All in all, I'd recommend it, especially with
the latest upgrade. The remote works well, now
that the reboot issue seems to have been solved
on mine (fingers crossed) and has easily the best
screen around, with plenty of memory. The EPG
could be a killer ap with a bit more work, but
is useful as is. The Internet is handy, but worth
noting that not all sites work on it, as many
of the plugins that Web sites use are not supported
on the iPronto. And in some cases, you seem to
have paid for things that don't do anything. The
headphone socket, SD/MMC card slot, USB socket,
speakers and rather decent sound system are all
dead in the water. The only thing you can do with
sound is beeps, exactly as in the old Prontos,
and the only time you get an idea of what it can
do is when you access the setup menus when it
plays a little tune. It'll be interesting to see
what Philips have planned for these features,
but I do get the feeling that they have added
to the price without adding to its functionality
at the moment.
The web browser is great - you can get to the LetsAutomate website on it and order more toys... ;-) (Goshdarnit is a customer of the company I work for so we know each other.)
...or for me I just find it amusing ordering pizza on it! :-D
As for the MMC lot - not sure where it was I heard it from (whether it was on here or from Philips so I'm gonna keep fairly schtumm) but there will be a use for it fairly shortly ... nothing too exciting though I'm afraid but it does show that they are still developing rather than just "fixing" the iPronto.
All in all, if you can afford it, I'd recommend
it. I wouldn't say it is WORTH it exactly. I don't
think you can with a remote control costing over
a grand (near enough 1500 with a NetX)! I've had
cars that cost less in my youth! (Not criticising
Philips pricing, just saying that there are people
who just can't believe my remote is worth more
than their whole system). What I would say is
I love it, and I wouldn't want to revert back
to my old Pronto now.
Depends on your definition of "worth" ... if you're in that middle ground where a Pronto just doesn't have the balls for the job but yet you can't justify ebay'ing a kidney for Crestron or AMX (and don't need all the really excellent integration that those systems provide) then the iPronto is good value. If you look at it from a standpoint of "Well with a touchscreen PC, girder, these pieces of software and a load of effort from myself I can do the same - if not better" then no, it isn't good value.
We have one customer who has bought five of them over a period of time though ... so I guess he must have been happy enough with his to come back for more.
Personally I wouldn't be without mine...
Phil
