Will the ipad be the ultimate-home-automation-controller?

[easytimhal]

http://www.liveautomatic.com/the-news/91-i...tion-controller

Could the iPad be the ultimate home automation controller interface? Let's consider the following: With a claimed battery life of 10 hours active use, presumably weeks of standby the iPad could sit on a coffee table and act as the central controller interface, webcam/security camera display and have enough resolution to support instant display of the entire house's status at a glance.

 

[Rupp]

Many of us HomeSeer users sure think so. Here's a sample template for the iPad.
http://board.homeseer.com/showpost.php?p=9...amp;postcount=1

 

[personalt]

http://www.liveautomatic.com/the-news/91-i...tion-controller

Could the iPad be the ultimate home automation controller interface? Let's consider the following: With a claimed battery life of 10 hours active use, presumably weeks of standby the iPad could sit on a coffee table and act as the central controller interface, webcam/security camera display and have enough resolution to support instant display of the entire house's status at a glance.

Maybe but dont count out andriod. There are a few companies with andriod pads in the sub $300 range.. why pay $500 when you can pay $300 or less.

 

[Neurorad]

I can think of ways that it could be better.

How about a nice, thin, touchscreen PC? More flexible.

 

[damage]

http://www.liveautomatic.com/the-news/91-i...tion-controller

Could the iPad be the ultimate home automation controller interface? Let's consider the following: With a claimed battery life of 10 hours active use, presumably weeks of standby the iPad could sit on a coffee table and act as the central controller interface, webcam/security camera display and have enough resolution to support instant display of the entire house's status at a glance.

Maybe but dont count out andriod. There are a few companies with andriod pads in the sub $300 range.. why pay $500 when you can pay $300 or less.

$100 android tablet http://bit.ly/aaGxhL it's a bit lacking. i can't wait to see what $200 will buy

 

[pete_c]

I saw a demo of the IPad/ Homeseer last month. It was cute. Thru the years (10) have owned various small / thin tablet PC's. I never really saw a market for them and noticed that none of them really ever caught on. I think that the Ipad will be a nice small HA tablet. It looks like most folks are buying it because its from Apple and they are addicted to Iphones etc. Commercially the IPad will be a successful HA tablet and for folks that already have 200k automation systems or the folks that want something aesthetically pleasing and don't want to spend $2k on a proprietary touch pad. I believe I still have a "few" Progears and Fujitsu tablets around.

Personally I am a DIY person and want more function from my tablets / telephone. When HTC / MS Mobile introduced the swipe screens a few years back it was a nice feature; I tried it then shut it off. As a DIY person I like my current touch screens. Historically never really used a touch pad other than for play. I do utilize my telephone to get to my HA remotely but would prefer to see more than less on one screen (crowded as it may be). But on the other hand if I was showing my HA system to a non IT person and there were swipe screens and big icons that looked like an IPhone they would be impressed.

Relating to the HA tablets I would prefer utilzing an Android / CE based / XPE / W7E for a home based tablet over an IPad - and to play with maybe an HP Slate. To entice the public into HA guess though that an Ipad could do it mostly just on its mass appeal.

 

[Rupp]

I can think of ways that it could be better.

How about a nice, thin, touchscreen PC? More flexible.

If this only existed. The HP Slate was going to be the answer but it's been delayed and now it looks like it may never make it to market. I hope I'm wrong because this device would be a great automation touchscreen.

 

[pete_c]

What's interesting is that most folks using the IPad don't care about what's running on the back end (HA).

If the IPad keeps looking like its working then that's all that matters to the consumer.

To me though if I touch an icon and the end result was null (a light going on or the temperature changing or a video from last week) then it wouldn't do me any good eh?

 

[Rupp]

I saw a demo of the IPad/ Homeseer last month. It was cute. Thru the years (10) have owned various small / thin tablet PC's. I never really saw a market for them and noticed that none of them really ever caught on. I think that the Ipad will be a nice small HA tablet. It looks like most folks are buying it because its from Apple and they are addicted to Iphones etc. Commercially the IPad will be a successful HA tablet and for folks that already have 200k automation systems or the folks that want something aesthetically pleasing and don't want to spend $2k on a proprietary touch pad.

Personally I am a DIY person and want more function from my tablets / telephone. When HTC / MS Mobile introduced the swipe screens a few years back it was a nice feature; I tried it then shut it off. As a DIY person I like my current touch screens. Historically never really used a touch pad other than for play. I do utilize my telephone to get to my HA remotely but would prefer to see more than less on one screen (crowded as it may be). But on the other hand if I was showing my HA system to a non IT person and there were swipe screens and big icons that looked like an IPhone they would be impressed.

