![]() Setting up and configuring the 650 is just as easy or frustrating as the previous ones, relying on the same online software suite that offers a combination of wizard-like questionnaires and dizzying arrays of menu options. That's picking nits, though - it's not like you'll be watching Avatar on there. We also weren't too impressed by the LCD, which has very limited viewing angles. When it does the buttons and the color screen light up, though that lighting is somewhat dim. However, it's a little less sensitive than we've seen in previous remotes, occasionally requiring a shake to come to life. The device is backlit, though, and has a simple accelerometer that will pop on the lights when you pick it up. ![]() Unfortunately, though, unlike the 700 the buttons themselves aren't different colored, they just have labels on them, and we had a real hard time telling them apart in the dark. Dedicated activity buttons up top are handy, up and down arrows make for easy paging through DVR menus, and the row of colored buttons is great for everything from console game controls to those A, B, and C buttons on Scientific Atlanta DVR remotes. It's also worth noting that the buttons here feel far more solid and springy than those in the older models - like our 520, which has a few unresponsive buttons after a little over a year of use. The button layout, stolen from the 700, falls to hand very naturally and leaves us with easy to find volume and channel rockers, plus the play/pause button in the lower-middle feels quite intuitive too. That's only one less than the 700, but in our case it was one too few, meaning our soon-to-be collectors item HD-DVD player was feeling left out during this testing. ![]() Available for $99 (or $79 if you can do with the monochrome screened 600) the 650 looks almost exactly like the 700, but lacks the circuitry for recharging batteries internally and, curiously, has been limited to control just five devices. Here we have the 650, the next evolution downward in price. ![]() Its form factor was subtly evolved and simplified to form the Harmony 700 last year, which ditched the touchscreen and revised the button layout slightly. The current generation of Harmony remotes was more or less ushered in by the Harmony One back in early 2008, fitting in toward the higher end of the product line (but below the big-screen Harmony 1100) by offering a touchscreen and rechargeable batteries. ![]()
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January 2023
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