Logitech Harmony One Advanced Review

It's been a while since I reviewed anything,  let alone here, so let's see if I can still  manage to properly cover  everything.

Logitech Australia, courtesy of their Facebook  page, invited followers to participate in  a product testing of  their Harmony  One Advanced remote, and I am one  of these lucky product testers.  I'm sure they'll have more opportunities  or freebies come up soon, so if you like the idea of this jump on board and like their Facebook page.  Logitech wants me to let you all know that I'm LPT10177, which is how they keep track of this review.

The Harmony One Advanced Remote is a  universal remote used to replace up to fifteen devices in a home theatre (or anywhere really).

The Remote

After unpacking it all, the first piece to  grab anyone's attention will be the remote.

Personally, I found it larger than I expected, but only marginally. Immediately, I noticed my finger prints. It's black and glossy, and hence, a  perfectionists nightmare.  Logitech provides a microfiber cloth if you can be bothered, but our just sits there messy, taunting me. So, first up, a big shout to all companies  who make touch and hand held devices. Not  just Logitech, but Apple, Nokia, heaps of laptop vendors and anyone else considering a glass/glossy surface - don't! It looks great on promotional material, but it will forever need a  clean from then on.

Ideally, the whole remote would have a matte surface - just like Logitech's mice. The remote's buttons are matte, as they should be, but the space between the buttons is not.

Next to grab my attention was a big blob of black with curves. The remote stand, like the remote, is mostly gloss. The remote sits in the stand very discreetly, and charging is indicated by a white glow from the top (like an Apple product - but without the brushed aluminium and more curves).  Knowing the battery length of Logitech products, this device may end up collecting a lot of dust, as you may forget to charge the remote most of the time.

Alas, I have no doubt that in the remote's later years, it will need constant charging though, as the Lithium battery will deteriorate over time.  Removable, but not appearing to conform to any standard, it does present an issue.  When I do want a replacement battery seven years down the track (that's how long my last Logitech mouse lasted before the battery needed to be on the charge twice a day) will Logitech still be offering this part at a decent price? Or will they just want us to upgrade? Rather than a Lithium battery pack, Logitech could have opted for high yield AA rechargeable batteries. Yes, it probably won't last as long between charges, but swapping out the batteries can be done for little cost at any time.

And my final little (and it's only a very very small one) niggle about the remote is the choice of computer connector you use to plug into the computer.  It's your standard mini B USB plug. That's not the issue. The issue is the inconsistency with other Logitech products. My Logitech M950 Performance Mouse uses a micro B USB plug. This means, for two devices that spend almost no time plugged into the computer - never at the same time, I still need two cables. If the remote had used a micro B USB plug (which has been tested to be more durable anyway), it would eliminate a cable on my desk.  All companies should stick to one cable for all their products and stick to it.  Don't ever make a proprietary connector, I hate companies that feel the need for that… (Not that Logitech does, just a general no-no).

But I can't stress enough that these issues are only really small ones, and I really had to think negatively to think of them.  With those additions, the remote becomes perfect, and they're certainly easy changes for Logitech to make.  The remote feels light, but not cheap - even grandma will be able to lift it, but you can still hold it like a man for the big game. Which brings me to my next point. After programming, it is incredibly easy to use. I handed it to mum for the first time and said "Here you go!" After explaining what it was and why we needed one, she had a go.  Not that watching TV is hard once it's set up. Your first press will turn everything required on and set them to the right settings (TV on, set to Digital TV; Receiver on, set to receive digital input from TV for surround). Your second press is your channel, which if you set it up right, will have pictures. So ABC1 has the ABC1 logo, ABC2 has ABC2, etc. For mum, that's easy. For grandma (providing she has glasses on - there is no way to change font size), it should be fine too, once she's used to it.

All in all, the remote itself gets 9.5/10.

Harmony Software

And from here it's all downhill.  The Harmony software is where this product falls apart.  Thankfully, it's something you only have to use occasionally - once setup is done and remote runs as intended you may as well just uninstall it.

Installation is easy, but is doesn't let you chose what driver you place the software on.  For those of you with a SSD as your OS drive, this is annoying.   Personally, I prefer my programs separate from my OS. I'm sure is not too hard to fix, just an oversight.

