Logitech’s latest universal remote gives Alexa the keys to your home theater

This is Logitech’s new universal remote, the Harmony Express. Note the big honking Alexa button at the top there.

Jeff Dunn

This is Logitech’s new universal remote, the Harmony Express. Note the big honking Alexa button at the top there. Jeff Dunn

It comes with this hub that works with IR, Bluetooth, and WiFi, as well as a mini IR blaster for extending that range if needed.

Jeff Dunn

It comes with this hub that works with IR, Bluetooth, and WiFi, as well as a mini IR blaster for extending that range if needed. Jeff Dunn

Aside from the directional pad around the Alexa button, this is it from a physical button perspective.

Jeff Dunn

Aside from the directional pad around the Alexa button, this is it from a physical button perspective. Jeff Dunn

It comes with this hub that works with IR, Bluetooth, and WiFi, as well as a mini IR blaster for extending that range if needed. Jeff Dunn

Aside from the directional pad around the Alexa button, this is it from a physical button perspective. Jeff Dunn

It charges over micro-USB instead of USB-C.

Jeff Dunn

You’ll hear Alexa respond through this little speaker on the back.

Jeff Dunn

Logitech’s new Harmony Express app makes setting up the remote fairly straightforward, though it doesn’t do any controlling of its own.

Logitech

Logitech on Tuesday announced the Harmony Express, a new universal remote that features the Alexa voice assistant.

Amazon’s increasingly ubiquitous helper comes built into the device and is accessible via a large circular button at the top of the remote. The idea with the Harmony Express is to use Alexa to control the various devices in your home theater. Past Logitech Harmony remotes have been usable with an associated Alexa skill for those with separate Echo devices, but here the voice controls are baked in.

The Harmony Express costs $250 and is available starting Tuesday.

All about Alexa

The remote itself is small, light, and minimalist from a design perspective, emphasizing the newfound focus on voice commands. There’s no built-in display and only a handful of physical buttons: just basic playback, volume, and navigation controls. There’s a microphone and speaker built into the device, naturally, and the Alexa button glows its familiar shade of blue when activated. The few physical buttons are all backlit.

In some ways, the use of voice controls with the Harmony Express is similar to what Amazon has done with its Fire TV Cube streaming box. As with that device, you can use Alexa on the Harmony Express to tune to specific channels on a cable box; saying “go to ESPN,” for instance, will instruct the cable box to input the channel numbers associated with that channel on its own. You don’t have to say “Alexa” to activate the assistant, but the Harmony Express only understands a limited set of phrases—saying “switch to ESPN,” to continue the example above, won’t do anything. The assistant can turn a TV or streaming device on or off through voice commands, as well as access a cable box’s DVR recordings. Logitech says you can use similar commands to tune to specific channels through an antenna as well.

This being a universal remote, you can also use Alexa to control various other home theater devices. At launch, Logitech says the Harmony Express will be able to directly launch Netflix and “similar apps”—including Amazon Prime, Hulu, and HBO Now—on an Apple TV (4th gen or later), Roku, Fire TV, Sony Android TVs, and a select number of Samsung and LG TVs. It won’t be able to do this on game consoles like the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, though you can still use voice commands to switch to HDMI inputs connected to those devices after the proper setup.

Since the Harmony Express is an Alexa device, it also works somewhat like a portable Amazon Echo. You could use the Harmony Express to answer general knowledge questions, detail the weather, see what’s coming up on your calendar, or other typical Alexa tasks. It can control various smart home devices, too. The main exclusion, according to Logitech, is that it doesn’t support music and audiobook commands, since it’d be a drain on battery and the built-in speaker isn’t designed for music.

Regarding battery life, the company says the Harmony Express should last at least a month per charge. (You charge it via a micro-USB port, and we’re a little disappointed it lacks USB-C.)

Logitech says it plans to add additional voice control capabilities post-launch. During a demo in New York City earlier this month, the company mentioned it is looking to add the ability to launch specific shows or tune to specific sporting events by name, among other things.

Still a Harmony

Having the built-in voice functionality is the big reason you’d buy the Harmony Express over one of Logitech’s more standard universal remotes, but the company says the device works with all the same devices as past Harmony remotes, sans voice commands. That includes a ton of TVs, A/V receivers, Blu-ray players, speakers, game consoles, and the like, though it’s worth searching the company’s compatibility list if you’re unsure if your gear would work.

The remote comes with a puck-shaped blaster that uses infrared, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi to control all these devices, as well as a mini-blaster for extending IR range if needed. Having Bluetooth and Wi-Fi allows the Harmony Express to control devices like the PlayStation 4 that aren’t controllable by older Harmony remotes that rely solely on infrared. When you’re paired with a compatible device, the Harmony Express’ on-device controls will automatically map to the device currently in use. The remote doesn’t need line-of-sight to control these devices, either.