Relating to the HA tablets I would prefer utilzing an Android / CE based / XPE / W7E for a home based tablet over an IPad - and to play with maybe an HP Slate. To entice the public into HA guess though that an Ipad could do it mostly just on its mass appeal.

Pete,
As history will show I'm an Apple hater. I absolutely hate the company and their under handed marking attack on kids. Of course many of us parents are to blame for buying these iDevices for our kids and getting them hooked. Who in their right mind would buy a device that costs nearly $400 and the batteries can't be replaced (easily). I guess I wasn't in my right mind when I bought my kids all those iPods. Having said all of this I bought an iPad to use as a TV room controller. It's great and I hate to say it but it is. I run HSTouch on it and it sits on the coffee table showing my cameras and the weather radar as the default screen. If you need to surf the web (flashless mind you ) then you can. It has become a very good device and it is an excellent touch screen. I'm still hoping for the HP Slate as this will do even more but will it come to market now that the iPad is out? Let's hope so.

 

[Steve]

I was never much of an Apple fan either, always using MS stuff and WinMobile/HTC devices. I grew to hate the phones (the last being the Tilt2/Kaiser). The screen basically sucked and I always needed to pull out the stylus to do practically anything useful. I tried the iPhone and was immediately sold. It just worked beautifully. The screen was fantastic and it never locked up on me. Now I still very much dislike the companies tight grip on things and approval of apps etc, but from a purely technical perspective the iPhone is just great - the best phone I've ever owned. I've not even seen the iPad live yet but if it works anything like the phone it should truly be a dream. I am planning to get one for the MBR after the remodel. But... I don't think the iPad would cut it as the primary or sole interface to a system. As an extra absolutely though.

As far as the 'ideal', does anyone watch the show Fringe? In the last/season finale episode, the agents in the alternate universe used a touchscreen I would like to have. I believe it was like a thin mylar or something that just practically rolled up and disappeared and it seemed to work holographically. Anyway, it seemed that would make a cool HA interface.

 

[Kevin L]

As far as the 'ideal', does anyone watch the show Fringe? In the last/season finale episode, the agents in the alternate universe used a touchscreen I would like to have. I believe it was like a thin mylar or something that just practically rolled up and disappeared and it seemed to work holographically. Anyway, it seemed that would make a cool HA interface.

I saw that touchpad on Fringe. I was pretty impressed with a lot of the technology in the alternate universe. Hope I'm around to see that in this world.

Kevin

 

[electron]

I believe that same touch screen concept was used in 'Red Planet' (which also featured the AT&T TTS voices). The iPad really does make a great HA controller, and the list of HA apps optimized for the iPad is growing rapidly.

 

[pete_c]

I'm really not an "all things Apple" hater. I think the IPad will/would be an ideal way to introduce folks into the world of HA.

Not too long ago spoke to a well established security company owner here in the Midwest. He's been installing HA security panels for years. Thing is that he's mostly just using the security piece of the panel. He did mention to me that if the TS interfaces on his installs (500k-XX million dollar homes) were Ipad/Ipod like he could most likely sell more automation. He was not too pleased with the ancillary keypads and TS's but is very impressed with the back end hardware. Kind of indirectly stated that even if the lights didn't work according to scheduling folks would just be enamored with the IPod like interfaces to the system.

I believe that the next step in TS's will be a VR that works / with both TTS / quick visual responses. Its easy to do now and would be impressive. I have VR today in two vehicles (for NAV and Telephone). It annoyed me so its typically off (not there yet). It would be a nice thing though to ask my vehicle what the traffic would be like on a short journey downtown.

Imagine for a moment telling your IPad/TS to turn on and show front door status. The virtual all encompassing computer (holographic) display is much closer to reality than it was just a couple of years ago.

 

[AceCannon]

If this only existed. The HP Slate was going to be the answer but it's been delayed and now it looks like it may never make it to market. I hope I'm wrong because this device would be a great automation touchscreen.

HP plans to release the Slate in October this year. They dropped Windows 7 from the plan and are going to use WebOS (now that they are purchasing Palm).

Incidentally, WebOS blows the iPhone OS out of the water. At least as of now - the new release of the iPhone OS should address some of the shortcomings (i.e. multitasking). But WebOS is Linux-based, so it is quite a bit easier to develop apps for it. It would be a shame for WebOS to die - I hope HP is successful with the Slate and the phones they plan to release with WebOS.

 

[drozwood90]

Any preliminary Costs?