Image credit: CrunchGear

While most of you have been aware and awaiting the release of Plex/Nine media center tomorrow, you probably didn’t know that the Plex team was holding out on you. You knew about the new Plex Media Manager, the media flagging, the gorgeous skins, and other changes, but there is a bit more. Along with tomorrows release comes Plex App for iOS devices. Plex App is a brand new mobile app for iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad that not only allows you to control Plex/Nine but also streams your content from Plex to your iOS device. You have a mini Plex media center in the palm of your hands.

The Plex team has given an exclusive hands-on to CrunchGear which you can view on video after the break. I think it’s safe to say that Plex is officially the multimedia software for Mac OS X–putting its foot on the neck of everything else out there. I need a Mac.

XBMC has functionality to allow itself to be controlled by a multitude of options including smartphones. XBMC Remote for iPhone by collect3 is the undisputed champ when it comes to controlling your XBMC using your iPhone or iPod Touch. I personally use it when I don’t forget my iPod touch in my car.

Key Features    Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

XBMC Remote for iPhone is packed with features allowing full control of XBMC without ever looking at your HDTV.

• Play, queue and shuffle the media on XBMC
• View cover art for music, TV Shows and movies while navigating
• Customizable ‘Button’ remote mode
• ‘Gesture’ remote mode
• Music library mode
• TV show library mode
• Movie library mode
• File browser mode

Screenshots of a few features:

Looks    Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Unlike other remote control apps that appear to be designed by a 5th grader, XBMC Remote for iPhone is a polished, professional looking product. With a splash of your media library’s cover art here and there, overall, it rests heavily on the standard iPhone OS interface that iPhone users and wannabes users love. The only design element that I would like to see changed is the button remote control. It is extremely usable but rather plain.

Ease of Use    Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Using XBMC Remote for iPhone is as simple as any iPhone application. It supports your standard swipe and press finger gestures. The layout has your standard Settings and Now Playing buttons at the top and access to your media libraries as “tabs” at the bottom. If you can use your iPhone you can use XBMC Remote for iPhone with no problem. In fact I can start a video in half as much time on my iPod Touch than I can with my Logitech MediaBoard Pro keyboard.

Performance    Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

There is a 1-2 second “Loading” when navigating from screen to screen each time you reopen the app. Once the app caches cover art and data, switching between screens is extremely responsive. Remote gestures, button commands and media playback are instantaneous which gives the all-important feeling of holding a real remote control.

As long as your iPhone or iPod Touch isn’t having WiFi issues the remote application works great.

Value    Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

While some are outraged and for some strange reason feel downright cheated at the $3.99 price tag. I feel XBMC Remote for iPhone is worth every penny. It’s the best XBMC remote app in the App Store so naturally it should cost a bit more. Considering I’ve owned this app for about two years, I think I got more than my money’s worth compared to buying a hardware keyboard.

Final Thoughts     Overall Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars

Not only is this the best remote available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, it’s also one of my favorite XBMC remotes for any smartphone. Its features allow you to do pretty much anything you want with XBMC without even being right in front of the TV.. Something a regular remote will have a pretty hard time doing.

Pros:

• Sleek, responsive interface that iPhone apps are known for
• Customizable remote
• Library modes
• Cover art for music, movies and TV shows

Cons:

• It’s not free..?

If you are an iPhone or iPod Touch owner XBMC Remote for iPhone is a must-have (or should-have). Again, the price is $3.99 US. Head over to the Apple App Store to get XBMC Remote for iPhone.

XBMC is a feature-rich media center with an attractive interface. Through it’s EventServer XBMC has seemingless endless support for both physical and software remote controls. Smartphone users can use their phones in “smarter” ways by turning them into XBMC remotes.

A real XBMC remote goes beyond mere mouse and keystroke control. Instead, it allows browsing of your XBMC media library directly from your phone’s screen. Imagine changing a song or starting an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars for your 5 year old from the next room. There are currently three notable remotes providing this functionality: XBMC Remote for Android, XBMC Remote for iPhone (and iPod Touch) and XBMC HTTP-Remote.

Check out the feature comparison:

	XBMC Remote for Android	XBMC Remote for iPhone	XBMC HTTP-R
Platform(s)	Google Android	iPhone, iPod Touch	Google Android, iPhone, iPod Touch, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Palm WebOS
Cost	Free	$2.99	Free
Developer	Team XBMC	collect3	XiniX88
Version	0.8.1	1.7	0.4
Where to get it?	Android Market	Apple App Store	XBMC Forums
Movie Library	Yes	Yes	Yes
TV Shows Library	Yes	Yes	Yes
Music Library	Yes	Yes	Yes
Media Sources (File Mode)	Yes	Yes	??
Remote Control	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Trackball works in Remote Control mode.		Also has a VNC-like control feature.
Gesture controls	--	Yes	--
Customizable remote buttons	--	Yes	--
Show incoming SMS on TV	Yes	--	--
Show incoming calls on TV	Yes	--	--
Notifications on phone Statusbar	Yes	--	--
Sorting	Yes	--	--
Pros	Trackball support. Incoming SMS and phone notifications.	Sleek interface. Customizable "tab" items.	Scalable, broader support of mobile OSes beyond Android and iPhone.
Cons	Basic design right now.	It's not free?	Doesn't use XBMC's built-in web server. Instead requires additional software (i.e., PHP, Apache).

Update: My initial thoughts were that while XBMC Remote for Android offered more features, the XBMC Remote for iPhone was a better app overall due to XBMC Remote for Android’s lack of TV show library support. My views have changed since v0.7.0 which launched after this article was published. XBMC Remote for Android is a better app feature-wise and the iPhone app is prettier and more responsive.

Both of these applications will continue to evolve alongside XBMC. Hopefully awareness of XBMC will grow resulting in more competition and options for remote software… And perhaps other media centers will take note.

Share your thoughts on which is better in the comments.

Note: Lifehacker also has a good article describing different XBMC remote control software. Somehow they mentioned HippoRemote for iPhone but failed to mention both the Android app or even the XBMC Remote for iPhone. Both in my opinion are far superior solutions in terms of XBMC usage.