Philips's iPronto TSi6400, the last remote you'll never afford

We have no idea how they did it, but some crazy engineer at Philips found a way to outdo their previous efforts spent on the RC9800i remote—which we hear was dubbed by British Parliament as "The Remote to End All Remotes". What we're talking about here is the iPronto TSi6400, which features a color VGA resolution touchscreen, 400MHz Xscale CPU, 64MB flash memory and 64MB RAM, mic, headphone jack, stereo speakers, PC-card slot, 802.11b adapter, 8 nav buttons, 5 programmable buttons, rechargable li-ion battery, IR-learning capabilities, and it can even replicate your old remotes' layout, displaying up to four simultaneously on-screen. You're going to pay dearly for this though, oh yes. $1,700, dearly. Sell a kidney, whatever you've got to do.

[Via uber-review]

[yte @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

for that price u can get a tv n no telling what 2mmorow brings they might get a better remote

[zee @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

mmmmmm all remote control in one....

btw can it control RC cars? cause maybe then itd be a bit more worth it

[Brian @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

Can't wait until they make an NES emulator for this.

[Mike Corley @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

Does it run on windows mobile? someone needs to get on that.

[Dullicky @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

a bit pricey if all you have is a TV and VCR...

[toupsz @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

And here I was happy because I finally have one normal remote to control every device in my living room...and it came with the DVD player... :D
-Zach

[Nicholas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

Yes, it does run Windows (or a very Windows-like interface..)

And it's very very nice :) And easy to program for..

[LionelHutz @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

How about just buying a VGA PDA such as a Dell Axim x50v? You get all that plus a 600 mhz processor and 128 rom.

[Matt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

I have this remote. Question is, why are we talking about this now? It is a pretty old remote...(I got mine in May of 03' I believe).

Yes, it is a bit pricy, but it is worth it. The web browser is fast, and user friendly.

I also believe Phillips has stopped making these...not sure though.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

Uhhhh, the iPronto has been available for over a year now and certainly predates the RC9800i. Yes, it is all the things mentioned here, but it's certainly not a new item...

[Curt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

like i would mortage my jet to buy a remote for my Reciever.

[Anthony @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

If you want more info http://www.remotecentral.com/wn020924.htm from September 24, 2002 :-/ The RC9800i is a much more refined, not to mention ergonomic remote. But then again, you can't program the RC9800 with a computer or surf the web on it.

[Dan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

God, no! not another crappy touch screen remote. I, too, fell for one of these back with sony's $179 remote commander or whatever it was called. How the hell a remote with no tactile feedback can be useful is beyond my meager comprehension.

I returned the sony asap, and went ahead and spent the big bucks ($250) on "the remote to end all remotes" (the Marantz RC 2000 MKII). Have had the thing for going on 6 or 7 years now - never had even a single problem learning from any remote, and I'll never again try another one of these fancy remotes that can't be operated by touch in the dark.

Waste of money, imho.

[Jason @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

Yes, this is old ... enough so that I think it may be discontinued, as they put resources into the RC9800i.

But, you can still get refurbished ones straight from their online outlet (http://www.outlet.philips.com) for $810, which is a lot more worth it than at the list price.

[Anthony @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

Why on earth did Parliament make a statement on a remote? Not that I'm implying anything (it'd be a pretty weird thing to make up), I'd just be interested in seeing a reference for this...

[Gordy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

Okay...I'll say it...

One remote to rule them all...

[Carlton Bale @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

Yeah, this is ancient history. This remote had a lot of problems, reading the RemoteCentral forums. Maybe it will get more development attention now that Engadget says it's new again.

[hafa @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

bookworm engineerings, this thing is so not practical

my rca remote cost me just 5 bucks, controls about 5 appliances, and i am satisfied

[Claudiu @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

You're very late with this news. Philips launched iPronto TSi6400 in march 2004. The specifications and release are on the Philips site. I know that because at that time I wrote about it.

[E. Marrs @ Dec 19th 2005 12:53AM]

Well if it is so great why can you not have the tv transfer over to it when you leave the room? Now that would be a sight, never having to pause a movie on others when going to get food or when going to the bathroom. It has the speakers and whatnot, I think this idea is possible and may possibly have a future.