9 ms·

Sony launches universal remote control with e-ink screen

74 points by curtis 11y ago

type0 11y ago
This looks like a very slow gadget, thanks to e-ink screen.
- ergothus 11y ago
  Well, as a remote I'd expect you'd not have to CHANGE the screen often, which is where eink excels. I don't sub-sub-sub-menus on my remote. I want everything directly available, and presumably some sort of mode switch to toggle between my different devices. If you combine details from one devices (TV power on, volume Up/down) with another device (roku controls) on a single control screen, then I would only rarely have to switch modes at all. I've been waiting to see eink used in more places - I recall reading that India had non-smart cell phone handsets that used it for the screen, which seemed a great purpose (display time/date, incoming call number, outgoing call number, none of which require rapid changes in display), but not hearing that it had really gotten anywhere else.
- slantyyz 11y ago
  It also doesn't help that there aren't a few tactile buttons for frequently used tasks like FF, REW, Pause, Play, etc. If you're controlling any type of media player, it is always nice to have those buttons available so you don't have to look down at the remote to input an operation.
- vorotato 11y ago
  "I often like to watch the buttons change on my tv remote. Sometimes I spend hours just staring at the buttons as they move around." -type0
hackmiester 11y ago
"It vibrates and makes sound when you use it, so if feels similar to a conventional remote." I had to laugh at this. What kind of remote have these people been using?
- tudorw 11y ago
  I think maybe they mean what used to be a physical button click sound and feel, some feedback is important :)
  - lfowles 11y ago
    It can be incredibly convincing too, for example using the steam controller with headphones. I've had it for months and only just realized what I thought was a physical detent in the trigger was actually adjustable haptic feedback.
- teraflop 11y ago
  It's weirdly phrased, but I think they're talking about haptic feedback to simulate the feeling of a physical button.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
neals 11y ago
I use my phone as a remote, but I'll always miss the feel of physical buttons on a tv-remote. I like to adjust volume, channel, browse etc. etc. without having to take my eyes of the screen.
mike-cardwell 11y ago
I use my phone as a remote control occasionally. It's terrible, because there are no physical buttons, so you have to keep looking at the phone screen instead of the thing you're controlling. There's an interface that lets you use swipe gestures as well, and that's still far inferior to a simple remote with physical buttons.
- stronglikedan 11y ago
  That's what I love about most of the Logitech Harmony remotes. They have the touchscreen for things like switching between activities and devices, where you could have more than fit on a single screen (paginated). Then they have hard buttons for device/activity specific functions (all illuminated on some versions). Sure they have their own problems (for some), but I think they do a great job of combining the hard and soft buttons.
- stevetrewick 11y ago
  Totally agree that an ergonomically well designed remote with a small number of functions will provide a superior 'eyes off' UX. But it has sadly been quite some time since that description applied to any of the remotes I regularly actually use.
  - swsieber 11y ago
    I have a Roku 3 and I like their remote - small and simple.
  - IgorPartola 11y ago
    You know, I think the Roku remote comes close: https://image.roku.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Roku-3-remote-with-headphones.jpg https://image.roku.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Roku-... Unfortunately, their remotes are inconsistent between Roku devices. For example, some come with this layout: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41WCaJRUARL._AC_UL320_SR180,320_.jpg http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41WCaJRUARL._AC_UL320_.... Why the hell is it a good UX to include these proprietary buttons on there? I have an older version of it that includes Block Buster! They also have a phone app that I use frequently. It's not bad, but lacks the * button, making it impossible to turn off subtitles. Lastly, their remotes really need a way to control the TV power and volume. I hate having two remotes, one of which is just to turn the TV on/off. I believe the new Apple TV does have this feature, but of course it doesn't have Amazon Video so that's a no-go for me.
7952 11y ago
I can see lots of benefits in using e-ink for this kind of ambient interface. But the price point is just appalling and consumers should just reject this out of hand. You could get a Nexus 7 for that price. Why is e-ink still so expensive?
- VLM 11y ago
