• LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    I used to have so much fun back when cell phones had IR blasters. Changing channels and messing with people before it was common knowledge that you could do that on a cell. I wish phones still had that.

  • noisypine@infosec.pub
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    1 year ago

    I loved it when my phone had IR. I really hate it when restaurants have tvs on in the dining room. I would turn the volume down or even turn it off. I really miss being able to do that.

    • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      My Galaxy S5 was great when people insisted on watching Fox or Nancy Grace at full volume on the lunch room TV.

    • SapphironZA@lemmings.world
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      1 year ago

      Most Chinese brand phones like oppo and Xiaomi still has it as standard.

      I use it to control my air conditioning all the time.

      • Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Phones don’t have IR blasters anymore for the same reason they don’t have aux ports or SD card slots anymore. For one, they remove these features to make room for other things that take up the real estate of a thin slice of technology. And for two, cutting those things increases the profit margin of the phones they sell, even if only slightly.

          • Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            The absence of the component frees up room for the phone’s taptic engine – which allows your device to vibrate – and creates room for a larger battery.

            I’m not saying I agree with it. I prefer a phone with an aux port, and apple pioneered taking it out. It is what it is

        • Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          They also removed radio capabilities. Rip the days I would listen to live radio at 2 am while I washed dishes at chili’s.

      • Rambi@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I had that phone for like 4 months and loved it! Unfortunately the police stole it when the house I was living in was raided… it was a good phone, I spent quite lot of hours researching which to get and decided that would be the best.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      I wonder if an IR dongle is a thing that’s available and would function well…

                • voxel@sopuli.xyz
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                  1 year ago

                  oneui is pretty decent but actually i don’t like the build quality on most older a series, including mine.
                  it got better with a54, a53 and a7x ones tho

          • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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            1 year ago

            Yeah, mine doesn’t either, but I guess I could get a USB to 3.5mm, then the 3.5mm IR dongle… Eh, I’ve lived fine without it, as much as I’d enjoy having it back.

    • butter@midwest.social
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      1 year ago

      Did that in my high school. Turned on Thomas the Train.

      I was a rebel. They unplugged the TV after that

      • r0bi@infosec.pub
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        1 year ago

        I just brought a universal remote to class, admittedly causing the TV to get unplugged as well.

  • doctorcrimson@lemmy.today
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    1 year ago

    So you’re the reason I find my TV turned on in the morning.

    I’m going to find you. I will bill you for the power, and I will additionally calculate the cost of screen burn mileage on my TV. You will pay.

    • Land_Strider@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Connect your TV power cable to an outlet or splitter with a switch, turn the switch off every time you won’t watch tv for long. Enjoy 90% defense against remotejackers and 1% higher calorie burn bonus.

      • pafu@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        Don’t do that if you have an OLED, though. AFAIK, they need to turn themselves on from time to time to do some panel refresh stuff to prevent burn in.

        • asbestos@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Pretty sure that’s incorrect. They do, however, shift pixels from time to time to prevent burn in, but that’s while they’re on.

        • Land_Strider@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I have an LG Oled but that feature is not an automatic one, nor it is recommended to do it every day. Maybe LG shifted policy on it to activate it automatically at a tight interval on never models (mine is 2021 model), but tbh I haven’t seen it necessary yet, although I have used the TV both as a TV and a PC screen with constant interfaces, albeit taking care as to rest the screen regularly via watching movies, adjusting brightness, and using that offline refresh feature once in a month. I believe it is fairly acceptable to turn off Oleds completely, unless you want absolutely no responsibility on keeping them healthy.

    • Patches
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      1 year ago

      Huh?

      My Roku Ultra is behind a cabinet and it works just fine 10ft away. It’s not an IR repeater. It’s either Bluetooth or Wifi, I’m not sure.

  • 𝕾𝖕𝖎𝖈𝖞 𝕿𝖚𝖓𝖆@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I used to have a Samsung Galaxy S4, and its main gimmick was the IR blaster that also made the phone a universal remote. Great way to mess with people when I was in college at parties muting the TV or slowly making it louder over the course of a long time.

    My roomie and I also had the same exact TV, which made it fun to point the remote in her room and turn it off from time to time.

    • Dagnet@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      S4 was peak Samsung. IR blaster, removable battery, SD card, water resistant, amoled screen that phone just had it all

    • Jay@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      I still use my s4 with LineageOS. It’s on it’s third battery but still going strong.

        • Jay@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          I have the app “Unified Remote” on my S4, which allows me to control my amp, tv’s, my laptop (Which is just a glorified dvr for my yard cameras now), and even my computer.

          It’s a bit of a pain to set up, but works nicely once that’s done.

    • r0bi@infosec.pub
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      1 year ago

      Great ROM support too, going to stock 4.4 KitKat when it was new was a great upgrade from TouchWiz. Can go to up Android 11 at least iirc as well.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    When I was in high school in the 90s, someone started selling little keychain universal remotes and kids would occasionally bring them to school to fuck with the TV while the teacher was trying to show a video.