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...Continued from Page 9.
The Hard Button Pop-Up
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The four surrounding hard buttons, on the other hand, are practically wasted. The far left hard rotates between the Nevo�s three main sections (Home, Devices, Favorites). The inner left button scrolls forwards through devices or favorite pages. The inner right button changes the joystick�s assigned controls, while the far right button always sends the [Mute] command.
As we mentioned early in this review, once the 1 through 5 minute timeout has expired and the iPAQ has shut off, it can only be re-activated by pressing the [Power] button or one of the four buttons surrounding the 5-way joystick... not the joystick itself. This means that in the middle of a movie it�s simply impossible to tweak the volume without first turning the unit on. It�s similarly impossible to change channels or quickly fast-forward a recording � and it�s this limitation that throws a monkey wrench into using the iPAQ as a dedicated remote control.
Since the iPAQ is designed to be a computer, Compaq logically expected it to always be used with the screen active. Despite reaching out to licence UEI�s Nevo remote control technology, the iPAQ designers forgot that if a remote control has hard buttons, it also needs a low-power standby state to be instantly ready to respond to button commands. The iPAQ already has such a standby mode, as evidenced by its behavior with certain buttons, but it hasn�t been tied in with the joystick.
Someone solely interested in channel surfing or volume adjusting doesn�t need the power-wasting and generally distracting LCD screen to suddenly blaze brightly in the middle of their darkened theater (Marantz RC5000 users complained about this when that behavior appeared after a firmware update). Although a straightforward issue, an actual solution may not be as simple.
It almost seems as if the hard buttons were a control afterthought. For example, punchthroughs can�t be assigned device-by-device. If one wants a VCR�s transport controls punched through to the television device, the Nevo will also punch those controls through on the DVD device � effectively wiping out the DVD�s own controls. Hard buttons are also non-macro and non-learning: they can only reference something stored on LCD buttons. Because of this, everything assigned to the lower hard buttons is also duplicated on-screen, something that, if the hard buttons had been thought out differently, might not have been necessary.
I like the idea of using the menu joystick multiple ways, but the surrounding hard buttons should have been fully customizable. I would have liked:
| Far left: | Jump to volume/channel mode and subsequently act as �Previous Channel� for current device. |
| Inner left: | Jump to Menu mode and subsequently act as the �Menu� button. Remap far right to �Exit� or �Guide�. |
| Inner right: | Jump to Transport mode and subsequently act as �Chapter +�. Remap far right to �Chapter ��. |
| Far right: | Act as �Display� unless remapped. |
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