2011-10-13, 18:25
Greetings XBMC community! I just received my pre-ordered remote after several month of delay. I was really looking forward to try this remote and I loved the minimalistic button layout and remote size since it was announced so therefore I didn’t hesitate and pre-ordered it even with the high shipping costs to Sweden/Europe.
Unfortunately it has some serious quality issues, something that I wasn’t expecting form a MOTOROLA device, if this was a cheap third party Chinese brand it would be understandable and even acceptable.
1. Serious range issues as reported previously by many other users. Maximum of 0.5meters (1.6 feet) and it loses connection depending on where you are directing it. The range is exactly the same in both RF and IR mode (a few centimeters better in RF mode). Sometimes button inputs won’t register directly and after a few seconds it will register multiple times resulting in “key-tapping”. This is not a PC-spec-hardware issue at my end since I have tested this remote with several PC’s, my main HTPC, laptops and work-servers in my home and all with the same range issue.
2. I noticed that the soft plastic coating on the edges of the backside of the remote was peeling off; at first I thought that it was dirt or something and I used a soft cotton textile to clean it and it started to peel off even more to the point that you could see the blank plastic under the coating. I know that this is only a cosmetic issue and not a big deal but since the remote is currently brand new (5min of usage) I can’t even imagine how it will look like after some daily usage. Again I did not expect these kind of QC cosmetic issue on a MOTOROLA branded remote.
I own several IR and RF remotes and even the built in IR receiver and remote on my HTPC has much better range (~3-4x) not to mention my other RF and Bluetooth remotes (both with minimum of 6-10m range). I didn’t have any high hopes or unrealistic expectations for this remote I was just expecting it to work as a normal RF remote. I still think that the minimalistic button layout and size of this remote is lovely but I can’t help to feel very disappointed as a customer.
Even if MOTOROLA fixes the range issues in a near future by sending out new USB dongles it would fix the QC on the paint job. I’m sure that these issues will get looked on for Rev.2 or 3 in the future. It won’t be worth it to send it back in my case due to the high shipping costs from Sweden. I’ve reverted back to my good ol' RF MCE and IR remotes for now and repacked my NYXBoard in it's original packaging.
I must confess that my old remote controlls are huge, ugly and with bad and non-ergonomic button layouts but at least they work perfectly and are reliable. =(
Unfortunately it has some serious quality issues, something that I wasn’t expecting form a MOTOROLA device, if this was a cheap third party Chinese brand it would be understandable and even acceptable.
1. Serious range issues as reported previously by many other users. Maximum of 0.5meters (1.6 feet) and it loses connection depending on where you are directing it. The range is exactly the same in both RF and IR mode (a few centimeters better in RF mode). Sometimes button inputs won’t register directly and after a few seconds it will register multiple times resulting in “key-tapping”. This is not a PC-spec-hardware issue at my end since I have tested this remote with several PC’s, my main HTPC, laptops and work-servers in my home and all with the same range issue.
2. I noticed that the soft plastic coating on the edges of the backside of the remote was peeling off; at first I thought that it was dirt or something and I used a soft cotton textile to clean it and it started to peel off even more to the point that you could see the blank plastic under the coating. I know that this is only a cosmetic issue and not a big deal but since the remote is currently brand new (5min of usage) I can’t even imagine how it will look like after some daily usage. Again I did not expect these kind of QC cosmetic issue on a MOTOROLA branded remote.
I own several IR and RF remotes and even the built in IR receiver and remote on my HTPC has much better range (~3-4x) not to mention my other RF and Bluetooth remotes (both with minimum of 6-10m range). I didn’t have any high hopes or unrealistic expectations for this remote I was just expecting it to work as a normal RF remote. I still think that the minimalistic button layout and size of this remote is lovely but I can’t help to feel very disappointed as a customer.
Even if MOTOROLA fixes the range issues in a near future by sending out new USB dongles it would fix the QC on the paint job. I’m sure that these issues will get looked on for Rev.2 or 3 in the future. It won’t be worth it to send it back in my case due to the high shipping costs from Sweden. I’ve reverted back to my good ol' RF MCE and IR remotes for now and repacked my NYXBoard in it's original packaging.
I must confess that my old remote controlls are huge, ugly and with bad and non-ergonomic button layouts but at least they work perfectly and are reliable. =(