  Welcome to the world of high end remotes. I have a pair of fifteen year old MX500 that cost about that new. The current MX850 model lists at $400 MSRP but you can buy online for around $275, that's about one tier more expensive and fancy. Full customization is expensive no matter the display technology. A lot of work goes into the software. (edited to add, if you look at an ancient MX500 or a modern MX850, you can also see tactile vs display is a long solved problem ... just put rows of buttons along a column of displayed names. This has been solved so long, that any patents have probably run out by now. Basically hand held aircraft MFD.)
neves 11y ago
e-ink? So you can't see the buttons in a dark room? Hope they did some usability tests in this.
- josu 11y ago
  The kindle has a built in light, similar to the one on the old Casio watches. E-ink is highly usable in the dark.
rogerbinns 11y ago
I wonder if they'll do state management like the Logitech Harmony series does. For example if I tell it to switch to PS3, it will ensure the TV is on, set to the correct input, and that the receiver is on, also on its correct input. The remote knows what it already did, so it only takes the minimal actions to reach the desired state. Similarly I can press the off button and it turns off everything it turned on.
- adinb 11y ago
  This is probably my biggest problem with the Harmony remotes—since there's no feedback, the state management gets out of sync. Which usually means drilling into the menus to get it back into sync or getting into the troubleshooting wizard and answering a bunch of yes/no questions. After 3 different Harmony remotes this is really what killed it for me.
  - rogerbinns 11y ago
    Pressing the Help button usually recovers, asks if everything is ok, and if not asks about each item. But given the choice between using 3 remotes (or 3 screens on a device like in the article), plus having to remember things (eg which inputs on receivers and TVs are correct), versus the occasional Harmony fail, the Harmony wins every time. Admittedly I've also tended towards the lower end less complex models.
  - ascagnel_ 11y ago
    In an ideal world, this is where HDMI-CEC would come in. A device can broadcast requests up and down the chain based on remote inputs, so it can request different links be turned on (TV and/or AVR, for instance), handle switching inputs, and handle other elements like menu navigation and volume. Sadly, the spec sucks and most OEMs don't ship fully-compatible equipment (for example, the PS3 reliably will not turn off my TV, but will turn off my AVR).
    - rogerbinns 11y ago
      The Harmony approach is only a problem if you use other remotes at the same time. Even then it works out fine if the devices have "absolute" codes - eg separate codes for power on and power off, separate codes for each input (vs a "next input"). Many do have the codes, even if the remote control doesn't apparently show them.
spdegabrielle 11y ago
Apart from your aircon - how many people have more than 2-3 IR remotes (TV, PVR & DVD) TV is dead. IR remotes are awful - but good enough.
- spdegabrielle 11y ago
  And no-one looks at the remote when changing channels.
  - mhb 11y ago
    No one changes channels any more.
    - intopieces 11y ago
      The top pay-TV providers account for 94.0 million subscribers [0]. Unless they're all turning on their sets and settling for whatever happens to come up, many people are changing channels. [0]http://www.leichtmanresearch.com/press/111615release.html http://www.leichtmanresearch.com/press/111615release.html
      - btgeekboy 11y ago
        I think what the parent comment is saying is that channel surfing is no longer common. For me, it basically died out when we switched from ~100 analog cable channels to a zillion coming in over a STB that takes forever to change from channel 10 to 11, and then to 12...
petra 11y ago
£169 for a remote control ? it doesn't seem to be aligned with the functional value. But maybe they're just trying to sell it to wealthy people, as another status symbol.
josu 11y ago
Yes, this is an expensive product with a niche market, but you are missing the fact that: "The Huis is part of Sony’s new business creation program, First Flight [1][2], a crowdfunding program for new products designed by Sony employees." Google Translate is not working very well for the page, but it seems that the product has been crowdfunded, and therefore pre-sold. This is not a regular Sony product, and it may never make it out of Japan. If you can forget about its price, this is a beautiful product, seems functional and I wouldn't hesitate to give it a try it to replace all of my remote controls (2) if it was given to me for free. [1]https://first-flight.sony.com/ https://first-flight.sony.com/ [2] http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/1/8874943/sony-crowdfunding-platform-first-flight-launch http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/1/8874943/sony-crowdfunding-p...
- Ezhik 11y ago
  It's nice that they have stuff like this going on, I miss 'Weird Sony'.
  - sirkneeland 11y ago
    I was wondering if I would be the only one to use the phrase "weird Sony" (first I ever heard it was from the Verge, describing...well, weird Sony)
supergeek133 11y ago
I keep wondering why TV control is still mostly IR based. How have we not graduated to Z-Wave/ZigBee style control yet? Especially on the high end with all the hubs around the house.
