That is pretty much the only thing that might make Wink worthwhile now?Not yet, but I cannot WAIT to settle in for a weekend and research/try this stuff!
Yeah, I've had that happen occasionally - it's like it's pulling the latest inventory list of your equipment off Wink's servers or something.
My Robot butler sucks.
That is pretty much the only thing that might make Wink worthwhile now?
I was really excited to see Smart Things announced their next gen box but they didnt mention anything about not needing their servers access all the time. From reading about Wink and Smart Things in their forum it seems to be a big issue. A bit of a let down...
"local app engine" I assume that means you won't always need their servers, why else would they add a battery backup?
I wanted to drop my $0.02 in about Geofencing. Geofencing is really, really difficult. I use an android phone using Tasker and a Geofencinng plugin(autolocation). Autolocation provides a lot more control of geofencing. First off, the location that the phone reports via GPS and WiFi isn't exact, will vary over time and can be wildly off. Second, the reporting of location may not occur on a regular basis. If you have the screen on, on my phone, various apps request location. However, if the screen is off, the polling of the location will not occur often, this is to save battery power.1. Scheduling works...sometimes. Geofencing works...sometimes.
None of my GE bulbs are connected today. Can't control them from wink at all. Argh!
Unplugged/plugged in the hub, now they work. Not ideal.
I read about a battery back up but I didn't see anything implying local control.
Wear is awesome with wink. I love getting the notifications that geofencing locked my door or notices during the day that the door has unlocked and by who via wrist vibration. Profiles are great.
Notifications are the killer feature for wear right now.
SmartThings is working on local control and I believe that is what they mean by the "local app engine." I read a discussion thread on one of their forums discussing possible features for v2.0 and a member of their staff said local control is something they intend to have in v2.0. I'll see if I can find the thread and will link it here.
EDIT: Here it is.
For my part, I'm having a REALLY hard time understanding why all these companies seem to think local control wasn't necessary to begin with. It sounds to me like business types obsessed with the cloud buzzword got involved or programmers who maybe don't have major infrastructure experience didn't think through all the implications. I can tell you that if I had designed one of these systems, local control would've been the PRIMARY consideration, with cloud integration secondary. I understand that unless you want to make the solution REALLY complicated, you do have to have some degree of cloud integration in order to be able to control your stuff from a phone anywhere in the world; however, I would guess that the majority of uses of these products would be while one is INSIDE the house and therefore, you would presumably have access to the hub via the local network. Also, I think it is a major mistake for these manufacturers NOT to put a hardwired Ethernet port on the hubs. Wink highlights the potential for interference from wireless sources but yet, seems oblivious to the fact that some of that could be resolved with a physical Ethernet port.
I also would've had web front ends for the hub accessible from any browser AND some advanced options available, but I'm a geek and understand Joe User may not need the advanced options (thought I think a web dashboard is something most would want). I can't speak for other companies because I don't have experience with their products, but I can say that I believe Wink has caused more problems than it has solved by dumbing the solution down so much. Also, from my limited experience of emailing once for support, I was not impressed at all.
What I try to do every year is one major tech project for the house. This year, I wanted to do home automation. I'm hoping that by the summer, everything announced at CES will be out, we'll have some reviews, and hopefully I'll have a direction to go in. I just can't see Wink being that long-term direction.
I've had trouble with the shortcuts working on my wear device. However the notifications work well but maybe that's because my wink app is constantly running on my phone because people at home or opening and closing the garage door and the front door so I get notifications all dayMy wear doesn't work with wink, unless I start wink on my phone. (every few hours)
It could be that with lollipop's memory leak, the app doesn't stay running in the background. I sent in a support request and they said that it was known and would be resolved in the next app update (they told me that last night)
My 3 sets of Trippers should arrive today and I have 30 days from today to return them.
Should I keep them or send them back?
So today my tripper notification was over 1 hour late. I checked the status and sure enough the battery is showing low. This tripper is on the garage door where temps are colder so maybe that's the problem. Absolute garbage product. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone in a million years. Whenever someone asks about the white 'box' I tell them to don't even think of getting it.
Anyone who installs this having their family depending on it is grounds for divorce in my book.
Just out of curiosity, how far is your Tripper from your hub?
About 30-40 feet away, 2 rooms away diagonally. The other tripper is much closer so maybe it has to do with the distance.
I think it might have to do with distance. Another guy posted a review on Amazon and he has had battery issues too and said his Trippers are far away from the hub. He was thinking it might be due to the Trippers dropping connectivity regularly and having to re-establish.