Software requires an internet connection to run, but you should one of them anyway.

Second of all, and this is simply a recommendation from me, make sure you're using a Logitech mouse with Hyper-Fast scrolling, cause never have I ever needed it more.  Excel spreadsheets and long webpages are no issue for this mouse, but the drop down lists in Logitech's own Harmony software give it a workout.

Once you're in the software, lots of pages seem to be redundant and unnecessary.   For instance, I tell it to download the software to the remote, and it tells me to plug it in. Rather than checking to see if it's already plugged in (it is), it just asks me anyway.  Not too much programming effort to check if it's plugged in and flag an error if it's not.

The entire software has an unrounded feel to it. Like it was made, but not tested. It works, but slowly, difficultly, and painfully. There is a vertical scroll bar, and a horizontal scroll bar, but changing the size of the window (maximized for instance) changes nothing, there's just a mass of unused black.

Creating settings and such can be fiddley,  the exact layout of the software pages isn't correctly shaped. Often you're asked to save something and you have no idea what you have even changed. The software will lock you within a set of menus until you find a correct combination to escape. The software is one big maze of confusion.

Updating the remote is a slow affair. Once is starts, you may as well go get a coffee and start dinner, it won't be done in any great rush. To write 2Mb (guess, high end maximum) of firmware to any device shouldn't take more than 2mins.

Overall, I've spent two and a half hours in the software getting the remote set up.  I was expecting 45 mins.

It's unfortunate that the software here is this bad, as it's the first thing you have to use.  Early on, I hadn't even attempted the remote yet, yet I was ready to send the whole package back to Logitech. I fear for my mental wellness after I have an addition to our home theatre. The software is *that* bad.

How to fix it? Well, that's a complicated issue.

First of all, I'd like to see all of Logitech's software conform to the standard Windows GUI.  Yes, I get that plonking a picture of your product on the screen lets people know what they've opened, but that means you constrain your window size, and the maximization of the windows achieves nothing (same goes for SetPoint and all the other Logitech software here). Drop down lists for this remote are long, so why constrain us to a tiny part of our high resolution displays? By using a full screen the drop down lists would be manageable, and hence, you could actually manage with a standard scroll wheel.

Next, the software is used *maybe* once every six months.  Therefore, it has no need to boot at every Windows start up.  There does not need to be a background application, waiting to pop up for when I plug in the remote. When I want a program, I call for it, not expect it to already be there.

And finally, the actual software interface.  At least one page in this software has two buttons, and both buttons take me to the same next page.  This software feels like it's a PowerPoint presentation with buttons.  You can't "skip" to the page you want, you have to click your way there.  Why not have a standard screen which shows your remote and the functions mapped to each button (cause presently, there isn't) and a range of wizards for users to add functions accordingly, opening a second window (which can be cancelled and closed at any time) over the top of the first. Or tabs like most browsers. Or any other possible way than how they have done it. A command line interface would be preferable, because, quite simply, it is faster.

Software: 0.5/10.

Conclusions

Overall, this is a fantastic item of hardware let down by its software.  That's an issue Nokia had with their phones and the software on the computers.  Millions owned the phone, all hated the software on the computer.  Now Nokia suffers against giants that have actually made similar devices with better user interfaces (both on the phone and on the computer).

Thankfully, the Harmony software can promptly be removed as soon as you have the remote set up.  You'll never go back to the software until you add more hardware or realise you forgot to add an eject DVD function.

I weighted the remote 90% and the software 10% of the final mark. Hence, the final result for the Harmony One Advanced remote and software is 86%.

Hopefully Logitech can improve this software and made the grade even higher.

LPT10177

Tid-bits

Right, I have three random, or not so random, things to put here:

First;

An Appeals court has ordered a retrial for a group of artists who hacked into a national television weather broadcast to show a fake nuclear explosion in the Czech mountains.

Members of the Prage-based Ztohoven art group admitted tempering with equipment at the public broadcaster Czech Television so viewers watching a live panoramic shot of the Krkonose, or Giant Mountains, in June last year saw a flash of bright light and a fiery mushroom cloud.

