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When you're Harmony, the world's leading manufacturer of universal remote controls, what do you do for an encore to replace your best selling model ever? You start by listening to what your legion of satisfied customers and loyal dealers have to say about making improvements, then you tweak everything to near perfection. And then you haul it off to Vegas to show it off at CES.

Harmony's latest handheld wonder comes with the very Matrix-like name, "One."

It's the direct replacement for the 880, Harmony's first remote control to feature a color LCD screen and the company's most popular all-in-one remote solution.

Harmony gave the One a complete design overhaul, ditching the small buttons flanking the screen and replacing them with a far cooler and easier to use color touch screen. And where the buttons on the 880 all ran together in a smooth, seamless look, this remote sports a smartly reworked layout, making it far more ergonomically friendly - especially important when trying to operate it in the dark. Another improvement is the flattening of the 880's rounded backside. While it felt good in the hand, it tended to be prone to rolling off the arms of chairs or couches, often resulting in the remote taking an unplanned death plunge to the floor. One's flatter back will make it more stable and hopefully eliminate these unscheduled remote replacements.

Users and programmers alike will be happy to know the One still uses Harmony's version 7 software and retains the 880's $249 MSRP. The remote's due the end of this month, and should be in my hands for testing shortly thereafter!
-John Sciacca