Review: Unify4Life BlackBerry AV Remote

by Robert Kao on 18 Nov 2008 11:53 AM

What is Unify4Life?

For those of you that have not heard of Unify4Life, in short, it is a company that is transforming your BlackBerry into a universal remote control for your AV equipments, garage doors, lights. Anything you need a remote control for Unify4Life wants to be there to help you control it from your BlackBerry. Unify4Life’s immediate offering is an AV Hub that talks to your BlackBerry via Bluetooth and talks to your AV equipments via IR (infrared).

The Unboxing and Hardware Setup (or lack of)

The Unify4Life AV Hub comes in a sleek black box, making a great gift box set. When I first got it, I couldn’t wait to open the black box up. In side the box is the actual Unify4Life AV Hub itself along with the power cable. Perhaps I missed it when I first saw the presentation at WES back in May 2008, I thought the setup was going to be a major pain due to all the spider wires that I would have to stick on to all the infrared ports on my TV, DVD, Sound system…etc. Boy-o was I pleasantly surprised to find out that the AV Hub itself can communicate with all my AV equipments via IR without setting up spider cables. Sweet!

Really, all I had to do is find a good place where the AV Hub has an unobstructed view to all my AV equipments and then plug in the power cable, and voila, I’m done with the hardware setup. As I previously mentioned, you can have spider cables setup so the unit sits right beside your AV equipment and the AV Hub sends signals via the wired spider cables.

Configuring My AV Equipment

If you are one of those people that save all the manuals you get from TVs, DVD, satellite and cable boxes, then configuring AV equipment on Unify4Life’s owner website is going to be cake. As for me, nope, I am definitely not one of those. What exactly do you have to do to get your AV setup? You need to know the type of equipment (easy as pie), maker the equipment (not tough), and exact model number. The last one was a bit tough. I had to go to lengths and open up the back of my AV center and track down the model number for my TV, Cable Box, DVD player, Amplifier.

Just to be fair, the Unify4Life’s owner website is still in beta form when I tested this in early October. Also, I have since then spoke to Unify4Life and they will have search functions to make setting this up a lot easier than what I went through.

A “minor” feature request from the dev team at Unify4Life: If some how I can point each of my AV remotes at the Unify4Life AV Hub and it “learns” about the AV Equipment that way, it would be make the setup grandma-proof (no disrespect to Grandmas every where).

The Test Drive

I think the following says a lot about the product “value proposition”:

When I showed the Unify4Life TV Listing to my father, he was very impressed that he can search through the TV Listing for the show that is coming on within the next six hours by keywords and phrases, and when my father has found the shows he wanted, he can either change the channel right from the BlackBerry or he can schedule it so the BlackBerry Calendar reminds him when the show of interest is about to come on. People, this is the end of aimless channel surfing as we know it (unless you actually enjoy wasting time surfing through channels without knowing what you actually want to watch).

Now, you might be wondering, is the TV listing local and current? You bet. Now, I don’t live in a small town in the mid-west but rather in a small town in the “Tri-state area near NYC”. What I do know is that Unify4Life subscribe to a 3rd party feed and that 3rd party’s only job is to get the TV Listing feeds right, so I wouldn’t worry.

When I started using Unify4Life, I noticed that can control each of my AV equipment individually using the Unify4Life BlackBerry application. For instance, I can go to my TV control area and change the volume of the TV, change the input source. If I go to the cable box control area, I can change the channel, see tv guide from my cable service provider (not that I would since I can search through Unify4Life’s TV Listing – see above). Likewise, if I go to my DVD control area and control my DVD player. But what if I’m watching a movie that I just got from Netflix and I want to change volume on my amplifier but also control DVD player at the same time?

Unify4Life is one step ahead because they already thought of that.

Unify4Life also categorize your equipment via “activities”. For example, when I am in Movies Activity mode, the screen shows me just the buttons that I would need: button for me to fast forward and backwards for the DVD player, but also the volume for my AV system.

Unify4Life BlackBerry AV Remote
Unify4Life app showing activities and my devices

Overall I think this product is a great gift for the technophile in the family, it is practical and it will literally replace all the remotes in the house. This is just me, but I have many BlackBerry smartphones at home, so one of them is dedicated to being my remote. One feature request is to allow multiple BlackBerry Smartphones to be added to the account so families with multiple BlackBerry Smartphones will entertainment need not wait for that BlackBerry to come back home.

Unify4Life BlackBerry AV Remote
Unify4Life app putting the controls that I need while I’m watching movie

I’m in the process of tweaking my setting so I can control my MacBook DVD player with my BlackBerry. Stay tune for an update to this post.