Seven artists were acquitted of spreading false information in March, but the state prosecutor appealed the verdict.

That really gets nothing but a massive awesome from me. Could you imagine replacing the Channel Seven's picture of the sun for a mushroom cloud on the forecast map? Oh yeah, I think I've found a goal in life...

Second, my horoscope for the day, courtesy of the mX;

Despite arguing your case well, someone else is determined to have the last word.

Once you have spoken, allow others to absorb the information over a period of time.

Battles must be chosen carefully tomorrow.

Heh... I purposely withhold any comment on that...

Finally; I did this all while chroming. Apparently people like it...

Bones

Did the whole "family" thing today and went to the Melbourne Museum.

Lots of interesting exhibits for all really.

An Aboriginal history section, if you haven't quite had your fix yet from every other museum in Australia yet, which is actually quite detailed and informative.

That Forest thing, which is an actual forest in a nice cage so nothing escapes. Couple of nice doo-hickeys and thing-a-ma-bob's growing out of the ground and living in the water in it... Like fish... And poisonous snakes... But beware of the eels, I'm told they bite...

Bugs, if that's your thing. You can watch those bull ants drag dead ants out of a nest, round the ground for a bit, then back in their nest... I spent about thirty minutes mesmerised by the little buggers...

Marine life, which included a giant squid (seriously, I've caught bigger squid fishing off the Moonta jetty...). Also for those who don't know, the blue ringed octopus has a tetradotoxin... I learnt that not from the exhibit, but from the ambulance people that escorted the person to hospital who asked me to "Look at the beautiful blue rings on this octopus" that they held in their hand... Stupid fuck...

Right next to that, some trippy 3D exhibit, which nothing to explain the tricks of the mind and how 3D illusions work, but instead was determined to freak me out by reminding me about how freaking big the universe is... Seriously guys, how depressing for science guys like me, knowing that no matter what crap we EVER do in our lives, we're never even going to scratch the surface of our knowledge... At least it motivated me to learn more, like quantum physics more... Unfortunately it did it too late... AFTER I'd finished VCE... Gonna have to work on that...

Outside of that, some dead horse with a big dick... I think I saw its heart in Canberra when I was there... It won't be running far it seems...

Upstairs, after sprinting through the dinosaur exhibit (they're just freaking bones for Christ sake...) it was the human body... Wondrous naked bodies everywhere up here... Saw a young teenage girl get her picture taken with a worryingly realistic naked teenage female dummy... None of the naked girls in these exhibits looked as good as the one that's my wallpaper, which doesn't even come close to the one I've had in my bedroom occasionally... Noticed that guys outnumbered girls, six to one, in the sexual reproduction section, and shuddered when a little kid shouted out for all to hear "Wheeee... Tadpoles!!!" Those ain't tadpoles buddy; they're half of what you are... Skipped briefly through the incredibly morbid "we used to cut up dead bodies for SCIENCE" propaganda (already converted...). Only then did I notice I was being followed by intestines... Great...

On the other side, back past those unblinking naked people, and those obsessed with them, was the mind exhibition... I stress test informed me my brother was normal (phew, what a relief) but I was calm, not that I needed a machine to tell me I walk around half asleep most of the time... I wonder if I would have got a reading at all if I'd taken Valium first. I stood in a "pod" for three minutes, where someone abused me for cutting the queue, and someone else threw up. Just great people... Good to see we've got it together... Highlight of the mind exhibition, the "dream couches," where they get you to lie down and experience a dream... Would be a hell of a lot easier if they didn't force a TV in your face that does nothing but show a cloud simulation... All I wanted to do was sleep, and all they wanted to do was show me the freaking sky... After the alarm clock went off, or maybe it was that kid untying my laces, not sure which, I got up and peeked into holes two feet from the floor showing possible "normal" dreams... Yeah, cause we all regularly enjoy dreaming of looking like a little plastic figurine running along a dark alleyway... Or enjoy the experience of having a bird crap on your head (he was smiling...). I endured about thirty seconds of a movie on depression before I wanted to kill myself and instead gazed over the massive dead whale that found its way into the main hallway.

