I always had a bias against Smartthings. May be I did not like the look of it or may be some thing else. But lately I just happened to look in detail about its capabilities and what is coming up in V2.0. I should say I am having second thoughts. The following are the main points which made me re think
1. Integration with SONOS. This is a major one for me.Having committed to SONOS in big way for my distributed audio system. What Smartthings allows me to do is to have my alerts and event responses broadcast-ed via the flexible speaker configurations that SONOS can provide. This can really give a voice to SONOS. SONOS being not very open to all the other vendors at the moment, I am not able to identify any other means this can be achieved cleanly.
2. Integration with other Automation gadgets I have. Philips Hue, August Lock etc are few which are there in the long list. This vast coverage of devices which are leading in their own capabilities is a definite plus for me. August Lock integration will be introduced in the new version of the Hub via Bluetooth. Now that does raise few questions to me as in positioning of my Hub in relation to the door etc. But that will have to wait until the 2.0 hits the shelf. Then there is the possible integration with Roomba using Thinking Cleaner face plate. This is a face plate add on to Roomba which will give WiFi Control to Roomba.
3. Cost. The cost of this hub is minimal. When this is probably not THE reason for me as its only one component we are talking about, it is definitely a reason.
4. Integration to Apple HomeKit Platform. The reason I am holding back on any hub is mainly because I want to know how HomeKit may play in the field and what does it leave open. I find Siri Integration that HomeKit brings forth a definite plus as with this and the SONOS it gives a life and personality to the Home. I am still holding back until the details of HomeKit is out, but this hub does show promise since it has capability to integrate the myriad of gadgets which may not naively work with Apple HomeKit.
1. Integration with SONOS. This is a major one for me.Having committed to SONOS in big way for my distributed audio system. What Smartthings allows me to do is to have my alerts and event responses broadcast-ed via the flexible speaker configurations that SONOS can provide. This can really give a voice to SONOS. SONOS being not very open to all the other vendors at the moment, I am not able to identify any other means this can be achieved cleanly.
2. Integration with other Automation gadgets I have. Philips Hue, August Lock etc are few which are there in the long list. This vast coverage of devices which are leading in their own capabilities is a definite plus for me. August Lock integration will be introduced in the new version of the Hub via Bluetooth. Now that does raise few questions to me as in positioning of my Hub in relation to the door etc. But that will have to wait until the 2.0 hits the shelf. Then there is the possible integration with Roomba using Thinking Cleaner face plate. This is a face plate add on to Roomba which will give WiFi Control to Roomba.
3. Cost. The cost of this hub is minimal. When this is probably not THE reason for me as its only one component we are talking about, it is definitely a reason.
4. Integration to Apple HomeKit Platform. The reason I am holding back on any hub is mainly because I want to know how HomeKit may play in the field and what does it leave open. I find Siri Integration that HomeKit brings forth a definite plus as with this and the SONOS it gives a life and personality to the Home. I am still holding back until the details of HomeKit is out, but this hub does show promise since it has capability to integrate the myriad of gadgets which may not naively work with Apple HomeKit.
