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With all the talk of the use of smart applications to control our trains over the last year or so it got me thinking about how many people in the hobby actually have these devices readily available. The OGR forum is a small sample of the market, but I also wonder if this group is more likely to have these types of devices because you are already using technology like the forum to communicate. So, do you have a smart device and do you have an interest in ever using it to interact with your layout?

 

 

Or we could just start another thread on how everything in this hobby is messed up..... let's keep it clean folks. 

 

P.S. I do have an Iphone and have the LCS app installed. Fun but not going to replace my Cab-2 anytime soon. 

 

Last edited by Notch 6
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I have an iPhone and iPad.  Really enjoy the layout control offered on the iPad.  I also really like my cab2.  I was disappointed in the price point of the iCab app, I know my friends like to come over and see the trains, but the remote is a lot to teach - phone would be easier and in their pocket already.  Overall, I like the trend to moving to phones/tablets.  Apple/Samsung/whoever can make much more powerful devices for much less than Lionel can. 

I have both an iPhone w/iCab installed, and an iPad with both LCS and iCab installed.

 

I prefer the Cab2 to the iPhone App because I really like to have a physical control I can feel but it's good to have a "go to" option if another controller is needed.

 

LCS is more of a layout control so I do use that more.

 

While I feel that the DCS remotes and Cab2s will be around a while in their current form, I feel the next major hardware upgrade will most likely be a push to a smart device control unfortunately.

Last edited by MartyE

I have a Samsung Galaxy 4 Nook Tablet. No Smart Phone just an old flip wireless that I use rarely.

I can see using a tablet [rather a PC though] as a dispachers board not in regular use to run trains.

The only prototypical way you would use a tablet to run trains I can think of would be in yard/factory use, where some wirelesses are used, with a switching game Lay-out.

Last edited by redball342

Only an ancient "flip" phone. I keep reminding my young'uns [grandkids included] that I have yet to master kindergarden-level computer operation.

 

Anyway I only made one call last year and it was from the grocery store to the Domestic CEO because I tend to forget her instructions and tend to lose the list I make.

 

 

 

 

I have a smart phone(iPhone), but no tablet.  Thought about getting one quite a bit, but just haven't found a need for it yet.  I use the lap top for most things, and the phone for quick and dirty access to the internet.  

 

I think being able to run trains from a phone/tablet app is really neat, but I prefer buttons, switches and levers... even if those controls are then hooked up to a computer.  Growing up around computers and electronics, I suppose I should be a little more with the times, Just never got into all the social media, facespacetweetubing.  

 

Random information that seems applicable:  

I have over 30 computers in the house, ranging from commodore vic20/64/128 to my video gaming machine built top end in 2012. most are shelf pieces, but every once in a while you can't beat a game of pole-position running off a cartridge.  

 

"The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it to a nationwide communications network. We're just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people - as remarkable as the telephone."  --  Steve Jobs  --  February 1985.

 

 

I do.

 

 I have an iPhone and 3 iPads of various generations.

One is relegated strictly for aviation use. No extraneous apps.

One is used in the music studio and on stage to control various things

The third is personal use stuff, of which I do sometimes control my trains.

 

As far as that third one: any method of control is not a "one or the other" proposition.

 

I like gadgets, so depending on my mood I will run my layout with the handles of a ZW, a DCS remote, or a Legacy remote, then finally the iPAd app.

 

It's all just fun for me.

Have had iPhones since the very first one.  Several iPads.  I use them as tools for communicating and watching some shows sans commercials.  Since I don't have a layout at home, I don't use them for running trains. 

 

However at the Lionel development lab, I tend to use the iPad for the layout control, mostly switches and routes to run tests, and the Cab1-L for the trains.  Sometimes I use a Cab-2, but most of the time I don't need the extended functions.

I have an Samsung Galaxy S5 android smartphone which I love compared to iPhones, but both are great phones and it boils down to personal taste.  I plan on eventually using my smartphone and my kids smartphones (one iPhone, and one Samsung) as other remotes once I get the WIFI LCS box for it.  This will let everyone plus any guess control the trains that I choose.

 

I wish Lionel and MTH had android software for android like apple.  There is a third party app called "Bluetrain" for Lionel, but it doesn't look as good at the Lionel app for iphone and I have a feeling its less capable.

