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Last week at CEDIA it was a rare thing to walk into a manufacturer’s booth and not be confronted by an app for this or that. This industry has apps to turn up the music, lower the shades, manage the home theater, spy on the neighbor, flush the toilet and turn off grandma’s pacemaker.
And I like that, a lot. The volcanic rise in Appism means that I have several tap-friendly things in my house that can work with nearly any amazing device that shows up here for review.
That also means that half of that stuff lacks any dedicated control interface—a remote or touchscreen or keypad. The assumption too many manufactures are making is that they don’t need to make those things anymore because everyone has an iThing or Android thing. Well, we all do, but that won’t always do (see what I did there—I’m clever).
Last week the control company Control4 launched a new touchpad which will run around $1,000. That’s not really a surprising price for something like that, especially if it’s solidly built, reliable and easy to use. That’s why people buy control systems—for the luxury of being able to do cool things easily and reliably.
But when the news came out, there was a giant cicada buzz about how crazy the company must be to try and sell that for $1K when anyone can buy an iPad for half the price and just download the app. A dealer I met on the plane said as much to me.
I have two music systems now that rely on apps for everything from turning the volume up and down to switching from the office to the living room. They’re great. I have an iPhone in my pocket all the time, so I’m never without the ability to play my Black Sabbath channel. The tablet (an Android) that usually stays in the kitchen has the same apps, so everyone who passes the kitchen table can turn down Sweet Leaf if they want to.
But this morning I experienced a massive app failure. When I launched the Sonos app I received the messages below.
What? How did my devices suddenly become “incompatible?” They were getting along just fine last night. Does one drink Coke while the other favors RC Cola? What the message really meant was that the company had updated the app (to make it better I suppose) and I now needed to download the update.
Instead, I went to my iPhone, launched the same app (which still worked for some reason) and finally had Wasted Years to go with my coffee break.
A couple of minutes later, I went into the Android marketplace, found the app, tapped the Update button, and all was back to normal (note: the app seems to be unchanged).
So here’s a couple of questions? What if that happened when I wasn’t there and someone else in the family needed to control something? What if it was a more important system than just music (like the thermostat or security system or *gasp* the TV)? What if another device hadn’t been available to control the system?
Also, I’m a little paranoid. If teenage hackers can get into the Pentagon, then they can probably get into my iPhone and change all my Pandora channels to Lady Gaga.
Apps are great. Apps are wonderful, but they have their limits. Maybe I’ll use my iPhone 9 times out of 10 to turn my lights off, but I want a real remote too.
Good point. However a common practice among integrators with IT background is to turn off auto updates once the system is tested and working. This is basically the same approach you take with any traditional component in your system (controller, AV receiver, TV etc..) so why not adopting the same with the app?
Eyal Kattan
http://www.media-nexus.com
I agree with you. Any product that can be run remotely should be shipped with a hardware remote. Their batteries don’t run down overnight or in a couple of days since they only are used intermittently.
I only want a basic cell phone, but I do have an iPod Touch that I bought mainly because it was a much cheaper alternative to buying a second Sonos remote. I don’t use it for Web access since it doesn’t support Flash, but that’s another story. Since then it has also become my second Olive remote, and I’ve started using it for some reference apps. The main problem with using an iAnything is the lousy battery time. I leave my iPod Touch on my dresser, not in a charger, and as long as it’s keeping in touch with my home’s wireless router it’s using up lots of battery power. If I turn off the wireless capability the battery can last for weeks, but then every time I have to use it as a remote I have to take the time to turn the wireless feature back on. I can walk through the house and pick up the real remote in less time than that. Until iPhones, iPods and iPads give MUCH better standby battery time, or can be set to automatically turn off wireless service when they’re not in use, I don’t see them as a workable solution to being the ONLY remote for any product.
I have never really like apps for controlling things, or at least a collection of things, because there is no one app that does it all. That is unless you have it integrated into one with something like Crestron.
Camera app? Sure, let me launch that.
TV control app? Sure, let me get out of the camera app and go to the TV one.
Lighting app? Damn, I should have done that first before messing with the TV, so get out of the TV, find the lighting app and adjust the lights.
Now I want to see the cameras on the TV, so back to the TV app, find the button to change the input, then back to the camera app to change the cameras around.
Crap, an incoming call on my iPhone, now I can’t turn down the volume on the TV..
People don’t seem to understand that sure an iThing is a cheap touchpanel but you still need a system to control everything seemlessly in one app for your iThing, or have a dedicated panel to do nothing but that.
Scott, you make a good point, but I’ll bet that it won’t be long before AV receiver or TV manufacturers stop including remotes with their products because they assume you can use the app. Remember when products came with paper manuals? Now you’re lucky if you get a CD manual. Customer service is practically an app too: press 1 for hardware problems, press 2 for firmware updates, press 3 to check on a previous complaint ...
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Wow - I’m just amazed that I’m in the minority here. Give me one solid iPhone/Pad/Touch remote that I can run everything from and I’ll be a happy camper. The idea that I can have central control over everything from one device. My wife can have her iPhone and I mine. And exactly how does one “loose” an iPhone with the ability to use the GPS feature to find it - even more so in your house. You loose your remotes in your house?
The idea that you have to have a dedicated hardware device with a dedicated “app” to only control your home control system is just the silliest of ideas. Fine, got out and buy your iWhatever and only put the single-purpose app on it. Now you have a dedicated device that you spent a TON of money on and serves only on purpose vs. an iOS device that not only is your remote, in any room from anywhere, but also can do other things with it. That is a value-added proposition.
Ultimately what I want is a central “brain” in the house that works with the AV systems, environmental and security - all tied back into a UI on my iOS device, which I have with me at all times. The only thing that could trump that would be voice commands, which of course could be done, but there still would be the need for the remote.