iPad remote control for Keynote?

I want an iPhone/iPod Touch app to run Keynote on my iPad via Bluetooth for classroom presentations. Right now, Keynote on the iPad is NOT ready for the classroom (university). If anyone hears of such an app, please post here.

Please expound.

I want an iPhone/iPod Touch app so that I can remotely control Keynote on my iPad in the classroom, i.e., so that my iPod Touch is like a remote ppt (PowerPoint) clicker moving Keynote forward or back a slide. I want the app to communicate via Bluetooth from my iPod Touch to my iPad. I do NOT want an app that communicates via WiFi, because my university's wifi is so crowed my iPod Touch won't find my iPad.

This is silly. How do you create a presentation program with no ability to remotely advance your slides?

I tried to do a speech today from iPad, and I had to walk over and touch the screen to move the program along. PLEASE find a way to let us use a Bluetooth remote -- or our iPhones -- to do this!

Am looking for same functionality for my consulting practice.

A thought (not yet tested): Apple wireless keyboard linked bluetooth to the iPad.

I tried the Bluetooth wireless keyboard with my iPad and NO luck in controlling Keynote in presentation mode. 😟

I also tried the Apple bluetooth keyboard, but no luck advancing slides. For me it would be great to stand the iPad on a conference room table (for a small group) but reaching across people to flip pages would be awkward, so the bluetooth keyboard would be perfect in that situation. For a larger group where the iPad is plugged into a projector across the room the bluetooth keyboard would again be an easy solution.

But I have tried pressing every key on the keyboard, and all obvious combinations, and can't control the presentation. Am I doing something wrong?

Has anyone tried the iPad-to-VGA toggle to a projector? I bought the toggle, but no projector to test on yet. Any info appreciated...

There is another discussion thread on this topic (iPad and VGA adaptor)...scan the list of topics.

I am a Technical Trainer that wanted to use my new iPad for presentations. However, this product is NOT ready for prime time. I was very optimistic buying the iPad, Dock, Bluetooth Keyboard, and VGA adapter. This should have been a cake walk. The first problem is that when you plug your VGA adapter into the iPad you CANNOT charge the iPad. The Dock does not help because it has only one connector, NO POWER BRICK PORT. In addition, the Dock holds the iPad VERTICALLY, but the Keynote presents HORIZONTALLY. Keynote does NOT show both screens (projector & iPad). It only shows a simple forward/backword & count for the slides on the iPad while displaying the content on the VGA. Very rudimentary. Ok, I can live with charging my iPad overnight and during lunch. All I really need is a remote control/laser pointer. The answer is NO remote is available. OK, how about the Bluetooth Keyboard? It works!!!...somewhat. The keyboard does allow for typing and control all the way up to the point where you start the Keynote presentation. Then it becomes an aluminum brick. It looks like we will have to wait for Keynote to update or replace it with a competitor. I have now come to see through the mystique of the iPad to realize that it is little more than a geriatric size iPod. This product has so much potential, but Apple simply cannot move fast enough to be effective at meeting the basic needs of this appliance. Because Apple keeps their code so tightly regulated, developers cannot be responsive enough to meet demand. Further, locking us out of basic features (bluetooth/wireless sync, bluetooth GPS, bluetooth serial, bluetooth etc..., mp3/rss download via wireless/3G(without iTunes), MyFi, and the list goes on...). Apple defends this as keeping stability in the appliance. I have found this justification to be noble, but lacking. In short, my satisfaction and respect for Apple is GREATLY diminished by failing to do BASIC tasks with their product. How long did we have to wait for A2DP & Cut/Paste? How much longer will we have to wait for Bluetooth remote/laser, VGA output while charging, and a Dock that mounts horizontally? If history is a guide, jailbreak your iPad and spend money at Cydia instead of iTunes to get the basic features you need today. A year later Apple might catch up.

BTW...The VGA out is Application specific, NOT OS specific. That means that only the programs that specifically allow VGA out will work. How lame.

Folks, just use a Macbook or a Mac mini for Keynote and use the iPhone Keynote remote app to advance your slides. That solution is all ready for those who need it. It works on the iPod Touch too, if you have a wifi router.

Folks are expecting way too much out of the iPad; do more research on this before you buy it. (This forum is a great place to get info beforehand). It's not a full-blown computer system. It's a large iPod Touch with a few extra features.

Only certain apps display to the VGA out because those particular apps (like Videos and Keynote) only work in a landscape aspect ratio, which makes them compatible with projector displays and VGA signals, which are designed for that aspect ratio only. Most other iPad apps (and the iPad's home screens) can be seen in either portrait or landscape. And that would be a major problem if the iPad was always outputting the video signal to the VGA or composite cables. Every time you rotated the iPad upright in portrait mode and the aspect ratio changed, your projector would be showing one of two things: 1) a scaled down version of the iPad's portrait (vertical) view to fit in a landscape view on a projector (with black "pillarbox" bars along the sides), or 2) the iPad's portrait view rotated on its side. Either way, it would be a major problem and this forum would be lit up with complaints from top to bottom about it. There would be post after post complaining about the letterboxing effect, or how it wasn't displaying correctly.

Your projector is not built to deal with this style of screen rotating and resizing of elements. When you rotate the iPad in many apps (like Safari), everything is changing - text size, graphics size, etc., but not always in proportion to each other, as when we scale a regular laptop to a different display resolution.

The iPad is simply a different beast in the way it displays content, and the closest it ever gets to the way regular PCs and Macs display things is in the landscape mode, which is the only mode Keynote and Videos work in....hence their compatibility with VGA projectors and TV screens.

The Keynote solution on the iPad was meant as a (very) basic option for basic presentations from the iPad, not a full blown replacement for a Macbook. You're making a mistake if you thought that getting an iPad would be a way to save money on a Macbook. This is a different beast. In my opinion, Apple's only mistake was giving the apps names like "Keynote" instead of "Keynote Express" or "Keynote Lite" because it just gets everyone's mouths watering as if it's the same thing as on the desktop computer. But the users are making mistakes if they think this is a desktop computer.

(P.S. I don't think users want two dock connectors on the iPad - with one on the side, which would be the only way to connect to a dock in landscape mode; don't look for this feature anytime soon).

Welcome to the forums, Uncle John!

Uncle John wrote:
The first problem is that when you plug your VGA adapter into the iPad you CANNOT charge the iPad. The Dock does not help because it has only one connector, NO POWER BRICK PORT.

If you can connect to the projector via composite or component AV, Apple sells adapters that include the both the video connections and a USB connector to allow charging while presenting. I use this combination with my iPhone to present lecture slides when I teach, and it works beautifully.

Why would anyone want to charge the iPad when using the VGA connector? It's not like the iPad doesn't have enough battery power. To each his own I guess.

yes the VGA adapter works well - screen goes black with arrows for your slides. Just hope you dont plan on doing any type of loop with your presentation

Geoff,

Best and most level-headed response i've read so far re:compatabilites between desktop and iPad. Kudos to you.