X1 remote?

Hi As a buyer of the U1 which wasn't really a replacement for a Harmony 650 owing to lagginess - my wife now uses it as a standard multi device remote, I took a chance on the X1 on special and to support the development by what seem to be fine people. The firmware updated within a few mins of setting it up and soon after the remote upgraded too. I found the configuring a bit clunky compared to Harmony, but I'm a little bit tech savvy and after having difficulty finding my Sony TV was assisted by the vendor and that was good. I can now operate my equipment inc the learned commands reasonably well from the phone/tablet software but the remote seems faulty. I sync it with the app database regularly but most keys fail to work consistently. At first I assumed the keys weren't carrying across to the handset, but with some a dozen or more presses gives a command but is too random and intermittent to be of much use. I wonder is there a known issue with a batch or all remotes for the X1? And yes I have placed the hub on a stool six feet directly in front of my audio/video devices, so it's not a signal problem plus I can see the hub blink. What I fail to understand is how things are so much better when using the app as a remote. I didn't buy it to control by phone or tablet.