New 10th Doctor Sonic Screwdriver Universal Remote

[wGraves]

They are in Ohio so yes, they will charge you sales tax. I don't think they charge it unless you live in OH. Luckily I live about 5 minutes south of Ohio.

Wow I had no clue. Too bad there's no local pickup option.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Richard B]

If we are putting our votes in for the future: I vote River's sonic, 100000% (Too many zeroes?)

Agreed. I would buy the s4!t out of one of those.

Thanks again for the enthusiastic suggestions. River's and the 4th Doctor's sonics are certainly the most common requests that we're receiving via email lately (along with an extending 11th). As discussed before, we're not planning any more sonics at the moment, but the feedback and suggestions are very welcome - it all helps guide our thoughts for future products.

The only problem I see with producing a 3/4/5/8 sonic is that the gesture based control would not be as easy to implement. With the "wand" style sonics you have a far smoother range of motions that the device can easily detect. I think it would be a little impractical to have those in the vertical classic era sonic.

We agree that this is a concern, so we're thinking that some other functionality might be better if we were ever to make a classic sonic.

Hmm, the orientation could pose a problem for the vertical sonics... As a test, anyone who has a 10 or 11 could try using it vertically. You might need to be closer/lower than usual to ensure the signal reaches the TV and not the ceiling, but it might prove interesting.

Nice idea, but unfortunately the gesture detection in the 10th/11th sonics won't work if the sonic is held vertically - sorry about that.

 

[Doctor Octoroc]

I brought mine to the DotD premiere as well, huge hit! I was disappointed that none of the displays at the concession stand were actual televisions :devil Also, a River Song sonic remote would be brilliant! I would suggest, however, a hinge on the neural relay cover so it doesn't get lost...but it would be cool to have that portion of the sonic to switch between modes and the outside switch to control the features. And the LED could switch between red and blue modes when it's in and out of programming mode!

 

[E Williams]

For this weekend's "Black Friday" sales, you can get one of these at Thinkgeek for about $86 shipped (ends today), or at BBC Doctor Who Shop for about $91 shipped (includes bonus 50th Anniversary T-shirt, ends tomorrow).

Edit: Thinkgeek's 20% off and free shipping don't mix, oops.

 

[agliarept]

started watching this whole series a few days ago and thanks to you lot I've not got a sonic screwdriver on the cheap from think geek!. Almost paid 200 for on ebay. ugh thanks to you all for sharing it was on sale!!

 

[AlexBC]

We agree that this is a concern, so we're thinking that some other functionality might be better if we were ever to make a classic sonic.

Nice idea, but unfortunately the gesture detection in the 10th/11th sonics won't work if the sonic is held vertically - sorry about that.

There's always the option of creating a War Doctor sonic which would make a better gesture based remote. You could make the red section at the back removable and have a classic era bullet/halo emitter as a bonus piece which could slip over the led section. You could market it as the "regeneration model" or something to tie it into its changing appearance between McGann and Hurt.

I doubt you guys would go that route but it's a fun idea.

 

[Chris B]

There's always the option of creating a War Doctor sonic which would make a better gesture based remote. You could make the red section at the back removable and have a classic era bullet/halo emitter as a bonus piece which could slip over the led section. You could market it as the "regeneration model" or something to tie it into its changing appearance between McGann and Hurt.

I doubt you guys would go that route but it's a fun idea.

Nice idea. I personally like the idea of us making a 4th Doctor's remote, but apart from the vertical thing, which i think we can get round... where on Earth would you put the button? All ideas gratefully received... ^_^

 

[AaronFD]

Don't see much mention of it, but I for one would LOVE to see the Master's laser screwdriver given the wand company treatment.

 

[AlexBC]

"And the best part is, I can rewind and watch him die AGAIN!"

To paraphrase the Master.

 

[AlexBC]

Nice idea. I personally like the idea of us making a 4th Doctor's remote, but apart from the vertical thing, which i think we can get round... where on Earth would you put the button? All ideas gratefully received... ^_^

You could disguise the button as the screw on that angled section on the bottom of the sonic. Or, since there's a bit of a seam the bottom end cap itself could easily be a button.

 

[Chris B]

You could disguise the button as the screw on that angled section on the bottom of the sonic. Or, since there's a bit of a seam the bottom end cap itself could easily be a button.

Sort of in the words of Muskrat (from Deputy Dawg) It's possible....it's possible... don't know why that came to me, but it did... good ideas, will think on it.

 

[AlexBC]

Ha Used to love me some Deputy Dawg, dag nabit. Havn't seen that in yonks.

 

[E Williams]

Nice idea. I personally like the idea of us making a 4th Doctor's remote, but apart from the vertical thing, which i think we can get round... where on Earth would you put the button? All ideas gratefully received... ^_^

The sliding sleeve could be the button! That's how the Doctor activated it after all. I guess the indicator LED would need to go somewhere else. Similar to what AlexBC suggested, the LED could perhaps be hidden in the center of the screw on the angled section of the end.

 

[Doctor Octoroc]

The sliding sleeve could be the button! That's how the Doctor activated it after all. I guess the indicator LED would need to go somewhere else. Similar to what AlexBC suggested, the LED could perhaps be hidden in the center of the screw on the angled section of the end.

That could prove difficult for double, triple and quadruple presses...the tactile switch is perfect for short and quick depressions but with the 11th, even clicking the button on the back for navigating modes is kind of a pain so I can only imagine how annoying it would be to push in the whole top shaft of a 3rd/4th/8th style sonic to preform functions!

 

[AlexBC]

Yep. That's why I suggested the screw or the entire end cap. The latter would allow you to cycle through all the programming settings with one hand, too.

Heck, the collar could even be reserved exclusively for the f/x.

As E Williams suggested, the led would go pergectly in the screw hole while the end cap served as the programming button.

But the gesture controls in the vertical sonic...hmmm. Would tilt forward/back be easily confusef with upwards/downwards movement? As I see it, you could have, depending on how easily the remote could differentiate the gestures-

Tilt forward/push forward
Tilt backward/pull backwards
Tilt left
Tilt right
Sharp upwards thrust
Sharp downwards thrust

But you'd lose the roll left/right and maybe even tbe tapping. Not sure on the second. The collar could be used for at least one gesture.

 

[Bluebox303]

Maybe you could introduce induction charging into the new model, if it is created. Also, the bottom end could be used as a setting/clockwise/anticlockwise knob.

 

[AlexBC]

I think making it a knob might be complicating things. Making it a button would offer much better programming.

 

[themeinside]

Surely the obvious way to do the 'clockwise/anticlockwise' movement, is to hold the thing vertically and then essentially pivot it around the emitter- ie. the emitter remains in the same place for the movement, and you move the sonic body around it, in either direction. I don't know if I've explained that very well, but if you imagine the way that the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor's sonics register that motion, that is the halo and emitter of the 4th, with the handle perpendicular as per the model. Only a thought

 

[AlexBC]

Hmmm. Sounds like a LOT of overly complicated internals to accomodate that one feature. I don't think it would be worth it.

I'm not ovetly familiar with motion sensor technology used here but if the sonic can diffetentiate between a tilt to the left and a PULL to the left then tbat would be a great substitute for the c.wise/anti c.wise gesture.

A sharp PULL to the left could change the channel for example while a slow TILT to the left could turn down the volume

 

[Doctor Octoroc]

Tapping on the top or bottom of a vertically oriented sonic could prove difficult as well...might as well hold it sideways from the get go and deal with any film inaccuracies of its use as a remote.