![]() ![]() It would have been great, for example, to be able to use the arrow buttons to dim the lights, or press a single button to open and lower the shades. While you can map the physical buttons on the remote to different functions for your entertainment system, you can't change the buttons to control smart home devices. I also found that the Hue lights were a bit slow to change brightness on occasion. Ultimately, there's a lot of screens and swiping on the remote even after a few weeks, I still would get lost occasionally. The home screen, as before, shows your Activities, such as "Watch DishTV." The on-screen controls for the Harmony Ultimate Home have been slightly refined the background now fades from turquoise to blue. Performanceįor the most part, Logitech's newest remote is just as easy to use as previous models. While it can't interact directly with the Wink hub yet, Logitech also released the API for the Harmony remote, so that it will be easier to integrate it with other smart home devices in the future. That's pretty handy, and lets you use the remote with other smart home devices, such as those from Belkin WeMo and Quirky Wink. This Harmony support page shows what products currently work with the Harmony Ultimate Home remote.Īdditionally, the Ultimate Home can also be controlled through IFTTT recipes, so you can have the remote automatically mute or turn off your TV if your phone rings. Through a partnership with iControl Networks, Logitech says it's looking to extend control to other systems, such as ADT Pulse, Comcast Xfinity Home and Time Warner. The Ultimate Home will also work with SmartThings and PEQ smart home hubs. Also, the fact that the Logitech Hub lacks Zigbee and Z-Wave receivers (unlike, say, the Wink) means that devices that use those wireless standards will have to connect to another hub before you could control them with the Ultimate Home. However, other popular devices, such as the Dropcam, were not supported as of this writing. Aside from the Philips Hue lights and Nest thermostat, the remote can also control Lutron Caseta lighting, Lutron Serena window shades, August smart locks and the Honeywell smart Wi-Fi thermostat. While not as expansive as a smart home hub such as the Quirky Wink, the Logitech Ultimate Home can control a number of smart home devices. So, to the Watch DishTV activity, I could also have the Philips Hue lights turn on to a preset brightness, the Nest thermostat change to a particular temperature, and the Lutron shades drop to a certain level. For example, I created an Activity called Watch DishTV, which turned on the TV, my satellite box and my stereo, and turned them all to the correct settings. InterfaceĬentral to the Harmony Ultimate Home's interface are macros, called Activities, which let you control a number of devices with the push of one button. However, if the firmware on the remote needs to be updated, you'll still have to plug it into your laptop via USB. As a bonus, you can control your entire home theater setup using the Harmony app. I found this setup to be much easier than previous Harmony remotes. ![]() Then it lets you add favorite channels, by entering your ZIP code, and selecting your cable or satellite provider. If you previously had a Harmony remote, the app will then copy the settings to your new remote. ![]() Then, I paired the app to the hub, and connected the hub to my Wi-Fi network. (You'll also need to create a free Harmony account). I plugged in the hub as well as the two IR blasters, then downloaded the free Harmony app to my iPhone 5s. ![]()
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