Gadgetory

what you're looking at is not a really thick phone with a small screen it can't make calls or play music or snapchat the main thing it can do is control your TV and home entertainment gear this is the Wray super remote and it competes directly against devices like our favorite universal remote the Harmony home control the first difference beyond the design between harmony and Ray is Ray's easier setup you don't need to use a phone app to get it to control your gear instead everything happens on the screen I appreciated the helpful hints and simple language another difference is that you'll need to keep ray in its cradle because just like a phone the battery will run out relatively quickly it lasted a few days of normal use before having to be recharged which is better than a phone but much worse than the harmony which lasts a year a bigger deal in my testing turned out to be raised lack of a hub with harmony the remote itself doesn't send the signals that turn on your gear instead the little hub does it which is much more reliable especially if your stuff is inside a cabinet with Ray you have to aim the remote at your gear just like a standard remote trust me once you go hub it's tough to go back I also prefer physical buttons to raise on screen keys they're easier to use by feel and although Ray does have a swipe interface for menu navigation it's not as efficient as buttons raised screen does allow one extra feature harmony can't match you can browse TV shows and movies on the screen itself and tuned to them directly with a tab unfortunately it doesn't allow you to easily record an upcoming show in your DVR for that you'll need to use the on-screen menus the final knock against raised price this clicker costs 250 bucks about twice as much as a harmony home control and it's just not worth it to most people Ray has promised that the harmony is simply better for now I'm David Katz Meyer for CNET