What’s Next for Unify4Life

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, Unify4Life has a garage door hub that will allow you to open your garage door using the same BlackBerry that controls your AV system. Now, some of you would say, why would I do that if I already have a garage opener in the car clipped right on my visor? Well, what if you are walking your dog or taking a walk with your family? Do you want to go into your car, get the garage opener, and likely to later forget to put it back for yourself to use the next day? My point exactly!

What I’m really excited about and can’t wait for is to control my thermostat with my BlackBerry. Having thermostat control from my BlackBerry would just make my winter months of getting up in the middle of the night to adjust the temperature a thing of the past!

To Unify4Life: hurry, winter is coming!

To find out more about Unify4Life and pre-order the AV Hub, go to www.Unify4Life.com

Filed Under: General Accessories;

124 Comments

Posted by vx1 Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

now thats pretty cool,since you will never part with your bb anyways - why not be the king of your castle with it and control your tv, and everything else from your BB ! hehe woo hooo #@!

Posted by Simon Sage Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Nice, mine's in the mail. :)

Posted by heavyset04 Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

is it actually in the mail as in theyve told you it has shipped?
ive preordered one, credit card info and everything but still no shipping info.. cant wait for its release

Posted by TXBlade Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

From their Website....

Pre-order now to be one of the first to control your A/V equipment with your Blackberry® smartphone! Our product will begin shipping in December 2008.

http://www.unify4life.com/buy.html

Posted by Mike @ Unify Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Hi... Thanks for your interest in our offering and your purchase order.

We are currently waiting for our product product to arrive from the manufacturer and expect to begin limited shipments in mid December.

Regards Mike @ Unify4Life

Posted by august829 Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Can't wait.

Posted by heavyset04 Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

is the limited shipment first come first serve ie people who signed up a long time ago will get it?
i also noticed that there is a pre-order page (with a picture of the phone) where u can, well im guessing, be put on the wait list after giving your name and email address.. however, i stumbled across a page a couple weeks ago that said buy instead of preorder (had a picture of just the av unit) and requested credit card info and all that so i filled it out.. does that mean ill get one of the limited ones? :)

long post, sorry... really excited about this accessory tho

Posted by Mike @ Unify Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008 1171 days ago

Hi... Yes it is first come first serve for the limited release of our product in December.

Yes, you will get one shipped in December.

Thanks for your business and I believe your going to enjoy the product & service.

Regards Mike

Posted by heavyset04 Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008 1171 days ago

cant wait

Posted by Chris@unify4life.com Thursday, Nov 20, 2008 1170 days ago

Hi...I just want to clarify and apologize for any inconvenience, however, your order will not be processed, as our purchasing site is still under development. We ask that you sign up for a "pre-order" unit. You will be notified when the unit is shipping. Again, thanks for your business!

Posted by Bla1ze Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

I soo need one of these.

Posted by kasperapd Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

I was wondering what happened to this accessory. I had heard so much about it earlier in the year, and then it just dropped off the radar. Thanks for the review!

Posted by Mike @ Unify Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Hi... We are sorry for the delay, but we've been adding some great new features to our product that we believe add a lot of value for our customers.

In addition, we have gone thru an extensive beta trial period to insure we ship "The Worlds Greatest Universal Remote" to our customers on day 1!

Thanks for the comment. Mike @ Unify

Posted by Anonymous123 Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

So this thing only works for the devices that are in its unobstructed line of sight? Don't garage door openers use RF signals?

Posted by Anonymous123 Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

n/m about the garage hub question.

Posted by Berry Pickin Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

"As I mentioned in the first paragraph, Unify4Life has a garage door hub that will allow you to open your garage door using the same BlackBerry that controls your AV system." Seems like you get a separate unit for the garage door function.

Posted by Minh @ Unify4Life Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

We have a special garage door opener bridge that is easily installed. The BlackBerry connects to this bridge via Bluetooth allowing you to activate the opener.

The installed bridge does not interfere with any of the original garage door RF remotes or operations. You can also have multiple bridges yet still all selected and controlled from your single BlackBerry with our application.

Within the application, we have a cool "auto activate" feature. Clicking on this feature as you leave work allows the BlackBerry to automatically activate your opener as soon as it comes into range.

Minh @ Unify4Life

Posted by stewdaddy Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

I have 3 children who always loose my remote. This sounds like the fix.

Posted by Robert Kao Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Yes! Having stuff all over the house, I have a hard time finding my remotes. But with BB on me, I can control the house (well, AV right now :) )

Posted by VoltaicShock Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

I want one of these - :P

CB should have a contest to give one away.

If you watch the trailer (http://www.unify4life.com/trailer.html)

It shows them controlling the temp from the BB.

Posted by Mike @ Unify Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

We'll be happy to work with Kevin to get a contest going for a new device!

Thanks for the kind comments.

Regards Mike @ Unify

Posted by Crazydude1405 Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Will This Be Compatible With The Blackberry Storm?

