It also won’t turn it off, only putting it into sleep when you hit the power button. The PS4 makes for a great media player and while the Elite can control some aspects of it, the remote can’t turn on the PS4, can’t control Netflix playback or some other bits. The one disappointing thing I’ve found with the Elite is with its control of Sony’s PlayStation 4. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian PS4 View image in fullscreen The remote lasts around a week of evening use per charge, or can just be left in its dock overnight. The Elite removes that rummaging, or puts it all within one remote app on your phone. But when you want to trigger an action right this minute, it’s often a case of digging out a smartphone, loading an app and hitting a button. I can turn off all the lights in the house with one button, or I could dim the lights in the lounge to only a lamp in the corner when switching on the TV.Ī lot of the potential of the internet of things revolves around smart devices performing timed functions. Not only can these devices be controlled individually, but they can also be combined into activities. It will even notify you if your Nest smart thermostat goes into away mode because it hasn’t spotted you in a while, if you’re actively using the Elite at the time, allowing you to turn it back on and adjust the temperature if you wish. You can view the state of your presence, temperature, activity or water sensors. You can pause, play, skip tracks and adjust the volume of Sonos speakers. Without any configuration, the Harmony Hub can control hundreds of smart home devices from lights to thermostats to speakers.įor instance, anything configured with Samsung’s SmartThings Hub can be controlled using the Harmony. The Harmony Elite is about as good as a universal remote can get, but it gets a lot more interesting when you start to include your internet-connected devices in your home. View image in fullscreen The remote can control a variety of internet of things devices, including the Nest smart thermostat and any device connected to the SmartThings system. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing rests on the dynamics of your living room. In over two months using it I have yet to have it fail to turn something on or activate the right mode, but there are helpful buttons to fix things if they go wrong by sorting through what’s not on or correctly set.Īll the same actions can also be performed using the Harmony remote app on any Android or iOS device, meaning others in the room don’t have to have the remote to change the channel. Once you’re done with the lot, press the dedicated off button on the very top of the remote and it takes care of the rest. If I want to swap to the Amazon Fire TV, I hit that button and it switches the input on the amp, switches off the satellite box and we’re off. I then get a custom remote to change volume with the amp, switch channels with the satellite box and activate picture-in-picture with the TV. For me that’s the amp, the satellite box and the TV, all set to the right input and mode automatically. Hit “Watch TV” on the touchscreen for instance, and it’ll turn on everything needed for watching TV and set a starting channel. View image in fullscreen The smartphone app also works as a full remote, with the volume buttons being able to control the TV’s volume, for instance. The remote has its own charging dock into which it slots when not in use, but will last a good week or so between charges if you so wish. The top third of the Elite is a 2.4in colour touchscreen for choosing devices, selecting favourite channels or activities, or for setting off custom commands that are not bound to physical buttons. All these things should be a given for a remote costing as much as a television, but other solutions costing similar amounts fail on this fundamental level. The remote has a heft to it without being heavy and the soft-grip back makes it easy to hold on to. It is easy to reach all the buttons, and they have a nice, responsive feel to them. There are remotes for show and there are remotes for using, and this is the latter. It is one of the best designed, most comfortable to use remotes I have had the pleasure to hold. You have the remote, the hub and the app. There three elements to the Logitech Harmony Elite. View image in fullscreen The Elite in its charging dock with the Harmony Hub to the right.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |