[Originally published in the SA Magazine Issue 6]

[tweetmeme]I can’t go back to using my iPhone. It feels so, restricted, small, and useless—yes, I will go as far as to say it’s nothing more than a dumb phone to me—and the reason is that apps behave and respond so differently on the iPad. They do so much more, that it’s hard to want to pick up the iPhone anymore.

A while ago I reviewed TouchPad by Edovia, to see if there’s any truth in using the iPhone instead of real peripherals for regular or passive computing. For regular work, it’s a definite no-no, but from afar, it was usable, but not without discomfort and cringing.

Fast forward to today, and we have the iPad, with two stunning applications geared to help you control your Mac from afar. While this review is to delve into the question of couch controlling your Mac, I will give you a conclusion as to which app makes the cut.

Rowmote Pro

Evan Schoenberg, a medical doctor, is one who doesn’t do more than he can handle, at least when it comes to apps. Way back in late 2008, he created an iPhone app that replicates the Apple IR remote. It was the best at what it did. It went through several revisions, improvements in interaction, and added features. But at its core, it remained the best simulation of the Apple Remote on the iPhone.

Rowmote Pro is Evan’s re-imagination of the same app, on the iPad. But when you look at it, you can’t help but feel like it’s a brand new app, from the ground up. Evan has redesigned the whole UI, with careful consideration to the device that it’s on, the way you would hold it, providing the ultimate in iPad remote control. Might I say, this new UI is also drop dead gorgeous to look at.

The first thing you’ll notice about the ‘Remote’ screen, is that Evan hasn’t shied from repeating buttons in the UI; the reasoning for which is crystal clear when you use it. There is no right way to hold the iPad, and you end up with various different hand positions. With Rowmote, your fingers are never away from the control you want to hit, using either thand.

But Rowmote doesn’t stop at simulating a remote. It’s a full fledged remote controller for practically everything on your computer. At the bottom lies control bar, which gives you access to special keys like Cmd, Option, Escape; an intelligent application switcher which allows you to launch ‘remote controllable’ apps like Plex, Keynote, and even special functions for quitting and full-screen-ing applications; an accurate representation of the apps in your OS X Dock; a keyboard flyout; and a toggle between a remote and trackpad for complete mouse control. To note, Rowmote Pro on the iPhone comes with similar functionality, but we’re concentrating on the iPad version here.

The trackpad is when it all gets real. I can tell you that this is the best simulated trackpad I’ve ever used. It’s very accurate, and smooth; none of that jerkiness experienced as on the iPhone (this of course depending on your wireless signal strength). The large surface lets you do very accurate mouse movements. While you can’t use this as a real mouse replacement, the experience is very close. It supports scrolling via two fingers, two finger right clicks, and you can even zoom in by pinching out. This allows you to use your computer from any distance and still be able to see what’s going on. I could sit in the dining room and control everything on my Mac without squinting one bit.

Then there’s the keyboard. Last time I tried keyboarding using the iPhone (using TouchPad), it was painfully apparent how bad the experience was without the auto-correct feature. It’s still a problem with Rowmote, but Evan has done something to greatly improve the experience. Instead of just sending keystrokes to your Mac, Rowmote overlays any typed keys on your iPad’s screen. So you no longer have to look back and forth from your computer screen and iPad keyboard. The experience is excellent for twitterring, writing comments on facebook, or even quick-replying to email. That you can do all those tasks on the iPad itself is a different matter.

I’ll get back to Rowmote in a bit.

TouchPad

Unlike Rowmote, Edovia has practically made a bigger version of its iPhone version. Though that’s not necessarily a bad thing in this case. The tracking surface is much larger than its iPhone counterpart, so your movements are far more accurate. Where Rowmote stops at two finger gestures for scrolling and zooming, TouchPad extends to three and four finger gestures like Exposé and the application switcher. And unlike the iPhone, you don’t have to look at where you’re swiping, and you get it right every time.

At the top, lie three buttons for alternate functions. One brings up the keyboard, another brings up the special keyboard containing arrow keys, function keys, and special functions like copy and paste; the third is a remote controller.

Without comparing the two, TouchPad is an excellent remote controller. It’s extremely simple and minimal in its UI and functionality, yet it can handle pretty much anything you need of a remote controller. Add to that a lot of the UI has been designed by Sebastiaan de With, and it shows. Those large glowing playback buttons are definitely touchable.

But…

Putting the two of them together

Rowmote wins out. When I considered either for this writeup, I thought Rowmote would win when it comes to Apple Remote simulation, while TouchPad would be a clear winner in the trackpad simulation aspect. Not so.

While both of them have an equally accurate trackpad, Rowmote has notably better scrolling and screen zooming. When they first arrived on the scene, the difference was practically that between scrolling Twitterrific 1.0 on an iPhone 2G and scrolling Twitterrific on the iPad. An update has smoothened out performance, but it’s still not as good as Rowmote. That said, TouchPad’s larger tracking surface meant I could perform gestures without worrying about unintentional input.

When it comes to keyboard entry, TouchPad leaves you to guess whether you’ve typed it right by having to either look at the screen or your iPad, where with Rowmote, as I’ve explained, you can see what you’ve typed right on the iPad’s (or iPhone’s) screen. And it makes a huge difference in real world usage.

The third aspect, is that Rowmote is a real remote simulator, where TouchPad simulates a simulated remote, if that makes sense. For instance, pressing the play/pause button in rowmote triggers a play/pause, no matter which application you are; TouchPad on the other hand simulates a Return key press (which triggers play/pause when in Front Row and such apps). With Rowmote you can also press and hold a button to have it repeat the action, such as fast forward a track or put your Mac to sleep. This is largely due to the fact that TouchPad uses the built in OS X Remote Management VNC feature to accept remote input, while Rowmote installs a special server app that translates input.

Lastly, and I feel bad doing this, Rowmote’s ‘remote’ UI is far better organised. You can hold the iPad with two hands, and tap with your thumbs, rather than with TouchPad, where you have to point and tap.

That said, Rowmote is more for the techie crowd, who would understand and appreciate its UI and power. I did the ‘layperson test’ and they seemed more comfortable with TouchPad.

Final Words

Both apps are really good proofs of how a larger screen can make such a big difference in usability. And that’s not the only thing that makes it work better than the iPhone. With the iPad’s speedy CPU, getting from any point to the app is a matter of a second or two, compared with the iPhone 2G. Add to that the stunning battery life of the iPad means you can leave it running the entire time. And, the amazing viewing angle means you can leave the iPad flat on the bed while lying down, and still be able to see all the buttons. This is not marketing speak; this is real.

TouchPad costs $2.99, while Rowmote Pro costs $4.99. Both are universal apps, so if you own their iPhone versions, the iPad app comes free. Surprising, but appreciated.

[Disclosure: Edovia has been a sponsor of our sites, but not a sponsor of our articles.]