8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Replacing my laptop remote with this.
Date of Review: May 1, 2006
The Bottom Line: This is a great buy for someone with lots of AV in their entertianment system.
It is about damn time they came up with a functional affordable remote to replace the gaggle of plastic and batteries on my coffee tables. So I bet you want to know what I loved and hated about this thing. Remember to visit Philips site for all that good technical stuff, this is a review and opinion on a product not scimatics.
First off I had actually been using a laptop as a pseudo remote control that worked similiar to this, minus the 1,110 count database of IR electronics codes. This thing supported a Sony Trinitron from 1986 and a Samsung DVD player I bought only a week ago. So don't worry about supporting your electronics.
I love the color touch pad and the incredable ease of use. You won't look like Ozzy Osbourne trying to change the channel using this thing. The menu is stright forward with no cryptic buttons. From 9 to 99 anyone can use this. The size and weight make it enjoyable to hold and flip threw channels like normal. And puts off a lot less heat then my laptop!
I did find the WIFI connectivity to be pretty amazing feature. It seemed like something you would have seen in the next version out of this but they really went all out. I had no problem connecting to a Linksys (pre Cisco merger), a DLink and a Cisco WIFI base station. I didn't have much to transfer so speeds were bursting at around 10Mbs as I suspected.
I have hardwood floors in my living room and gave it the old college try and drop the remote from about 5 feet on different sites. It held together very well. I had no issue with cracks or major scuffs that couldnt be rubbed off. The screen as well is extreamly durable. With a 150lbs Great Dane that is a coutch dog it is liable to get stepped on which it did. No dead pixels and no serious penatrating cuts were made into the LCD.
Before all that durability tests I had, the one issue I experianced was battery life. I charged it for a full 4 hours as the directions in the box explained and got maybe 1 1/2 hours of use. I assumed this was a battery issue and promptly returned it and got a new one. Which now will average 3 to 4 1/2 hours of use. I think for everything it does that is great power consumption.
It is pricey but cheaper then large remote setups from a dealer. I would say get it if you really want or wait till there is a sale going on and hopefully pick it up for a few dollars less, don't for get to check online. This is a great product from a reliable company and I am very excited about ownin it.