- rtkwe 11y ago
  An IR LED is super cheap compared to even the cheapest radio chips. Also you need to have some sort of bonding between the remote and TV or you risk messing up customers with multiple copies of one device in range and that's an extra annoying step.
  - IgorPartola 11y ago
    Logitech seems to have no problem with doing radio and their little radio receivers.
    - rtkwe 11y ago
      I'm not saying it's a difficult or particularly hard problem it just costs more and I have a personal dislike for adding more things that require pairing to my life.
      - Eridrus 11y ago
        That sounds more like an issue with pairing tech being terrible. On a fundamental level, there's no reason you couldn't pair the device, by pointing your phone at the tv and having some sensor figure out what you want. Maybe it could fall back to sending a code to your TV via infrared, maybe it could show a QR code when it first boots, maybe it has some signal-strength based proximity sensor so that you can tap your phone to the TV to pair it. Maybe these sorts of device pairings can be backed up in the cloud so that if you replace your phone, they can be transferred to your new one. Personally, I wish I could control the TV volume with my phone because the TV remote always goes missing, but I always have my phone. In particular having a fingerprint-sensor phone has made using it as a remote less painful since I don't need to enter my PIN, but maybe we will get remotes that work from the lock screen and turn on when you pick them up. At this point where we always have a communications device in our pocket, I don't see why remotes need to exist at all.
Zigurd 11y ago
In a world where everyone can have a personalized remote in their smartphone, smart remotes are a tough product to justify making. A Bluetooth IR blaster and app should win on capability and usability and be much much cheaper.
- forgetsusername 11y ago
  >A Bluetooth IR blaster and app should win on capability and usability Without physical buttons, phone-based remotes won't win on usability.
  - Zigurd 11y ago
    Physical buttons are one dimension of usability that hasn't been decisive in any other product domain where smart mobile devices have replaced dedicated buttons in UI. On the other hand, smart mobile devices add multi-device sync, personalization, persistent configuration and preferences, memory of where you left off, etc. Music players, snapshot cameras, GPSs, etc. all had dedicated physical user interfaces. None were important enough to save those product categories.
jgalt212 11y ago
I'm keen to get rid of my overprice logitech remote, but at first blush I'm not sure this will do the tree. You need at least some physical buttons.
glossyscr 11y ago
Slightly OT: Would love to have a notebook or computer screen with e-ink just for Vim, the console and coding, assumed it's fast enough. Is there anything like this?
- darkr 11y ago
  Not afaik, but there's this: https://github.com/kisom/dotconf/blob/master/.vim/colors/eink.vim https://github.com/kisom/dotconf/blob/master/.vim/colors/ein...
- jobigoud 11y ago
  Maybe one of the large e-reader. For example there is an Onyx Boox not released yet that is supposed to be 13.3" 1600x1200 and running Android. Maybe it can be repurposed. I doubt refresh rate is going to cut it though.
  - semi-extrinsic 11y ago
    > I doubt refresh rate is going to cut it though You could probably make it quite usable by running xterm in Tektronix emulation mode. Old school vector displays and new e-ink screens behave somewhat similarly, in that you can add content to the screen without actually refreshing.
sbochins 11y ago
This would be a breakthrough device if nobody invented the smartphone. If I want a universal remote, why don't I just use the device I have to carry around with me all the time?
- chrisdhal 11y ago
  So your friends/family/whoever can use it if you're not there? So somebody else can use it while you are? I have remote apps on my phone, but never use them. I'd much rather use my Logitech one (or even the one the device(s) came with if needed).
  - o_____________o 11y ago
    So sync to a server that stores your remote layout based on your wifi name/some other criteria?
crusso 11y ago
I had a Sony touch screen LCD remote, maybe 15 years ago. I used it for a couple of months and eventually broke out the original remotes - just so I could have actual buttons to push. Looking down at the screen all the time to find the buttons was a hassle.
computerwizard 11y ago
Please come out with reasonably priced e-ink monitors soon. It would really save our eyes and allow us to work outside. I swear there's a conspiracy against them. The only one I've been able to find is this and its almost $1000. http://www.dasung.com.cn/ http://www.dasung.com.cn/
carsongross 11y ago
I went out and got a ray: https://www.ray.co/ https://www.ray.co/ It is pretty, but they use swiping for moving around/changing channels on Roku and it's infuriating. It becomes a workout to do even the most basic of things. In my experience, swiping is nearly universally horrible UX.