Posted by Navan Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

I would love one of these...since it's only me and my hubby he can have all the confusing remotes and I can just stick to my BB...oh martial bliss!

Posted by NDO Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Crazydude this will be compatible with the storm.

Posted by Mike @ Unify Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Hi... We are currently working on the UI for the "Storm" and will try to get it out quickly. We have just received our development platform and it will take us a month or so, but we should be good to go at CES.

Thanks for your interest.

Regards Mike @ Unify

Posted by kasperapd Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

I'll be looking forward to seeing your booth at CES!

Posted by ChuckH0308 Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

SOLD! They even claim you can control an iPhone with it. Talk about an opportunity for me to screw around with my S.O. while on the iPhone! :)

In all seriousness, this will be extremely helpful with the A/V system. What I really wonder is if you can get an extra box and control two A/V systems? Be nice to use it in the living room and the bedroom.

I went back and looked. They say multiple rooms, so I pre-ordered two of them so I can have a control box in the living room and the bedroom. Sweet!

Posted by Mike @ Unify Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Hi thanks for the interest and questions.

You can purchase as many "box's" as you like. When you set up your account on our web site you can define rooms and those rooms will show up in the menu on the Blackberry.

Whichever room your in, just select it (as an example you may want the family room as the default but have one in your master bedroom or basement theater) and the AV equipment you list for that room will be available and you will automatically connect to the system and control the CE equipment in the room you choose.

I hope that helps and answers your question.

Thanks Mike @ Unify

Posted by ChuckH0308 Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Thanks! I signed up for two, but I guess I can't actually do it until you get the softward out for the Storm.

Posted by imann101 Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

I would really love this... but you would have to carry around that little IR box... may as well just use the remote. It's not like I have a fancy IR light controller or anything like that. I'd love it if the box was smaller and more portable.

Posted by imann101 Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

alright, it can control an ipod too... its pretty cool. I just wish the box wasnt so big.

Posted by Mike @ Unify Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Hi... Unfortunately we designed the product to be used in one room. The box size is relatively small (about the size of a Bold) however it's not really recommended for portable application.

Thanks for the request and we'll consider looking into a portable solution in the future.

Regards Mike @ Unify

Posted by Minh @ Unify4Life Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

We feel the "box" approach provides some significant advantages when looking at the typical household. Since the AV Bridge resides with the equipment, once configured, any user with a U4L enabled BlackBerry can control the devices. If a family member connects with the Bridge, they can automatically control all the equipment without any further setup. This holds true for guests, however, you must enable that feature.

This allows the personal BlackBerrys to store personal settings, such as favourite shows, channels, lighting levels, audio volumes, etc... regardless of room.

Having the AV Bridge reside by the equipment and connected via Bluetooth has the ultimate advantage of creating a non-line-of-sight RF remote. This allows the ability to connect to other rooms within the house but also, in our soon to release WiFi extension, the ability to remotely access when outside the house.

A possible answer to the mobile problem is to ensure all the places you're visting have an AV Bridge....did I mention the AV Bridge makes a great gift for all your friends and family?

Minh @ Unify4Life

Posted by mungera Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Carry around the little box? Does it not use blue tooth to control the IR box? maybe i misunderstood....

Posted by Mike @ Unify Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Hi... You are correct, you would need one AV Bridge per room full of AV equipment you want to control.

Thanks for the question.

Regards Mike

Posted by sunburned Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

It says the price is $100 for a year of service. This isn't permanent, but annual? Pretty sweet, but I don't have a garage or a digital thermostat in my apt, so I'll pass and get a logitech universal remote instead.

Posted by Mike @ Unify Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Hi... Our product sells for $99.00 and includes the forst year of service.

After that, the service price is $19.00 per year.

I'll post some more information later tonight on the benefits of using our product.

I hope this helps you make the right decision.

Posted by daridgwa Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Awesome, now I can make my remote ring or vibrate when I lose it in the sofa cushions!

Posted by Minh @ Unify4Life Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Yes, our engineering team prides ourselves not for the feat of controlling all your equipment but for solving the age- old problem of how to find your lost remote!!!!

Thanks for this great comment!

Minh @ Unify4Life

Posted by brownie415 Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

so do we have to connect all our products to this one little box...and how can we control the garage if the door is closed and it has to be in an unobstructable view

Posted by Robert Kao Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

garage door function will be via another "hub" that sits with your garage door. But all controlled from the BB.

Hope that helps.

Robert Kao

Posted by Miek @ Unify Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Hi Rob correct. We'll have a very small box that will interface to your Blackberry and your Garage Door Opener that will retail for $29.99.

With very simple installation and pairing of our device to the Blackberry (just like a Bluetooth headset) you'll be able to control and program your garage door opening and closing, all within line of sight per the USA UL requirements.

