So you’re the annual New Years Eve DJ and you’ve been asked to bring over some dance music and keep the party jumpin’. You’ve loaded up the iPad with some tunes and videos and you have it ready to plug in to the sound system. Now you want to control it from your iPhone.
But wait, is that built in iOS functionality? Nope. If you had your laptop you could have controlled it with Remote (through iTunes) but you wanted to carry only the minimum stuff. What to do now?
Enter Tango Remote.
The version I found and used this year is 5.0.23 and it’s a universal app (meaning you buy it once and it’ll run on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad). I hadn’t read anything about it previously but I took the plunge and made the purchase. In this instance, I depended on the iTunes rating system to help me make the choice. Out of 27 reviews on the current version, it rated 4 stars so it seemed legit. I bought it on the iPhone and the iPad, waited for them to load. I made sure I was on the same wi-fi network with both devices. Then I plugged the iPad to the stereo and launched Tango Remote. I found my playlist and fired up the app on the iPhone. It recognized the iPad immediately. I selected the same playlist and started playing the media. No issues. As the night went on, I was able to stop, start, skip and change the music at will.
Ratings
Productivity value – 4.5/5
I was able to perform nearly all needed functions without a hitch. I would have liked to have seen the ability to switch between video playback, if showing a music video and showing a cover when playing a song. Otherwise, top notch. AND, not only does it look at your music play lists, it allows you to play all your media on your device including any movies, TV shows, iTunes University, videos from your camera roll – amazing.
Ease of use 4/5
Extremely easy to use – no issue just downloading on the 2 devices, making sure they were on the same network and running it. I read that Bluetooth was also an option but did not try it. I would like it if there was an option to have videos remember their playback position, or at least make it optional.
Likelihood of usage 5/5
This was great – I had no issues and will certainly use it again. This app will be granted a permanent home on my already cramped 32 GB iPad and my iPhone.
Graphics and Sound 4/5
Graphics are simple and effective. I’m not rating this high because of the artistic value – I’m rating it this high because I could easily find everything I needed without a bunch of distracting colors or blinking lights. Everything seemed to “just work” for me. This includes different layouts for the iPad and the iPhone. They used the larger screen space on the iPad effectively and made the iPhone version more compact as one would expect.
Overall – 4.4/5
Great application – the price is more than what I normally want to pay for an app but I have NO regrets on this one.
Where to get it
How much is it
I paid 4.99 but it looks like it goes on sale pretty often. Again, even at this price, I’m happy.
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