 

Both Lionel and MTH needs to port over their apps to android unless they determined that the demographic that has O gauge trains mostly has iphones and ipads.  This is not consistent with the real world demographics and sales though since android with all its manufacturers and flavors has been #1 smart phone for a several years now.

 

Most larger app companies deploy to both platforms simultaneously these days rather than just android or just apple with the other to follow later.

 

 

Smartphone?  Yes, Samsung Galaxy (android system).

 

Running my layout with it?  It's one of those things that I don't feel the "draw", but then again, I didn't feel the draw towards a smartphone (from my BlackBerry), but now that I have one, I'd never go back.  Maybe running my trains with my smartphone is just one those things I have to try, and then I'll be hooked.

 

Stu

I have a smart phone and an IPad and use them everyday at work and at home. I do not begrudge those who do not use this technology. What I find amusing is the reaction of those who do not embrace the technology. There seems to be a paranoia about technology being a bad thing and will ultimately hurt them! If you do not like smart devices and the technology associated with them you do not have to use them but I find the negative comments and attitudes about it quite unnecessary.

smart phone-yes, apps-NO. if you read the agreements you have to agree to for an app you might have second thoughts.  if the Fed Gov asked you for all these permissions with the reward being that you could use your phone as a flashlight I think you would say no, so why would you say yes to some company you might never have heard of?

With all the talk of the use of smart applications to control our trains over the last year or so it got me thinking about how many people in the hobby actually have these devices readily available. The OGR forum is a small sample of the market, but I also wonder if this group is more likely to have these types of devices because you are already using technology like the forum to communicate. So, do you have a smart device and do you have an interest in ever using it to interact with your layout?

 

No, I have no "smart devices," and won't be getting any.  After 25 years of working with computers and networks, I am quite content to run my trains with a pair of KWs.  It's simplicity I seek in my hobbies, not greater levels of technology.

 

It might be more accurate to say that there are a lot of technophiles on this forum and technophiles tend to buy technological gadgets. 

 

What I find amusing is the reaction of those who do not embrace the technology. There seems to be a paranoia about technology being a bad thing and will ultimately hurt them! If you do not like smart devices and the technology associated with them you do not have to use them but I find the negative comments and attitudes about it quite unnecessary.

I've spent most of a lifetime immersed in computing technology, and I've encountered more than my share of technology snobs who look down their noses at those who don't share their fascination with the latest technogadgets.  It's condescending...and quite unnecessary.

 

 

I have Motorola flip phone that lives in the car for emergencies.

I also have an Android tablet that I frequently use to surf this forum. I am too much of "hands on" operator to see any benefit to running trains with the tablet.

 

Besides, adding modern electronic voodoo to pre and postwar trains just seems sacrilegious.  

 

 

We still have a flip phone that we use mostly for emergencies only or when traveling or out with the grand kids in case the car breaks down. It is seldom even turned on and spends most of it's time on the kitchen counter hooked to the charger.

 

We do have an ipad (ipad 2 I think?) that we mostly use for texting our daughter ad grand kids. Our daughter and grand kids either have an iphone or itouch. The ipad seems like an awkward way to control trains, but I intend to try it at some point.

 

I have heard that smart phones are about all that is available now, flip phones becoming obsolete. When the flip phone goes south I guess it will be a smart phone that replaces it? Hopefully it will be for about what we pay for the flip phone now?

 

Edit: Just wanted to add that most younger people do have smart devices and use them for just about everything. My daughter no longer has a land line in her house, smart phones only. While a lot of us may not like this technology for train running I think it is definitely something that will attract younger folks to the hobby. I think it will be a big hit with the younger generations.

Last edited by rtr12

No.  I have only a simple Jitterbug 5* flip/big button phone. We love it.

 

We had an iPad but it had so many problems after Apples "we take it back" update, and Apple was so frustrating to deal with thereafter, that my wife and I finally took it out in the back yard and bashed it with a hammer before throwing it away.  Now that was cool: when the lithuim battery directly shorted it was like a miniature fourth of July, and really fun to watch. 

 

We have four Dell computers here in the house, two of them laptops, and they do fine by us

Last edited by Lee Willis

I Have a iPhone,I Have a iPad.  I use it for personal use when traveling on business,music,lyrics.  I don't use them for running trains. 

 

I use a Cab-2, as I find the smart devices are ether to large or small, as well as more than 2 screens or needed for operation on smaller devices.

 

I am a operator and enjoy running my trains without having to look down at a control panel or a touchscreen.

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