The Logitech Harmony One is a traditionally styled universal remote control with the added benefit of having a full colour LCD touch screen to easily control your common activities.
With its glossy black finish and more rounded and sculpted design, the Logitech Harmony One looks a little more contemporary in design than previous models in the Harmony range and just oozes quality. As soon as you manage to release the One from its rather complex packaging you know you have invested in a well made and thoughtfully designed remote. The remote is almost perfectly weighted, and feels nice in the hand straightaway. The hard buttons have smooth edges to make finding and pressing them easy, and have been grouped into logical functional areas to be easy to find and use – the number buttons at the bottom, the playback buttons just above, and the channel and volume up buttons and directional pad sat in the easy to reach middle part of the remote. The top of the remote houses the 2.2” colour LCD touch screen where the activity functions and the more advanced features of the remote control can be accessed.
Leave the Harmony One alone for a few minutes and then pick it up again, and the backlit keys illuminate a subtle and pleasant white, and the touchscreen reactivates itself also. The touchscreen is of course one of its main selling points and Logitech have done a good job of making sure the screen is not only attractive and clear, but easy to use, with the function buttons and screen touches responding by changing colour and a with a subtle beep sound (which can be turned off). The Harmony One does not come with any hard key colour buttons (the red, green, yellow and blue buttons) so these will have to be programmed into the touch screen. When we added our Sky+ HD box as a device, Logitech automatically added these colour buttons as the default options on the touchscreen when we used the ‘Watch TV’ activity. Whilst this is clever programming on Logitechs part, the lack of any hard colour buttons is a real oversight, and as most people will have to adjust their hold of the Logitech Harmony One in order to reach the touchscreen with their thumb, this could be a big problem for some.
If all this technology makes you worry about battery life though, the Harmony One is fully rechargeable and comes with a very neat docking station so it is always ready for its next use.
As with other Harmony remote controls like the Harmony 525 and Harmony 700, the set up of the Logitech Harmony One is all done by connecting the remote to your computer via USB and running the supplied software. This will enable you to set up your devices, and the ‘activities’ you wish to use. Whilst the universal nature of the remote is a definite must have in these days of multiple controllers, the ‘activity’ functions are where the real power lies. To use an activity simply select one on the supplied software (or make your own up), such as ‘Listen to Music’, and select what devices are used for this activity. You can also select more advanced options such as what input needs to be selected on your amplifier if you have one. Then when you choose this activity whilst watching a film, your television and DVD will be switched off, your music devices will be switched on and music will fill the room – with just one click!
What to consider before you buy the Logitech Harmony One
The biggest downside is the lack of the four colour ‘fastext’ buttons – and could prove to be a real bug bear for many users, especially Sky+ owners who need to use the colour buttons frequently for accessing and using the TV Guide and planner.
Why you should buy the Logitech Harmony One
The Harmony One takes (almost) everything that was good about the previous models and improves on it – a gorgeous, smart, easy to set up, and simple to use remote that is almost perfect – the only problem you’ll have is getting it off everyone else!
Rating: /5
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If you need any further endorsement, then you might want to know that this the remote that we use day to day – we even bought it ourselves! Read more about this remote control on the official Logitech website.