Seriously, I've caught bigger... (And for those of you who remember year nine, you'll probably also remember her name).

Gift shop had nice frosted shot glasses, but they had some crap with that horse again on its side... Plain frosted shot glasses look best, when will you learn?

And a CD rack for CD's that don't have cases, which is all of mine... At $20 a rack, I can think of better places to spend $20 and get more than just a good rack... The butchers... What were you thinking I was thinking?

However, I'm not complaining about my day in the slightest. Between all the stuff that stuff I described above there was solid, whole-hearted knowledge, and you can't complain about that... Also can't complain about prices: Free for kids under 16, free for anyone who can pull a concession card out of their... wallet... and only six bucks for those who should not take their clothes off in public without getting arrested.

So you've been tasked with your little brother, sister, cousin, neighbour or all of the above at once for the day? Take them to the museum, but glue a tracker device on them or something, or you'll spend more time trying to find them, as opposed to learning, which is the main feature of this place... Mostly it's morbid curiosity and a desire to look at naked bodies for the older kids, and a desire to poke bugs, plants and other slimy stuff for the younger ones... Plus sex... Everyone enjoyed the sex... I know I did...

Review #2 - Internet Explorer 7

Try to keep this one shorter than the last review…

Internet Explorer 6 was released in 2001 and during the next six years Firefox would gain large numbers of supporters who were moving away from the ceaseless security holes in Microsoft’s offering of a web browser. However, the people at Redmond have recently released a new web browser, Internet Explorer 7.

Installation of IE 7 was a breeze but took awhile as it checked for updates and scanned your computer for viruses. The download, about 15Mb, should not be any strain on the seventy-five percent of internet users on broadband.

IE 7 does little but attempt to close the huge gap between itself and other browsers. Tabbed browsing is new to Internet Explorer but has been present for years in Firefox. Each time you close IE you can check a box to have it save your tabs and open them again for next time… Similarly, you can configure Firefox to always save your tabs without the extra added mouse clicks. One feature new to Internet Explorer that Firefox lacks is the ‘Quick Tabs’ feature, where all open tabs are shown on one page as thumbnails of the actual page; useful if you are forgetful and often loose where you were or if you are looking for something quickly. From there you can click on the thumbnail to activate its page or you can close it. For those who are organised or those who do not open many tabs this feature is largely useless.

The new browser takes on a Vista-like, minimal look with its back and forward buttons and its more organised toolbars. It is obvious that Microsoft has built this browser to integrate with Vista, released in November. With the ability of having multiple tabs IE 7 can quickly run up a large amount of memory. With seven tabs open the program consumed 70Mb of memory. This amount is insignificant on the modern systems of today and will be standard for the programs of tomorrow but the older computers and notebooks will be struggling to run this larger piece of software on 256Mb of memory (or possibly even 512Mb).

The phishing filter is also new to IE 7 but is likely to slow your online experience marginally. I only noticed a small difference with the feature turned on but switched it back off as I like to squeeze for speed. RSS feeds are also new to Internet Explorer and offer users a way to check sites for updated content without actually checking the site. Annoyingly, IE 7 refuses to play the sound that signifies a updated content on my computer and I have to check the feeds section myself to learn of updated content (new content is bold). Maybe the sound is just quiet and I can’t hear it over my music, needs to be louder perhaps. Subscribing is easy, just press the orange icon on the toolbar and click ‘subscribe to feed’ at the top of the opened page (go on; try it now with my blog).

Visual effects: 3/5.
The eye candy IE 7 provides will seamlessly match Vista’s

Ease of use: 9/15.
I’m used to it, which helps; but still need to get a little practice holding the Ctrl key before clicking.

Features: 9/15.
It matched Firefox, but couldn’t better it.

Value: 6/10.
It’s free, but the time it can waste occasionally isn’t.

Speed: 4/10.
Sluggish to open new tabs on my PC, but up to par with Firefox… just…

Integration: 5/5.
This was obviously made for Vista and should fit in well with it.

Overall: 36/60.
Firefox is still the better browser for surfing the net – now is as good a time to change as any.

