Recently you bought a home theater and connected it to your LED Television. Now you have two remote controls for both the devices but you are often found juggling a separate remote control to perform different operations on your TV. No more juggling! Hands on recently launched Flyover Innovation’s Blumoo, designed to replace all your remote controls at home.
Be it your TV, stereos, or optical disc players, Blumoo lets you customize the perfect virtual remote with only the controls you want. Available for $130, this multiple device controller comes with infrared-blasting HomeBase, a wall charger, and a detachable audio cable along with free app that you need to download to control the unit and A/V setup. It is also equipped with Bluetooth 4.0 that allows you to send 150’ range, signals from iPhone to the HomeBase hardware.
How does Blumoo function?
Just in case you are wondering how does it manage to control multiple A/V devices at a same time, lets tell you that Blumoo works with Logitech Harmony Ultimate Hub, that receives signals from Smartphone app and then releases the appropriate IR Signals to control your TV, Stereo, DVD, Blu-ray players, CD players, cable box, etc.
Blumoo’s Design…..
Designed like a futuristic coffee mug, Blumoo device, also called HomeBase, is only 3 inch tall with translucent black plastic center, sandwiched between a piece of metal that runs around the back. A dongle is permanently attached to the unit with three ports where you can make power, audio, and IR extender connections.
Blumoo is easy to set up…
To set up Flyover Innovation’s Blumoo, first you need to plug in the device and set it near your home theater gear then install the app on your Smartphone or tablet with Android 4.0 or iOS 6.0 running on them. Also, make sure that it supports Bluetooth 4.0 so that you can also connect to iPhone 4s, iPad 3, and iPad mini to set the remote active.
Blumoo can be converted into a custom remote control by adding buttons from multiple units onto one page and can be used as hardware remote with some manual button creation, moving, and tweaking. It has a program guide that can help you know what’s playing, what is next and thus helping you jump right to the show. You can use the audio cable included in the package to switch over to the app’s music to stream Pandora, Spotify, and iTunes to plugged-in audio systems.
Bottom line
Inspite of having shortcomings like small and tricky buttons and wasted space on home screen, Blumoo can do just fine thanks to its biggest benefit Bluetooth 4.0. You can do instant pairing with Blumoo and connect any devices without getting confused with any of its features. Its music streaming feature is mind-blowing and with a few app updates and a syncing feature, Blumoo can be really useful.