Heres my $.02 when it comes to the ideal remote. There is no such thing as a perfect remote its always a compromise in one manner or another. Ultimately, the deciding factor should be how you plan to use your remote. The OP specifically asked about running a SB so I certainly wont get into video applications or other areas.
The iPhone is the right remote for me because I find it the easiest way to get to the music I want. I can get to the exact song I want in about five taps and a few swipes after launching iPeng. Its very quick. With the SBC, its the same amount of clicks, but using the wheel for scrolling takes much longer and I often over- or under-shoot and end up needing to back out again before getting it right. It doesnt seem like it would, but it really takes much longer. The SBC is also too tall to put in my pocket and much more fragile than the iPhone. With a silicone sleeve and screen-guard the iPhone is extremely sturdy and you can easily toss it in you pants or jacket pocket. Ive never dropped my SBC but dont imagine it would do that well with it. For me, another huge advantage to the iPhone is thats its already in my pocket almost all of the time since it is my mobile phone too (though I agree with pippin that it is only a mediocre phone.) This basically means I hardly ever have to go hunting for the remote. I dont have any use for a tablet PC or large screen (7-12 inch) device. Yes, it could make the actual operation a little easier and offer nicer graphics, but it would be something that would have to be actively carried around the house. I have nine zones on three floors and wouldnt want to lug something like that from room to room (or buy nine of them!) In terms of text entry I almost never find the need to do it. I dont use the search function. I have around 1500 albums and have no trouble remembering which Artist and Album to look in to find a track. As far as the lack of hard buttons on the iPhone, it is actually an advantage. It simplifies things to have buttons only where you need them and allows for a larger graphic screen relative to overall size of the remote. The only thing I miss is a hard volume control. iPengs volume slider can be hard to activate. The SBC wins on that front. If the iPhones hard volume could control the SBs volume one day it would fix that issue. The main advantage of the SBC at this point is that you can use it as a walkman with headphones. If you would use it in that way often, you really need to get one. Regarding the regular IR remote, they wouldnt do me any good since I almost always control my music from across the room (or even in an adjacent room.) If you tend to sit right in front of your music source it of course would work fine. Still, it would be slower that the SBC or iPeng and you wouldnt get all the nice album graphics. :o) Ironically, the iPhone is pretty much a pain to use for most other things but just seems to make the ideal Squeeze system remote IMHO. And the iPeng software definitely has room for some improvement but it still is very, very good at doing its job at this point. And with software, improvements can always come in future updates. -- ptrainer ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ptrainer's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=15896 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=58492
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