74 points by curtis 11y ago

type0 11y ago

This looks like a very slow gadget, thanks to e-ink screen.

ergothus 11y ago
Well, as a remote I'd expect you'd not have to CHANGE the screen often, which is where eink excels. I don't sub-sub-sub-menus on my remote. I want everything directly available, and presumably some sort of mode switch to toggle between my different devices. If you combine details from one devices (TV power on, volume Up/down) with another device (roku controls) on a single control screen, then I would only rarely have to switch modes at all. I've been waiting to see eink used in more places - I recall reading that India had non-smart cell phone handsets that used it for the screen, which seemed a great purpose (display time/date, incoming call number, outgoing call number, none of which require rapid changes in display), but not hearing that it had really gotten anywhere else.
slantyyz 11y ago
It also doesn't help that there aren't a few tactile buttons for frequently used tasks like FF, REW, Pause, Play, etc. If you're controlling any type of media player, it is always nice to have those buttons available so you don't have to look down at the remote to input an operation.
vorotato 11y ago
"I often like to watch the buttons change on my tv remote. Sometimes I spend hours just staring at the buttons as they move around." -type0

hackmiester 11y ago

"It vibrates and makes sound when you use it, so if feels similar to a conventional remote." I had to laugh at this. What kind of remote have these people been using?

tudorw 11y ago
I think maybe they mean what used to be a physical button click sound and feel, some feedback is important :)
- lfowles 11y ago
  It can be incredibly convincing too, for example using the steam controller with headphones. I've had it for months and only just realized what I thought was a physical detent in the trigger was actually adjustable haptic feedback.
teraflop 11y ago
It's weirdly phrased, but I think they're talking about haptic feedback to simulate the feeling of a physical button.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

neals 11y ago

I use my phone as a remote, but I'll always miss the feel of physical buttons on a tv-remote. I like to adjust volume, channel, browse etc. etc. without having to take my eyes of the screen.

mike-cardwell 11y ago

I use my phone as a remote control occasionally. It's terrible, because there are no physical buttons, so you have to keep looking at the phone screen instead of the thing you're controlling. There's an interface that lets you use swipe gestures as well, and that's still far inferior to a simple remote with physical buttons.

stronglikedan 11y ago
That's what I love about most of the Logitech Harmony remotes. They have the touchscreen for things like switching between activities and devices, where you could have more than fit on a single screen (paginated). Then they have hard buttons for device/activity specific functions (all illuminated on some versions). Sure they have their own problems (for some), but I think they do a great job of combining the hard and soft buttons.
stevetrewick 11y ago
Totally agree that an ergonomically well designed remote with a small number of functions will provide a superior 'eyes off' UX. But it has sadly been quite some time since that description applied to any of the remotes I regularly actually use.
- swsieber 11y ago
  I have a Roku 3 and I like their remote - small and simple.
- IgorPartola 11y ago
  You know, I think the Roku remote comes close: https://image.roku.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Roku-3-remote-with-headphones.jpg https://image.roku.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Roku-... Unfortunately, their remotes are inconsistent between Roku devices. For example, some come with this layout: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41WCaJRUARL._AC_UL320_SR180,320_.jpg http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41WCaJRUARL._AC_UL320_.... Why the hell is it a good UX to include these proprietary buttons on there? I have an older version of it that includes Block Buster! They also have a phone app that I use frequently. It's not bad, but lacks the * button, making it impossible to turn off subtitles. Lastly, their remotes really need a way to control the TV power and volume. I hate having two remotes, one of which is just to turn the TV on/off. I believe the new Apple TV does have this feature, but of course it doesn't have Amazon Video so that's a no-go for me.

7952 11y ago

I can see lots of benefits in using e-ink for this kind of ambient interface. But the price point is just appalling and consumers should just reject this out of hand. You could get a Nexus 7 for that price. Why is e-ink still so expensive?

