I used to have all hard button remotes, then hybrid touch screen / hard buttons. Today, the only controllers in our house are phones / tablets, namely iPad Minis, iPhones, and iPod Touches.

The control system I use has no license fees per device, so loading the UI on all our mobile devices was a no brainer. It doesn't take long getting used to all touch screen controls. You just have to think it through. Use channel presets / macros as opposed to the 0-9 keypad etc.

This being said.... expensive proprietary touch panels such as AMX, Crestron etc... are on the way out. A lot of people stick with hybrid touch screen / hard buttons for single room systems, but they are still more expensive than an iPod Touch or iPad Mini im most cases.