Roomie Remote 3.0 and iPhone 6 Plus

With RR 3.0 on the horizon and Apple announcing the new iPhone 6’s… Can anyone from Roomie let us know if RR 3.0 will have any special support for the new devices? Specifically, I’d like to see RR 3.0 support the larger screen and horizontal orientation on the iPhone 6 Plus - in other words, make it work like an iPad does today.

We’re working feverishly to get 3.0 out and will try to include at least basic support for the new devices in that. It seems to work fairly well in tests so far. It will be supported in the 3.0.X cycle.

Thank you.

Any more details on RR 3.0 features? Your CEO talked about new features, including Android support, during his interview on last week’s HTGuys podcast, so I think you could at least give a quick summary of all the 3.0 features he “leaked” publicly?

Android support as discussed there is still a long ways off. It’s now something we are working on though and has been for some time.

We launched the 3.0-related hardware line today in the Roomie Store. When used with 3.0, Roomie Blasters require no additional purchase for infrared control. They are also backwards compatible with the current release as if they were an iTach Flex.

We will certainly be releasing more details on some of the other 3.0 features soon. Up to the very last minutes, it’s always difficult to say how long app review will take and final feature details are changing periodically. It has taken less than 24 hours sometimes and then one time it took 42 days to get a new version live on the App Store, so getting everyone excited too early when it’s possible it could take a while and may have additional changes is generally not wise.

We do encourage anyone to listen to the interview if you’d like to hear more about plans for 3.0. We can say that 3.0.0 is now in Apple’s hands as of a few minutes ago. That does not necessarily mean it will be live soon.

Thank you.

Does backup/restore and media guide functionality still require the Roomie Service Subscription when using the Roomie blaster hardware?

The Roomie Service provides even more than it provides today in 3.0, the only carve out here is to provide a new hardware path for users that don’t need any guides to control them via infrared without the Roomie Service.

With version 3.0, as we’ve previously announced in the Feature Request thread on this, we are adding the Plex Media Guide to the existing stable of Media and DVR Guides.

The Roomie Service as of 3.0 for new purchases is required for all guides, including the current 4 hour period. If you purchase the app prior to the day 3.0 is released (could be today, could be end of October, impossible to predict Apple), you are grandfathered into the current 4 hour period of guides regardless. The Roomie Service provides 2 weeks of guides for the 34 supported countries.

Triggers, something discussed briefly on the radio interview, is a major new feature and is also exclusive to the Roomie Service along with Proximity Automation, Clocks, and Alarms.

The Roomie Service also includes the functionality of the Agent Management Pack as of 3.0. The price of Roomie Agent will increase to $29 on the same day, so it’s actually the same for most though you do have the final opportunity to grandfather yourself into the Agent Management Pack right now. The Triggers feature works with Roomie Agent to run Roomie commands unattended from an OS X system based on external events such as a Lutron keypad press.

The above is just a quick heads up, we’ll be posting all the details on these features as the 3.0 release gets closer.

Thank you.