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iHome's iSP5 SmartPlug Is Far From Perfect, But It's a Cheap Way to Give HomeKit a Try
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"the devices do not work with enterprise WiFi networks and thus won't be usable in corporate environments or colleges."
Ugh. Useless.
Ugh. Useless.
I Have been using Hue lights for over 2 years. In my current apartment my only bedroom lighting is floor lamps, so turning them off with a phone app is very convenient since I can do it from bed. My lights slowly dim on in the morning waking me up...which beats the hell out of an alarm. They turn on when I get to my door and off when I leave. I also can use the amazon echo to voice control them. Why all of these things are not necessary they are extremely convenient.
With the Hue tab it works just like a traditional switch.
Best use case I can think of would require iBeacons and mapping the house. So you can have lamps plugged into these, walk into the room, and they turn on. Leave the room and they turn off.
I feel home automation has potential, but we have to find the best use cases.
I disagree. Because what we're witnessing here isn't home automation at all... it's home controlling. Home automation, in my mind, will be when my lights automatically turn on when I walk through the door, based on the time of day. It needs to be smart. THAT, will be a solution to an actual problem.
Bingo! And most of what is available requires too much interaction. To me, that's not very smart. I think the Nest Thermostat is about the only home automation device out right now that can be called "smart." Once it learns your preferences, you don't need to interact with it as much, it just does it for you. That's home automation!
For lighting, I find that timers, photo sensors and some combination of the two work best depending on the application. These HomeKit devices seem to "overthink the plumbing," as it were.
I have several non-HomeKit Insteon plug modules and bulbs around my house. I specifically have them in places where it's a pain in the butt to get to the light or if it's a light that I simply want to be able to control from anywhere.
My wife and I don't walk around turning lights off when we get ready to go to bed anymore. Sounds like a trivial thing, but it's really not once you implement the technology in your home and become accustomed to it. When we're ready to go to bed, we just go to bed. Once we're in bed, we can either turn lights off one by one, by room, or turn every light in the house that's plugged into an Insteon module off all at the same time. If we're in bed and we hear a noise, we can turn all the lights on without getting out of bed. That makes my wife feel better so I'm all for it.
As for the Siri integration that HomeKit provides, I think that's just a novelty, for the most part. Most of the time when I'm controlling my Insteon devices from the Insteon app, I'm doing it in situations where it would be rude or impractical to use Siri anyway.
Yes. I have motion sensor switches in certain rooms problem is if I stay in the room longer than anticipated but I'm out of sensor's view the lights go out and I have to walk into view and jump around to turn the light back on. An iBeacon could solve that.
I think if these were actual wall sockets they would have more utility. Many a time a light is left on on the upper floor and had to trod back up to flip it off. Could be useful to be able to turn it off w/ my watch or phone.
Mine have been doing that for many decades. Its not new at all, just the new components that do what others have done for many many years.
Stairs light and kitchen lights come on automatically when I enter the area. They auto off at different times of the day. All lights are also scheduled based on sunrise/sunset. Phone apps allow voice control or simple manual control. I can also do the same from my Watch. I get notifications if anyone enters when I am not there. Its a long list of features...
Home automation is quite convenient.
I think the point is that the product works well, does everything it's supposed to. HomeKit is not ready for prime time.
That's an interesting point of view. However, how you characterize "true home automation" is what home automation really should be and how you characterize home controlling is, unfortunately, the prevailing belief of home automation. I can't see that prevailing belief changing anytime soon which makes Macwick's argument a bit more relevant. But you are not wrong...from a certain point of view. When you look at it from that point of view, though, Macwick's argument still holds, you just could say "home controlling is a solution looking for a problem." And no matter how you characterize it, I would agree, this type of home automation or home controlling really is a solution looking for a problem.
In addition to the other negatives already mentioned, I firmly believe that connecting your home stuff to third party servers is a terrible idea. Every other month some site is getting hacked, it's just a matter of time before this (internet based home automation, not this wall socket specifically) becomes a disaster for someone.
iHome's iSP5 SmartPlug is one of the first five HomeKit-compatible devices on the market, and it's the most affordable option for Apple users who are looking to try out the company's home automation platform. The SmartPlug is a simple device that plugs right into any outlet, transforming any appliance - from lights to fans - into an iPhone-controlled Siri-compatible smart product using WiFi.
We tested out three of iHome's SmartPlugs, simulating what it might be like to control lights and fans across multiple rooms to turn an ordinary home with ordinary outlets into a smart home with a reasonable monetary investment and a bit of time.