VLM 11y ago
Welcome to the world of high end remotes. I have a pair of fifteen year old MX500 that cost about that new. The current MX850 model lists at $400 MSRP but you can buy online for around $275, that's about one tier more expensive and fancy. Full customization is expensive no matter the display technology. A lot of work goes into the software. (edited to add, if you look at an ancient MX500 or a modern MX850, you can also see tactile vs display is a long solved problem ... just put rows of buttons along a column of displayed names. This has been solved so long, that any patents have probably run out by now. Basically hand held aircraft MFD.)

neves 11y ago

e-ink? So you can't see the buttons in a dark room? Hope they did some usability tests in this.

josu 11y ago
The kindle has a built in light, similar to the one on the old Casio watches. E-ink is highly usable in the dark.

rogerbinns 11y ago

I wonder if they'll do state management like the Logitech Harmony series does. For example if I tell it to switch to PS3, it will ensure the TV is on, set to the correct input, and that the receiver is on, also on its correct input. The remote knows what it already did, so it only takes the minimal actions to reach the desired state. Similarly I can press the off button and it turns off everything it turned on.

adinb 11y ago
This is probably my biggest problem with the Harmony remotes—since there's no feedback, the state management gets out of sync. Which usually means drilling into the menus to get it back into sync or getting into the troubleshooting wizard and answering a bunch of yes/no questions. After 3 different Harmony remotes this is really what killed it for me.
- rogerbinns 11y ago
  Pressing the Help button usually recovers, asks if everything is ok, and if not asks about each item. But given the choice between using 3 remotes (or 3 screens on a device like in the article), plus having to remember things (eg which inputs on receivers and TVs are correct), versus the occasional Harmony fail, the Harmony wins every time. Admittedly I've also tended towards the lower end less complex models.
- ascagnel_ 11y ago
  In an ideal world, this is where HDMI-CEC would come in. A device can broadcast requests up and down the chain based on remote inputs, so it can request different links be turned on (TV and/or AVR, for instance), handle switching inputs, and handle other elements like menu navigation and volume. Sadly, the spec sucks and most OEMs don't ship fully-compatible equipment (for example, the PS3 reliably will not turn off my TV, but will turn off my AVR).
  - rogerbinns 11y ago
    The Harmony approach is only a problem if you use other remotes at the same time. Even then it works out fine if the devices have "absolute" codes - eg separate codes for power on and power off, separate codes for each input (vs a "next input"). Many do have the codes, even if the remote control doesn't apparently show them.

spdegabrielle 11y ago

Apart from your aircon - how many people have more than 2-3 IR remotes (TV, PVR & DVD) TV is dead. IR remotes are awful - but good enough.

spdegabrielle 11y ago
And no-one looks at the remote when changing channels.
- mhb 11y ago
  No one changes channels any more.
  - intopieces 11y ago
    The top pay-TV providers account for 94.0 million subscribers [0]. Unless they're all turning on their sets and settling for whatever happens to come up, many people are changing channels. [0]http://www.leichtmanresearch.com/press/111615release.html http://www.leichtmanresearch.com/press/111615release.html
    - btgeekboy 11y ago
      I think what the parent comment is saying is that channel surfing is no longer common. For me, it basically died out when we switched from ~100 analog cable channels to a zillion coming in over a STB that takes forever to change from channel 10 to 11, and then to 12...

petra 11y ago

£169 for a remote control ? it doesn't seem to be aligned with the functional value. But maybe they're just trying to sell it to wealthy people, as another status symbol.

josu 11y ago

Yes, this is an expensive product with a niche market, but you are missing the fact that: "The Huis is part of Sony’s new business creation program, First Flight [1][2], a crowdfunding program for new products designed by Sony employees." Google Translate is not working very well for the page, but it seems that the product has been crowdfunded, and therefore pre-sold. This is not a regular Sony product, and it may never make it out of Japan. If you can forget about its price, this is a beautiful product, seems functional and I wouldn't hesitate to give it a try it to replace all of my remote controls (2) if it was given to me for free. [1]https://first-flight.sony.com/ https://first-flight.sony.com/ [2] http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/1/8874943/sony-crowdfunding-platform-first-flight-launch http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/1/8874943/sony-crowdfunding-p...