Test machine;
Pentium 4 1.8 GHz,
1024 Mb DDR Ram,
120 Gb HDD,
Windows XP Home SP2.

Personally, I’m stuck with IE 7 because of reasons outside of my control. One day, when Logitech updates their software, I’ll make the switch to Firefox.

Review #1 - iTunes

Well, I’ve managed to squeeze some time in so I can start my first review. I am up late doing this (It's 00:17 at the moment) and I thought that I would start with something that I’ve had to use recently and something that I can write a lot about. My first review is on iTunes.

I have disliked iTunes from the beginning and was originally hesitant to install it. What I wanted to do with iTunes was simple; purchase and download music from the iTunes Store and burn that music to a CD so it could be ripped DRM free (Digital Rights Management) for use with a portable music player (not an iPod). Such a simple task soon took a whole day to complete…

Installation was moderately quick and easy, although it lacked advanced install features for the high end user. As always, the ‘Launch Application’ checkbox at the end of any install is a welcome feature for those who don’t quite know where it has installed shortcuts. Opening iTunes although was a daunting task. On my test machine it took more than a minute for iTunes to display any signs of loading whatsoever. Disappointing for those who want to play some music fast. My first instinct was to open Task Manager to see exactly what kind of load iTunes was making on my system. Tasks were logically named; iTunes for the application, and iTunesHelper at startup. I’d hate to know how long it would take to load without iTunesHelper. Apple’s software inhaled a whopping 64 Mb of RAM and the CPU usage was continually at the 15-20% area. For those who like to listen to their own music while playing games it seems that iTunes is not the most logical choice for playback.

Once iTunes had finally loaded however it was quick to get from one area to the other and I was soon on the iTunes store looking for some new music. Aware that music costs money now I knew my first stop should be to set up an account, easy started with the ‘new account’ button in a logical place. The first two pages were easy, even if they did make little sense (Address??!? I’m purchasing on the internet, it doesn’t matter!). The third page however threw me completely. Labelled ‘Account Details,’ I quickly knew I didn’t have, nor want to provide my credit card information, and there was no way to better the request for information. I had no intention of purchasing music with a credit card; I wished to purchase the music with a $20 iTunes gift card that I had received earlier in the week. I cancelled out and had a closer look at the opening page; littered with albums and music videos I had no intention of buying. Alas, it seems that the way that I was destined to make my account was under the ‘redeem’ link on the right sidebar, poorly located. Again, the first two pages were the same (still asking for an address) but the third asked me for a voucher number, much more toward my goal. After two unsuccessful attempts to enter a voucher number I realised that the voucher was in fact the small text on the receipt. Stupid? Perhaps!

With a new account, and $20 worth of credit I continued on my quest for new music, starting at the home page for iTunes Store. Curiously, there was no ‘quick search’ function on the top of the page, nor was the search page easy to find (it was labelled ‘power search,’ the initial ‘p’ threw me off). I typed in a name of an artist I was interested in and hit the enter key… no effect… enter again… nothing happens. Use the cursor to press enter and your results fill the screen. Congratulations Apple, you managed to exclude a feature that exists on every other search page on the internet, every text box entry on a PC and every pop-up – the simple enter ability… Does this feature not exist on a Macintosh? After all, it’s a whole heap easier hitting the enter key then moving your hands to the mouse… Google even tells you this: Save time by hitting the return key instead of clicking on “search.” Please build programs the way that the world uses them rather than the way you think the rest of the world uses them.

The preview style seemed to make sense and provided the same length of track for each file (30 secs) with no annoying fade in/out time. However a feature that needs to be included in music searches worldwide is the ability to know what part of the song the preview has come from – are we playing from the start of the track or from somewhere in the middle? iTunes however was equal to, if not better than any other music preview system. With my $20 I managed to purchase 11 songs, with $1.41 left over that is useless to me unless I add more credit – something that I’m not keen to repeat. The purchasing system was simple and quick; download automatically occurred in the background. Another nice feature for all music services to add is the file size, for those on a monthly limit.

