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Explained: the SPIN remote touchpad

Explained: the SPIN remote touchpad

The touchpad at the underside of the SPIN remote SDC-1 may seem simple or plain, but it holds some pretty amazing technology. I'll explain why.

SPIN remote touch pad

The touchpad at the underside of the SPIN remote.

The SPIN remote SDC-1 is mainly known for its revolutionary gesture control, although the touchpad at the underside of the SPIN remote is worth mentioning too. Because it can do more than you might think.

And even though the surface of the touchpad is plain, it has several hidden segments corresponding to five "buttons". The layout of these buttons resembles that of a regular remote: up, down, left, right and a center button.  

SPIN remote touch pad layout

The five segments, or "buttons", of the SPIN remote touchpad (made visible for this photo only)

Additionally the touchpad recognizes swipes in all main directions. So swiping left to right is different to swiping right to left. The same is the case with swiping up and down.

 A short video showing how to swipe horizontally and vertically

As you might have noticed, the touchpad is perfectly round without any discernible buttons. And yet it always knows which way is up, no matter how you hold it. This is the work of gyroscopic sensors in the SPIN remote SDC-1, which always find out what's "up", as long as you hold it at least at a slight angle.

Incorrect SPIN remote touchpad position Correct SPIN remote touch pad position

Instead of perfectly horizontal (left), try holding SPIN remote at an angle (right) for the touchpad to work best

When SPIN knows which way is up, it consequently knows which way you're swiping or button you're pressing, too. There's no need to hold it a certain way. Nifty, indeed.

 

No matter how you hold or rotate SPIN remote, the sensors always know which way is up. 

Pro tip:

An easy way to use the touchpad is by using both hands...  

SPIN remote touch pad with two hands

But the sleek look of the SPIN remote makes it easy to hold it and use it with only one hand. This makes you look 50% cooler in an instant, too (fact).

SPIN remote touch pad with one hand

Got curious? Get your SPIN remote today!

 

 

SPIN remote API launched on GitHub

SPIN remote API launched on GitHub

What would you control?

Sphero BB-8 and SPIN remote. Future partners?

Controlling the Sphero Star Wars BB-8 with SPIN remote: will you make this happen?

You may have seen our viral videos on Facebook or Youtube. The ones where SPIN remote controlled a water tap, opened the blinds or even a kitchen mixer. Unfortunately these applications haven’t been developed for SPIN remote, yet.

The good news however is that as of now, it actually is possible to develop these usages. Not just by us, but by others as well. For all those entrepreneurial developers and SPIN remote enthusiasts we have released the SPIN remote API. We can show you new things with the SPIN remote, but we are sure we can learn a lot from you, the SPIN remote community as well.

What's an API anyway, you may wonder? Well in short: we provided the building blocks of the SPIN remote so others can create new uses for SPIN remote or expand on existing functions. Create additional functions for SPIN remote to control Philips Hue lights? Be our guest. Build a way for SPIN remote to communicate with your house’s Wifi-powered sun screens? Go ahead. Spread the simplicity we too want to spread with SPIN remote.

You can find the SPIN remote API and open source QuickStart apps for Android and iOS on Github here. For additional support please visit the For Developers portal on our site. 

Happy coding!

SDC experience now available in App Store

SDC experience now available in App Store

Taking the SPIN for a spin

Recently we launched something cool. For our retailers we created this fun app for tablets called the ‘SDC experience’, named after our product’s full name, the SPIN remote SDC-1. This app, together with a SPIN remote, gives an overview of what our remote is capable of.

When people visit stores that carry the SPIN remote, they have the chance to take our SPIN remote for a spin (pun entirely intended). The app shows a living room with a TV, two Sonos PLAY:1 speakers and a Philips Hue Bloom lamp.

 

Inception: demonstrating a demonstration app. Or watching a video of an app with a video. 

Curious visitors can rotate the SPIN remote to see what happens. Rotating normally will dim the virtual lights, rotating upside down will show a gradient of light colors. Rotating the SPIN sideways will change the actual volume of the tablet. Cool, huh?

If you’d like to take a look at the SDC experience, you can download it from the App Store. We will let you know when and where you can find the SDC experience in real-life!