Ezhik 11y ago
It's nice that they have stuff like this going on, I miss 'Weird Sony'.
- sirkneeland 11y ago
  I was wondering if I would be the only one to use the phrase "weird Sony" (first I ever heard it was from the Verge, describing...well, weird Sony)

supergeek133 11y ago

I keep wondering why TV control is still mostly IR based. How have we not graduated to Z-Wave/ZigBee style control yet? Especially on the high end with all the hubs around the house.

rtkwe 11y ago
An IR LED is super cheap compared to even the cheapest radio chips. Also you need to have some sort of bonding between the remote and TV or you risk messing up customers with multiple copies of one device in range and that's an extra annoying step.
- IgorPartola 11y ago
  Logitech seems to have no problem with doing radio and their little radio receivers.
  - rtkwe 11y ago
    I'm not saying it's a difficult or particularly hard problem it just costs more and I have a personal dislike for adding more things that require pairing to my life.
    - Eridrus 11y ago
      That sounds more like an issue with pairing tech being terrible. On a fundamental level, there's no reason you couldn't pair the device, by pointing your phone at the tv and having some sensor figure out what you want. Maybe it could fall back to sending a code to your TV via infrared, maybe it could show a QR code when it first boots, maybe it has some signal-strength based proximity sensor so that you can tap your phone to the TV to pair it. Maybe these sorts of device pairings can be backed up in the cloud so that if you replace your phone, they can be transferred to your new one. Personally, I wish I could control the TV volume with my phone because the TV remote always goes missing, but I always have my phone. In particular having a fingerprint-sensor phone has made using it as a remote less painful since I don't need to enter my PIN, but maybe we will get remotes that work from the lock screen and turn on when you pick them up. At this point where we always have a communications device in our pocket, I don't see why remotes need to exist at all.

Zigurd 11y ago

In a world where everyone can have a personalized remote in their smartphone, smart remotes are a tough product to justify making. A Bluetooth IR blaster and app should win on capability and usability and be much much cheaper.

forgetsusername 11y ago
>A Bluetooth IR blaster and app should win on capability and usability Without physical buttons, phone-based remotes won't win on usability.
- Zigurd 11y ago
  Physical buttons are one dimension of usability that hasn't been decisive in any other product domain where smart mobile devices have replaced dedicated buttons in UI. On the other hand, smart mobile devices add multi-device sync, personalization, persistent configuration and preferences, memory of where you left off, etc. Music players, snapshot cameras, GPSs, etc. all had dedicated physical user interfaces. None were important enough to save those product categories.

jgalt212 11y ago

I'm keen to get rid of my overprice logitech remote, but at first blush I'm not sure this will do the tree. You need at least some physical buttons.

glossyscr 11y ago

Slightly OT: Would love to have a notebook or computer screen with e-ink just for Vim, the console and coding, assumed it's fast enough. Is there anything like this?

darkr 11y ago
Not afaik, but there's this: https://github.com/kisom/dotconf/blob/master/.vim/colors/eink.vim https://github.com/kisom/dotconf/blob/master/.vim/colors/ein...
jobigoud 11y ago
Maybe one of the large e-reader. For example there is an Onyx Boox not released yet that is supposed to be 13.3" 1600x1200 and running Android. Maybe it can be repurposed. I doubt refresh rate is going to cut it though.
- semi-extrinsic 11y ago
  > I doubt refresh rate is going to cut it though You could probably make it quite usable by running xterm in Tektronix emulation mode. Old school vector displays and new e-ink screens behave somewhat similarly, in that you can add content to the screen without actually refreshing.

sbochins 11y ago

This would be a breakthrough device if nobody invented the smartphone. If I want a universal remote, why don't I just use the device I have to carry around with me all the time?

chrisdhal 11y ago
So your friends/family/whoever can use it if you're not there? So somebody else can use it while you are? I have remote apps on my phone, but never use them. I'd much rather use my Logitech one (or even the one the device(s) came with if needed).
- o_____________o 11y ago
  So sync to a server that stores your remote layout based on your wifi name/some other criteria?

crusso 11y ago

I had a Sony touch screen LCD remote, maybe 15 years ago. I used it for a couple of months and eventually broke out the original remotes - just so I could have actual buttons to push. Looking down at the screen all the time to find the buttons was a hassle.

computerwizard 11y ago

Please come out with reasonably priced e-ink monitors soon. It would really save our eyes and allow us to work outside. I swear there's a conspiracy against them. The only one I've been able to find is this and its almost $1000. http://www.dasung.com.cn/ http://www.dasung.com.cn/

carsongross 11y ago

I went out and got a ray: https://www.ray.co/ https://www.ray.co/ It is pretty, but they use swiping for moving around/changing channels on Roku and it's infuriating. It becomes a workout to do even the most basic of things. In my experience, swiping is nearly universally horrible UX.