Thanks for your interest in this product. Miek @ Unify

Posted by AUtigers350z Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

As one of the winners of the Schwag Contest on here, I received the beta version of Unify4Life about a month or so ago.

When it came in, I was very excited to get everything set up and be able to control my AV equipment via my BB. As mentioned above, the package looks very nice and professional. The instruction manual was also very easy to follow.

Before I get into the positives and negatives on this device, I must mention that I have been using my Logitech Harmony universal remote for almost a year now. Therefore, this is all I have to compare the Unify4Life to.

First and perhaps most importantly, the list of supported AV equipment is pretty small compared to the Harmony. I have a Vizio TV upstairs and since there is no Vizio available on Unify4Life, I can't control it with my BB.

Second, in my bedroom as well as my living room, an Xbox 360 is the main DVD player. The Harmony remote was made specifically for the 360 and easily integrates it into the preset actions I have set up. Unify4Life does not offer support for the Xbox 360 at this time (or as far as I could find). This makes using the "Watch a DVD", "Listen to a CD", etc. functions basically obsolete for me.

So far, the only feature I have been able to test is controlling my digital cable box. I do like the way Unify4Life integrates the TV guide. It was easy to scroll through and find a program I wanted to watch on my phone instead of having to go through the cable box. The BB interface is also very clean and easy to navigate.

Bottom Line: Unify4Life is definitely taking a step in the right direction. I believe with more device manufacturers offered and support for the Xbox 360, I could definitely be swayed to put away the Harmony.

Posted by Mike @ Unify4Life Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Hi... Thanks for helping us with the beta evaluation of our product.

The reason we ran the beta program and contest was to help us create the "Best Universal Remote in the World". We believe we are well on our way to accomplishing our goal!

We now have a complete database for you (over 1M devices and 6000 brands) that covers 99.99 % of the electronics equipment out there.

We're working on the Xbox 360 interface, I'll check with our engineering etam and pst another update eon that shortly.

We'll send our final production version shortly, as a thank you for the kind comments and your help with our product development.

Regards Mike @ Unify

Posted by AUtigers350z Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Awesome sounds good. I really like the way this is going, but as with any new product it can't be expected to be 100% right the first time it comes out. I understand it takes you guys lots of time and research to get this thing going and it's definitely on the right track. Keep up the good work guys.

Posted by Minh @ Unify4Life Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1171 days ago

We appreciate your participation and patience with our beta unit.

One of our key goals is to provide as much coverage of the major brands and models of AV equipment. With launch, the full list will be available including custom integration with special devices such as the Xbox 360, TiVo, PS2 etc...

Again, we thank you for your patience, and hope that you'll be happily surpised when you're able to control your Xbox 360 and Vizio TV.

Minh @ Unify4Life

Posted by sailboats Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

i like the attempt here but as with all "universal" remotes I think it falls a little short. This tech has been around for a very long time if you have the money to shell out you can get something that can communicate with any device in your home from door locks, lights, electronic devices, etc. Personally all the fans in my house run on remote even the heater/fireplace thing is temp controlled by a remote. Its all a matter of someone just writing the program and rigging the necessary equipment. I think unify4life does have a decent sounding product for people who want a quick fix. But I can't really be sold on old tech with the one novelty being that i am able to use it on my blackberry.

Posted by Mike @ Unify Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 1172 days ago

Thanks for the comment, even though you don't feel there is a need for our product. The reason we got into it, was to try and create the Bill Gates home control system of the future but at a greatly reduced cost.

By leveraging the power, communications ability, ergonomics, display, and full QWERTY keyboard of the Blackberry we believe we are on a path to achieve our goal and make this functionality available and actually better than systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars (all for $100.00 and less depending on the module). In addition but not needing batteries for the remotes moving forward, we will also provide a positive impact on the environment.

We hope to be able to convince you of the value of our product over time, and truly believe what we're bringing to market before the end of this year will be the norm for Smartphone's in the next 4-5 years.

Regards Mike @ Unify

Posted by tech42er Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008 1171 days ago

The vast majority of people do not have every fan, door lock, light, and temp remotely controlled. And that's an understatement. Purchasing and installing that is either insanely expensive or a LOT of hard work. A "universal" remote control means it can control more than one A/V device; it doesn't mean it can control a home of the future where every appliance is remotely controlled. Sorry to attack you out of nowhere, but I think your criticism of this product is wholly unjustified because you're setting the bar far, far too high. This is not some inferior technology with a cheap gimmick; it's actually pretty revolutionary.

Posted by someone Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008 1171 days ago

I completely agree. Calling this product inferior and old technology is a complete understatement. Yes "smart" houses have been around for years now, but being anywhere NEAR this affordable is definitely new. Keep up the great work Unify!

Review: Unify4Life BlackBerry AV Remote

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