As with the Elgato Eve review I did earlier this summer, using the iHome SmartPlugs makes it clear that there are still a lot of issues that need to be resolved with HomeKit and Apple's HomeKit partner companies, but at the $40 price point, I can recommend the SmartPlug to anyone curious about HomeKit who has the patience to deal with bugs that can range from minor inconveniences to frustrations that make you want to toss your SmartPlug across the room in anger.
Hardware Overview
The iSP5 SmartPlug is a no-frills device that plugs into any outlet within the home to transform it into a WiFi-connected outlet. Each SmartPlug connects individually to a home's WiFi network, so a central bridge is not required. SmartPlugs are rectangular in shape and fairly compact -- small enough that two can be plugged in next to each other in a single 120v wall outlet.
Setting up the SmartPlugs is as simple as plugging them in and downloading the iHome Control app. From there, a WiFi network needs to be confirmed within the app and the HomeKit code supplied with each SmartPlug needs to be entered to register the devices with HomeKit and an iCloud account.
Click here to read rest of article...
Article Link: iHome's iSP5 SmartPlug Is Far From Perfect, But It's a Cheap Way to Give HomeKit a Try
Literally the only thing I can think of that I would want to control remotely would be my air conditioner in the summer. As far as lamps, fans, A/V equipment -- I just can't imagine ever needing to control those with my phone.
Agreed. Eventually this convenience will be a disaster for someone. Just as automobiles, the internet, credit cards, washing machines, toaster ovens, electricity, fire, wheels, pulleys, and inclined planes have each been disasters for someone.
The question is whether these labor saving devices add enough value to our lives to make them worth using, or whether we should just forego them all and huddle together under a tree for warmth and hope some tasty berries roll buy so we can have something to eat.
While I can see the application of a single outlet, your picture with two singles in a single wall outlet demonstrates my immediate concern. Twice as much WiFi noise and demand as needed, iHome could have easily halved the WiFi bandwidth requirements by producing a two outlet version with unique addresses for each outlet. Filling a home with enough of these to be useful would slow the average home network down to the point of causing buffering of most video content, perhaps even audio.
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Can someone explain to me why the prices haven't dropped to 1% of the current cost across the home automation industry? Wouldn't everyone get it if it were barely more expensive than regular plugs and switches? They all have very old tech in them (bluetooth, wifi, an computer chip that basically only differentiates one switch from another, and ordinary switch tech), so I have a hard time believing that they are just offsetting production costs. Why lock it into a high end luxury category? Couldn't they make more money if they sold to a broader demographic?
I disagree. In the "connected" age that we live in, it only makes sense that our homes would be connected, too. As I said to one of the people who replied to your post, once you have the technology in your home, if the system you're using works well, you become accustomed to it quickly.
For the last few years, my wife and I haven't walked around our home turning lights on and off anymore. They either come on and go off when we've programmed them to do so or we can control them manually from our phones from anywhere in the world. If we hear a noise in the middle of the night, we can turn all the "connected" lights on with three taps on our phones without getting out of bed.
I don't think that's a solution looking for a problem. I think it's just one of those things where when you have the technology in your home and it works well (which, unfortunately, doesn't seem to be the case with HomeKit-enabled devices right now), you start to embrace the idea of home control and automation pretty quickly. At least that was the case for my family.
iHome's iSP5 SmartPlug is one of the first five HomeKit-compatible devices on the market, and it's the most affordable option for Apple users who are looking to try out the company's home automation platform. The SmartPlug is a simple device that plugs right into any outlet, transforming any appliance - from lights to fans - into an iPhone-controlled Siri-compatible smart product using WiFi.
We tested out three of iHome's SmartPlugs, simulating what it might be like to control lights and fans across multiple rooms to turn an ordinary home with ordinary outlets into a smart home with a reasonable monetary investment and a bit of time.
As with the Elgato Eve review I did earlier this summer, using the iHome SmartPlugs makes it clear that there are still a lot of issues that need to be resolved with HomeKit and Apple's HomeKit partner companies, but at the $40 price point, I can recommend the SmartPlug to anyone curious about HomeKit who has the patience to deal with bugs that can range from minor inconveniences to frustrations that make you want to toss your SmartPlug across the room in anger.
Hardware Overview
The iSP5 SmartPlug is a no-frills device that plugs into any outlet within the home to transform it into a WiFi-connected outlet. Each SmartPlug connects individually to a home's WiFi network, so a central bridge is not required. SmartPlugs are rectangular in shape and fairly compact -- small enough that two can be plugged in next to each other in a single 120v wall outlet.
Setting up the SmartPlugs is as simple as plugging them in and downloading the iHome Control app. From there, a WiFi network needs to be confirmed within the app and the HomeKit code supplied with each SmartPlug needs to be entered to register the devices with HomeKit and an iCloud account.
