If you plan to run several trains at the same time, with intersecting routes, the remote is easier, since you're not slipping and sliding through a bunch of screens. When someone recommends one or the other, ask them how they run their layout--one or many trains, separate loops or intersecting routs, etc.
If there's a way in the app to select locos or switches by simply punching in their ID, I haven't found it. I hate sliding through screens to come upon a list of locos in haphazard order.
