Layout and tactile feedback improvement for iPhone

Archives Feature Requests
1

I would like to have the virtual panel be more user friendly for the iPhone and improve the tactile feel of it so one is not so apt to improperly press a key and have Roomie respond to a key press that was not intentional.

I find myself pressing a key while looking at the TV. Without true keys and tactile feedback, it is very easy to press the wrong key.

I have the Motorola Cable 1 virtual keyboard with the typical power, volume channel in first group, the up/down/lft/rt confirm buttons (I’ll call nav buttons) in second and the DVR type buttons in the 3rd. Also there is a number pad and additional buttons in the last.

All these groups can be put on an iPad at once, but only part of the first 3 groups can be displayed on the iPhone without scrolling. I would like to be able to shrink the nav and DVR panels so that BOTH will fit in one screen with the first group. The buttons take more real estate than necessary I find myself scrolling up and down to access buttons in each group during one session. This often results in incorrect keypresses due to the iPhone thinking a scroll to the other control is a selection of one of the keys. Shrinking these controls somewhat would keep them away from the “scroll area” on the right of the screen and allow me to only scroll for seldom used buttons. Actually the real problem is that when you scroll, you have to keep your finger from landing on the keyboard vertically. It has to be moving up or down the keyboard when it lands or your scrolling fingerpress will be interpreted as a key press selection if there are keys in the scroll area.

An other suggestion would be to have the screen to “lock” into locations on each scroll swipe where each control section would lock into a position where it was completely on the screen.

I know I could create a “custom” keyboard to compact the most used keys in one area, but I feel it could be done with the standard offerings. A distinctive vibration or sound (click) or something like that could improve the tactile characteristics. I typically keep click sounds silent for my iPhone.

I guess I should ask if there is something I am missing. Like an ability to select a custom keyboard that someone has already designed for the iPhone. Also, I would like any suggestions to improve this situation.

2

Just to clarify, there is no “scroll area” on the right side. The “scroll area” is the entire remote. A scroll gesture is determined by movement during a down touch so it can be anywhere.

If you find that certain buttons are “dangerous”, you may want to remove them from the VR altogether or simply remove them from the main control pads so they get buried down in the grid buttons. For instance, removing the power button is common as power is usually handled by the Activity and System Off anyway.

3

Yes. I agree and I have done that. It does help to remove “dangerous” buttons. If there WAS a scroll area that was “button free” it would be safer. By either reducing the size of the control pad or allowing one to edit the size of the control pad and moving it to the left, you could create a scroll area (say on the right) that would not require being so careful during the scrolling operation. Also, by making the control pad smaller, possibly all three of the control pads that would be normally used would be available without scrolling. It always amazes me that many applications take up needless valuable real estate. In this case, the “motorola Cable 1” and Roomie logo take VERY valuable real estate at the top of the iPhone screen. This requires one to do an initial “scroll down” just to get all the buttons possible on the screen. Is there a way to remove the Roomie logo and Motorola Cable 1 at the top of the screen?