iPhone App: Rowmote Pro

I’m lazy. Really lazy. The only thing I don’t feel lazy about, besides TechHaze, is finding new ways to cultivate my laziness. This is how I got the idea to write an article for TechHaze, while researching the ultimate laziness app for the iPhone at the same time. Yes, two things at once. You see, laziness is an art, a science: you can’t just improvise it, you have to pursue it to the highest level of sophistication. Technology, after all, is here to make our life easier, right?
If the lazy people had a flag, there’d be a remote control on it. Not having to leave your cozy couch or bed to manipulate an entertainment device is the very first step towards total, blissful inertia. Oh, and if lazy people had a religion, the holy grail would be the universal remote control.

Well, today’s app, Rowmote, transforms your beloved iPhone into a remote control, and it does it quite well.
Rowmote’s basic mode mimics the Apple remote, complete with with Plus, Minus, Back, Forward, Play/Pause, and Menu buttons. It works in tandem with the free Rowmote Helper application, which you install on your Mac. Once that application is installed it’s automatically added to your account’s list of login applications so that it’s ready to do your iPhone or iPod touch’s pairing even after you’ve restarted your Mac. In order to do that, you need to be on the same wifi network as your computer, but that’s the only restriction. No line of sight is required.
Once that’s taken care of, you can start using the remote. You’ll quickly notice an icon on the top left of the basic screen. Tap it, and you’ll be able to access the trackpad screen. From here, just slide your finger like on a real trackpad, and the cursor will move instantly. There is a small lag between the moment you start moving the finger and the moment the cursor moves, but once the movement is detected, the lag disappears. It’s a weird feeling to be able to open an app from the other side of the room.

But it doesn’t stop there. Imagine you’re lying on your bed, listening to good music, your mac on your desk in front of you, and you suddenly receive an important email. You can use the remote trackpad to browse, sure, but how do you answer? The second commandment of lazyism clearly states that “you shall not stand up!”. Here comes the genius part: Just shake the iPhone, and a keyboard will appear. As you type, your words and sentences will be displayed on the trackpad, which allows you to keep your eyes on the phone. Awesome.

You’ll also notice that the app has three buttons on the bottom of the basic screen: “Setting”, “Applications” and “Connection”.
The settings screen will allow you to choose your computer on which you’re connected, and even choose a custom IP address. You can also activate a mode that will prevent your iPhone from going to sleep (particularly useful if you’re doing a Keynote presentation), choose a dark interface, audible click buttons, and the reach of the volume controls (application / system-wide). There are also trackpad and keyboard specific settings: double tap to drag, show trackpad button, trackpad sensitivity, shake sensitivity, and landscape mode-only.

The applications screen is particularly interesting. On the top you’ll find a scrub bar full of app icons. A closer looks reveals that it’s actually a replica of the OSX dock, and that all the icons are in the right order, just like on the mac the app is connected to. Bellow is a list of applications that you can fully edit, as shown in this video. Just click on the name and the application will start. There are also specific commands like “eject disk”, “fullscreen” or “shutdown computer” that you can choose from.

The connection button, once pressed, will display a pop-up indicating the name of the computer you’re connected to as well as the name of the current active window.

Verdict

I love this app, but there a few drawbacks. First, the connection can be quite unstable, depending on the network you’re on. I use Rowmote to control Keynote while doing presentations in class, and I must admit that I hate being dependent on my uni’s wifi network.
The other weakness comes from one of the apps’ strenght, which is ambivalence. Because the remote has to be compatible with all the applications, the functions are kept quite simple: forward, backward, play, pause and volume. Should you want to use your iPhone to control iTunes for example, you’re better off using Apple’s free “iTunes Remote” app, which allows you to browse your music library from your phone. Also, the app’s webpage is quite poorly done, clearly on iWeb. Not very professional. But that may be due to the fact that the developper, Evan Schoenberg, M.D., is a a medical resident training in ophthalmology at Tulane University. And he just created one of the best iPhone apps ever. Wow!

Once you get over those shortcomings, you’ll realize that Rowmote is a must-have for any Mac owner. Did I mention that Rowmote also supports Apple TV?
One final point: The Apple remote, which offers only a small fraction of Rowmote’s functionality, costs $19. Rowmote Pro costs $4,99.
Oh, and if that’s still too much, there’s Rowmote (not pro), which is basically the same thing without trackpad nor keyboard (only basic Apple remote-like screen), and this app only costs $0,99.