Posted March 6, 2008
Two-hundred-fifty bucks for a remote control? Really? Yep—and it’s actually totally worth it. The new Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote does what you’d expect it to do: replace all the clickers for your various electronic devices, allowing you to declutter your coffee table. But its backlit buttons and a genius, full-color touch-screen interface up the ante by allowing this baby to function as, basically, an entertainment concierge. Hit “Watch a DVD,” for instance, and the Harmony One does everything necessary (e.g., turn on your TV, DVD player, and Surround Sound home theater system, as well as switch your TV to the right “video input”) in one touch. Previous Harmony remotes pioneered that approach, but the One perfects the user experience with a smartly ergonomic design, a motion sensor that turns it on when you pick it up, a docking cradle that keeps it fully charged, and an improved Internet-assisted setup system. (When you first take it out of the box, you connect it to your PC or Mac so it can check a constantly updated dedicated Website that knows the right remote-control codes for more than 200,000 different electronic devices.) This thing is, simply, a pleasure to use.
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$249.99 at J&R.