As usual, Vizio provides a wealth of on-screen controls for tweaking images to your liking--as well as preset adjustments intended to optimize the image for different types of content such as sports, movies, and gaming. The on-screen options (which also include the usual parental controls, channel lineup options, and picture-within-picture features) are easy to access via the remote, and as you scroll through them, explanations appear at the bottom of the screen.
The remote itself is shorter than most, about the height of a cordless phone, so it has fewer controls than the longer, skinnier remote you get with many sets; this offloads a lot of options to the on-screen display, but also makes for a less formidable and potentially less confusing remote (although a light would have been nice to help in dark rooms).
Out of the box, the remote communicates with the set via a conventional infrared sensor, and you can continue to use it that way. But if you follow the manual's clear instructions for using the remote in Bluetooth mode (including pairing the remote with the set), you won't have to worry about the line-of-site access that infrared requires. As usual, Vizio's documentation is second to none, with both a printed manual and a quick-start guide that are also available online as PDFs.
The slide-out QWERTY keyboard can be helpful when using any of the Vizio Internet applications (VIA) that require user input: Even though the rubbery keys are small, they beat clicking through a software keyboard. Vizio does its usual good job of presenting the apps via a customizable dock that appears at the bottom of the display when you press the VIA button on the remote; you can create different profiles for different users and populate each user's dock with up to 17 different apps. Vizio also lets you determine which users can customize their docks, and which only you can control.
Vizio may not have the largest collection of Internet apps, but it covers the key bases, with Yahoo widgets, Vudu's HD movie rental service, Flickr, Rhapsody, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon on Demand.