I disappointed with the quality and mobility of the music I received. I was left wondering what the hell an M4P file format is and why I’d never heard of it. I got over the fact that it was how Apple supplied their music moderately quickly given that it is only playable on iTunes. The quality of the files I received was not above 128 Kbps and some were at 63 Kbps. I obviously had not bought CD quality music (CD quality is 128 Kbps or higher), disappointing considering that the music industry wants us to switch to online purchases. The music I had received was not worth $1.69 a track.

Burning a CD with iTunes was not simple. I could not see any indication of what I wanted from any of the menus and I couldn’t find anything on screen. So I head to iTunes help, something that I shouldn’t have to do for something so easy. Help was undescriptive and told me to simply press the ‘Burn Disc’ button on the bottom right. Where is this button, why is it not where help explains it to be. The answer was simple but stupid – you must create a playlist to burn, a terrible requirement if someone wants to burn their entire library to disc (as I wished to do, all 11 songs). Burning took far longer than expected and lacked the ability to turn data verification on or off (I later found that data verification was non-existent with iTunes). I had no idea when my burn had finished as iTunes made no visual notification, only a short sound which is buried beneath my playing music. I removed the CD when the drive had stopped spinning.

I figured I was close to the end of this ordeal with iTunes and looked forward to permanently removing it from my computer. However it seemed that I would have to burn a second CD because the first one was corrupted. The first seven songs had been burnt beautifully and were easily ripped to my second PC. The last four however were nothing but hash and white-noise, steadily drowning out the actual music until the final track; which, somehow, was two hours of random noise (on a seventy minute CD, well done iTunes). Obviously data verification is not part of iTunes as there is no checkbox buried within preferences turning it on. The second burn was successful and my final four tracks joined the others in my usual library. Add-ons are not available with iTunes which means that the end-user has no ability to add data verification, other formats or alternate themes.

Apple doesn’t want to give up easily and lacks a shortcut to uninstall in the start menu. One has to open Add/Remove Programs to destroy the poorly designed software. Like the install, iTunes lacks information on uninstall. Apple must have a thing with only allowing the end user to see the final product and not how it works. The uninstall also fails to do the exact opposite of the install – like it should; QuickTime is left installed on the computer, software which has plagued PC users for years.

This task was much harder than it should have been. I feel sorry for the thousands of iPod users that are forced to use this software to update their media player.

Visual effects: 4/5.
As always, Apple shines with it's visuals.

Ease of use: 3/15.
Maybe I'm just new, but some of the most common tasks were hidden away.

Features: 4/15.
It only had some of the basics, a crucial miss.

Value: 4/10.
The sub-standard quality didn't impress.

Speed: 3/10.
This is a nice score, considering the startup time.

Integration: 2/5.
It ran on Windows, but it didn't feel designed for Windows.

Overall: 19/60.
It was worse than I originally expected... Apple should stick to what they're good at because this obviously isn't it.

Test machine (Notebook);
Pentium M 1.8Ghz,
512 Mb DDR Ram,
80 Gb HDD,
Windows XP Professional SP2.

Sorry that this was so long, but I really did want to get everything in.

Welcome

Hey all, welcome to my blog...

It's different to others in that I want to keep away from my life story; instead I wish to create reviews on products or services that I use. These products will come from a range of sources. I hope to get one done a week, and if that fails then we'll aim for fortnightly.

Of course there will be times when you disagree with my evaluations or opinions; so keep that in mind they are MY evaluations and opinions. If you disagree feel free to leave a comment as long as it sticks to the topic. If you continually disagree, don't come, you obviously don't belong. If you just want to write something spastic/stupid to someone, do what I do, visit Matt at http://xd-matt.blogspot.com and leave some annoying comment, he'll thank you for it (but kill me).

I feel like I'm writing the T&C's for entry, and I probably am... Oh well... Like I said before, if you don't like it don't bother coming, you can't please everybody...

On a brighter note... welcome again to my blog/review page.

EDIT: Expect something soon... I have notes... I have compassion... I don't have time... Maybe Monday night.

EDIT EDIT: Logically, I've been working hard for the last hour to get the site the way I want. Now it's blue rather than green (because blue is the best) and I now have the ability to post videos if I so desire. Might occasionally post something I find amusing.