. Spend a few minutes learning your favorite functions from your conventional remotes and you can store away those 7 favorite remotes and go back to putting snacks in that space on the coffee table.

        The Ultramote software is simple and straightforward to setup but surprisingly customizable. Although the instructions advise installation to main memory, I installed on my Dell Axim X5 to the SD card with no problems. At this time, all skin and data files must be stored in the directory under the program installation.

                                                   some included page 1 Skins     

The skins provided are simple and rather uninteresting but they are provided only as a starting point.  There are instructions included in software for designing and implementing your own custom skins that can contain whatever layout and background you desire. There is a grid of 25 buttons on the first of two screens available to each "device" setup. One button is reserved for screen switching leaving 24 available functions. There is also a set of horizontal skins for those PDAs with IR transmitters on the side.

       an included page 2 Skin

 The second page has nine more available buttons with easy text labeling for those functions that need a bit more description than an icon.  Device is in quotes above because each setup screen need not be from a single device.  You can set up a screen with any combination of device commands to perform a particular operation such as: turn on TV, turn on DVD, TV volume, DVD navigation buttons all on one screen.  This offsets one shortcoming I found. You can not create macros, or stacked operations, on one button.

        I did a quick skin and file for my digital camera's remote.  It was a simple matter to photograph the remote unit, resize the picture, and assign the functions of the original remote to the appropriate hotspots on the screen. I tested the Ultramote software on my satellite setup. I have two receivers in the same room with specific device codes assigned which make conventional universal remotes unusable. This was no problem for Ultramote. The device specific code was learned along with the commands.

        The next consideration is the CF remote extender. If you have a compatible PDA (see website) and a weak IR (my Axim X5 is 3-6 feet, ugh...) you can use this little gem with the Ultramote software to get up to 50 feet of range.  In my experience I got somewhat less than 50 feet but more than the range of a standard universal remote.

        Buhduh also reviewed this package and got very similar results in range ,versatility, and ease of implementation.  He has some audiophile level equipment that resists universal remote operation.  It, too, was no problem for Ultramote.  He and I did some quick skinning. Much better work can certainly be achieved with more time and consideration. Also, though we stayed close to the original layout, it can all be rearranged to suit your needs.

                        a couple of quick custom page 1 skins we made

        Room for improvement in my opinion:   There is no current capability to store remote data and skins to a storage card if the program is in main memory.  This is, however, only an issue if you encounter problems installing to a card and create a lot of remote files or very high quality skins. On devices with 2 cards or those that do not need the remote extender, this would be a nice option.  There are no pre-defined remote files. This is only a problem if the original remote is missing.  It would be nice, however, to have perhaps a support forum with user submitted skins and data sets for specific devices.

   Pros:
Easy Setup
Unlimited 2-page remotes
All pages are skinnable
Remote extender for limited range devices
Hardware joypad buttons programmable for each controlled device

Cons:
No pre-defined device files
Must have working remote from which to learn
  Skins and data must be stored in installation location.
  No one-touch macro capability