L5 Remote iPhone App for Universal Remote

I got this iPhone accessory today as part of a mass order of a local music forum.

The box is quite big and you think you got yourself a huge remote…

But when you open it, it is just a small piece of metal:

So what exactly is it ? Well it is the L5 Remote which supposedly turns your iPhone/iPod Touch into an universal remote. Yes, the one remote to rule them all.. the one remote to get rid of the rest. It cost me SGD50.35 but it is worth every cent.

When you plug that small thing into your iPhone, it recognizes and suggested you download the app (You NEED THE APP!)

And takes you to the app store:

It also automatically download the latest firmware:

And when you are done, you are even a choice to start your design of your super duper universal remote from scratch or take a simple copy:

It does have a learning curve to play around with the controls but after a while, you get the hang of it and will really enjoy the process. It would be so much enjoyable if I can do this on the desktop (i.e. do the design and construction of the remotes on a software on the desktop…).

Basically, it is a click, drag and configure process.. you normally select a remote, name it the way you want it, select DESIGN tab and add/remove/colour the buttons you want.

Then you can assign the buttons to the specific remote codes by clicking on the assign tab and point your original remote and then map button by button (YES, BUTTON BY BUTTON) to your iPhone remote. It might seem tough but it is an one time affair. Now, I have done several universal remotes in my life but this one is super easy. Most importantly, you can see that the buttons have been assigned (they are lighted up in BLUE once they are assigned). Trust me, that’s important. I have a hell of time trying to remember which button has been assigned (and whether it is successful) when I was doing a Sony Universal Remote. This one is easy.

And if you dun want to, you can actually try to search the library for remotes already set up by others and shared with you:

When downloading from the library, you can choose if you just want the design or the design with the codes. That means, the former is just the nice buttons already designed while the latter includes the remote codes which theoretically should work with the remote you wanted. It is hard to find a match though for the exact remote you have.. the library is not that big.

Another wonderful thing is that you can UPLOAD your remote designs/setup to the L5 Cloud. It is brilliant idea. For one, it is like a mini backup for you. I love the idea of backing up the remote I have created into the cloud and knowing that it will be there if something stupid happens to your iPhone/iPod Touch or if you have to delete the app. No re-doing. In addition, if you have another iPhone etc, you can then download the designed remotes to your other iPhone etc. So you might have one at home, one at another home, one at yet another home and all three share the same remotes (but then you have to pay for 3 remote dongles)…

Here’s my remote for Starhub Cable TV:

And my AC Ryan Box:

This is 100% worth a buy !! And it is not expensive at all !