The “Break it Down” Blog

CES is spitting out product announcements faster than I can count. For the AV folks out there that love their universal remotes, Logitech has coughed up the new Harmony One. While the design integrates the preferred raised buttons and supposedly better tactile feel, the real candy is that the screen is now a touch-screen (and a higher resolution 220×176 touch screen at that), allowing a combination of the Harmony 880 and 1000. PC Mag did a pretty shallow review of it which reads more like a marketing brochure than a review. If you already have a Harmony you likely aren’t going to pick up anything from that “Review” as the software/usability/etc. is all the same.

Other than that, as far as functionality is concerned, I have no idea how this is any different than a 720/880/1000. My guess is that the device library is all the same so really it’s just the usability that is different. The one thing I’ve been waiting for is a universal remote that supports Bluetooth as both my PS3 (Gaming and Blu-ray player) and Nintendo Wii both use Bluetooth, which means I have to resort to two controls to do anything with them. I have no idea why it’s so hard to add Bluetooth support to these things, but not 1 universal remote is out yet that supports it.

My take: If you already have a Harmony and it’s setup to work just fine, skip this. It’s just a shinier package with the same functionality.