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...Continued from Page 8.
All or nothing at all.
Another advanced function is "DELETE", which does the obvious – deletes buttons completely. The only buttons not removable are those located on the main page. There is, however, a serious caveat to completely deleting (or even moving) a button: pre-programmed commands can only be assigned to keys that reside in the exact same physical location they were in originally. So, if you delete the number "5" in the keypad or move it one pixel to the left, that button will not change or be recreated if you assign a new component code. And although you may delete all learned signals on a particular device or even all devices, there is no way to reset all of the positional data for a modified component except by resetting the entire remote via the hidden button in the battery compartment – which I don’t recommend you do unless you have the PC software handy to restore the remotes’ programming. A true "all or nothing" situation.
You can’t rush perfection.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your remote be if you decide to go the whole nine yards. It can take time to come up with a perfect configuration, though it’s in the MX-1000’s favor that such a feat is even possible. After all that work, getting down to using the remote is a pleasant, though not incident free, experience. The speed of the remote is best classified as "moderate" – you can watch each screen draw, however the speed is acceptable. Using the two hard buttons to navigate the remote is quite comfortable. The [PAGE] button advances in order through the four screens under each device; the LCD-based [LAST PAGE] button goes in the opposite direction.
When the screen times out, it may be brought back using either the MAIN or PAGE buttons, or by tapping it, without changing from the previously accessed page. Since the remote doesn’t have a motion or light sensor, the only way to activate the light is manually with the [LIGHT] button. You cannot assign the backlight to come on whenever the LCD is active, though I have been told it would be technically possible to add that functionality (the only reason it was not included was due battery life concerns). One oversight is that while pressing the LIGHT button will turn on the backlight for both the LCD and keypad, it will not re-activate the LCD if it has timed out – presenting the user with a well-lit but utterly blank screen.
Being ambidextrous is a plus... and other impressions.
The [LIGHT] button itself seems placed more for left-handed people, who would hold the remote in their right hand and operate it with their left. In this case the [LIGHT] button is where your thumb would rest. A right-handed person would cradle the remote in their left hand and use their index finger, or press the button with the right hand. Due to the unusual depression style, the one-handed "squeeze" motion is easier than trying to use two hands.
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