By Andrew Liszewski
For sheer gadget-coolness, the Philips Pronto line of universal remotes are at the top of the heap. (See this review on RemoteCentral to know what I mean.) Besides their large, color, touch-sensitive screens, they’re completely customizable even to the point of being able to design your own buttons in Photoshop. However, for those with a more modest home-theatre setup, the Prontos might be a bit excessive.
Philips is now introducing the SRU9600 8-in-1 remote and while it’s far slimmer than it’s bigger brothers, it doesn’t suffer from a lack of functionality. It sports a touch screen interface with an easy to use on-screen wizard for programming and is capable of selectively illuminating the various buttons depending on what device you’re currently controlling. In addition a built-in ‘iPod-esque’ rotary controller makes navigating the various setup menus a breeze.
The Philips SRU9600 should be out in the very near future and will retail for about $120. (Euro 99)
