Personally, I hate the Sony remote. I find that I have to move my hand around a lot more to press the right buttons than on the Philips remote. Which is not to say that the symmetrical shape is ideal, but I have no problem feeling the shape of the buttons to know when to flip it round.

Edit: To clarify, I have to move my hand around a lot more towards the bottom with the Sony remote. And trying to press a button while hanging onto a half-inch worth of remote body is very hard, at least for me.