The first of those detractions is the main 4-way silver ring in the centre of the unit. Its arched profile doesn’t provide the best surface to press on without fingers slipping off or fingernails going one side, with the flesh going the other.

The second design imperfection is that the display remains on permanently, eating into battery life. In fact, the battery life of the 688 is a bit disappointing – 3 months typically is what you’ll get out of the unit, if used like a conventional remote for flicking channels, etc.

The third of the design flaws is that this is a US-centric design. By that, I mean there are no outwardly looking Fast text buttons, except those at the top, which are preset, but customisable, macros for regular operations – such as “Watch a Movie” or “Watch TV”.

Not having Teletext buttons is not too bad – it just means having to create them using the supplied software and assigned to any of the various buttons you prefer. In my case, I used the bottom 4 of the 6 available around the LCD display.

Speaking of the software, as Logitech design various products for use with Apple Mac computers, it was a welcome surprise to see the Harmony 688 software work with OS X. In fact, you’ll find that the first thing you do, is download and update the software to the latest version.

Using the software package supplied is relatively painless, but one area I’d like to see an improvement in is being able to configure the remote almost entirely before applying the update to it. Updating the 688 is achieved by hooking the remote control up via mini-USB, and using the web browser based software, which is Java based.

Navigating the site once starting to set up the remote is sometimes fraught with despair, since a number of the links seem to go in circles rather than to where you want, and it requires you to memorise which link takes you where, especially if all you want to do is get back to the main page to run the update for the remote’s new configuration. If a bit more thought was put into the layout and execution of linking on the site, then the whole process of setting up the Harmony 688 would be a darn sight easier and less time consuming. As it is, you’ll easily take a good 2-3 hours (even with broadband) to set this remote up for use with a TV, set-top box (satellite or cable), and VCR/DVD player. I’ll soon be buying a DVD recorder – and having gone over to NTL digital, I’ll be ‘looking forward’ to spending an hour and a half, if not longer online, setting up the remote with the new units. If the process were more straightforward and less convoluted, then I’d have done the cable digital set-up by now, but as it is, I haven’t. Perhaps that’s just me, or it tells you something about how much I value my time and sanity over simply having one remote control instead of 3. Should you be wanting to minimise your time spent online, then do the process is stages – one a day.

Also some of the language used on the site for certain aspects of the remote control – timings springs to mind – leaves one wondering what they actually do. I’ve yet to figure out what they affect or how to make the remote respond quicker. If I want to choose a TV channel to watch on the cable box, it was a two number affair (on the analogue unit), many times, I’d press the two number buttons in quick succession, only to find the first number was the only one to have registered.

Unlike the other remote control I’ve reviewed – the One For All Kameleon – the Harmony 688 will take much longer to set-up as how you want it, but then in some respects, once done, you’ll have a remote that does more than the All For One does, albeit at twice the price.

Equally unlike the One For All, the buttons on the Harmony are better in terms of feedback and tactile feel. Lastly, if the databank of codes provided by Harmony prove not to have the right one for the component you are trying to control, fear not – you can use the original remote’s button and point it at the Harmony whilst connected to the USB cable and software, for it to learn that code.

One useful feature the remote control has, is a backlight for operation in a dark room, easily configured to stay on as long or short after the button has been pressed as you prefer, and is ideally suited should you have a PVR (personal video recorder), such as Sky+, or a DVD recorder. If there are any issues on this front, I’ll update this review to say so, once I have my DVD recorder and NTL’s PVR – whenever that appears! Otherwise, work on the premise that no additional news is good news.

For the money, this is a very good and worthwhile remote control – once and for all, you can get rid of the plethora of handsets sitting on the arm of the chair, and do it all with one. Of course, this has been doable for some time by other brands of programmable remote controls, but there is an elegance the Harmony 688 has that those others are missing, shortcomings included.

If Logitech gets round to sorting out the site design and methodology of setting up the remote control, then rather than being a chore, programming the 688 will be a joy and something you’ll really look forward to doing, even if just to satisfy your curiosity of how the button layout would work if configured differently than it is currently. Unfortunately, as it is, I suspect most users will settle for a case of DFR – ‘do fine rightly’ and not bother trying out different configurations, just to see which one is best suited for the operation required.

Having spent 3-4 months with the Harmony 688, using it on a daily basis, I’d lost without it, even with the poor battery life. I suspect, you will find the same too, once you’ve got yours.

Review by - PJ Skelton

Published - 29/10/2005

More Gadgets-

[ Up ] [ Philips Camera Keyring Key008 ] [ One for All 5 ] [ Yakumo Hypersound 256 ] [ Sony SRF M95 Radio ] [ Philips Key019 ] [ Laser Pod ] [ Philips Funcam ] [ One For All Kameleon 4 ] [ Sony RMAV3000T Remote Control ] [ Swissmemory S.Beat ] [ iDog Review ] [ Silverlit Picoo Z Helicopter Review ] [ Oakley Thump Two ] [ Xbox 360 Review ] [ Harmony 688 ] [ Philips PSS110 ] [ Nokia RX ] [ Solio Ipod Charger ] [ Yamada DVD 2500 ]