Click here to read rest of article...
Article Link: iHome's iSP5 SmartPlug Is Far From Perfect, But It's a Cheap Way to Give HomeKit a Try
iHome's iSP5 SmartPlug is one of the first five HomeKit-compatible devices on the market, and it's the most affordable option for Apple users who are looking to try out the company's home automation platform. The SmartPlug is a simple device that plugs right into any outlet, transforming any appliance - from lights to fans - into an iPhone-controlled Siri-compatible smart product using WiFi.
We tested out three of iHome's SmartPlugs, simulating what it might be like to control lights and fans across multiple rooms to turn an ordinary home with ordinary outlets into a smart home with a reasonable monetary investment and a bit of time.
As with the Elgato Eve review I did earlier this summer, using the iHome SmartPlugs makes it clear that there are still a lot of issues that need to be resolved with HomeKit and Apple's HomeKit partner companies, but at the $40 price point, I can recommend the SmartPlug to anyone curious about HomeKit who has the patience to deal with bugs that can range from minor inconveniences to frustrations that make you want to toss your SmartPlug across the room in anger.
Hardware Overview
The iSP5 SmartPlug is a no-frills device that plugs into any outlet within the home to transform it into a WiFi-connected outlet. Each SmartPlug connects individually to a home's WiFi network, so a central bridge is not required. SmartPlugs are rectangular in shape and fairly compact -- small enough that two can be plugged in next to each other in a single 120v wall outlet.
Setting up the SmartPlugs is as simple as plugging them in and downloading the iHome Control app. From there, a WiFi network needs to be confirmed within the app and the HomeKit code supplied with each SmartPlug needs to be entered to register the devices with HomeKit and an iCloud account.
Click here to read rest of article...
Article Link: iHome's iSP5 SmartPlug Is Far From Perfect, But It's a Cheap Way to Give HomeKit a Try
My big question is if I have, for example, a lamp plugged into a smartplug, then I can use the app, siri, etc. to control it. But what happens if I am sitting on the couch next to the lamp when it is off...if I turn it on (shudder) manually, does the smart plug "know" that so if I then give siri the command to turn it off, then it will actually turn it off? I "assume" that would be what would make it smart...it would somehow "know" when the device was already on or off...
Advice?
For the triggers/events based on Geofencing. Those will start to appear when iOS9 comes out as Apple has added those features to HomeKit.
A Switch is pretty useless in my mind for HomeKit. Wow, I can turn power to something on or off, I don't actually turn of the power of the actual item directly, just that no power gets to it. It would be much better for those things to be built into the item you want to turn on and off, and that it could have more characteristics to manipulate.
On another note, the help/support coming from Apple to HomeKit App developers is a little bit underwhelming right now. For instance, I am writing such an app and I can't get the XCode Beta/Simulator to work with the HomeKit Accessory Simulator. And there is no email or support page except for the developer forum for HomeKit, which has a total of 7 threads in it. No one goes there. Well except for me to post some questions that will never be answered.
Another blame would have to go to the device manufacturers in complying with the MFI rules of a HomeKit device. As I have seen in the past, other manufacturers tend to wing it, or cut corners rather than building a great product. Most of the time to get something out quickly, they don't test or make sure it actually works. Java J2ME Mobile JSR APIs is a prime example back in the day. This completely falls on the manufacturer and not Apple. I think we will see some bad MFI implementations of HomeKit for a little bit till one of the manufacturers comes out with a great product that kills all the rest.
A Switch is pretty useless in my mind for HomeKit. Wow, I can turn power to something on or off, I don't actually turn of the power of the actual item directly, just that no power gets to it. It would be much better for those things to be built into the item you want to turn on and off, and that it could have more characteristics to manipulate.
On another note, the help/support coming from Apple to HomeKit App developers is a little bit underwhelming right now. For instance, I am writing such an app and I can't get the XCode Beta/Simulator to work with the HomeKit Accessory Simulator. And there is no email or support page except for the developer forum for HomeKit, which has a total of 7 threads in it. No one goes there. Well except for me to post some questions that will never be answered.
Another blame would have to go to the device manufacturers in complying with the MFI rules of a HomeKit device. As I have seen in the past, other manufacturers tend to wing it, or cut corners rather than building a great product. Most of the time to get something out quickly, they don't test or make sure it actually works. Java J2ME Mobile JSR APIs is a prime example back in the day. This completely falls on the manufacturer and not Apple. I think we will see some bad MFI implementations of HomeKit for a little bit till one of the manufacturers comes out with a great product that kills all the rest.