Android 2.0 Discussion

Until you want to put that device in another room as well.

Rooms show so much promise. For example a room off feature would turn all devices in that room off.

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Please allow us to have one device in multiple rooms. That would solve quite a few problem.

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So why has nothing changed for widget support? Why not allow things to be turned on and off via independent widgets?

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In terms of UX and the way space is managed…

I experimented with the optional “device that appears at the top of the room’s list” feature in the new smart app. When a device was added, all that was left for the list of devices in the room was somewhere between 1/2 and 1/3 of the screen’s real-estate. Meaning, adding the device as the room’s “banner” = lots more scrolling. Removing the banner released screen-space = less scrolling. Looks like I won’t be using the banner feature in the new app, at least until we have an option to make the banners smaller.

Also, the “Home” mode banner is a real pain in the butt. If it was gone, I would be scrolling a lot less looking for rooms, things, and SmartApps. It doesn’t even appear to be a functional feature, though I did read in the forums someone saying that it would eventually be part of some other app function. Regardless, an option to make it (MUCH) smaller would be a valuable addition.

And having spent some time navigating the app, I’m finding the thin font for the Home>Rooms/Things/SmartApps/Family section is difficult to read. Fonts in the dashboard are MUCH easier to read.

One more comment: the giant size of the Routines>buttons and the Dashboard>Lights & switches buttons are a waste of space that leads to more scrolling as well. I actively avoided the Lights & Switches dashboard area in the previous app because it was such a PIA to find anything. Again, having an option for the buttons be more compact would be a valuable feature.

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Dashboard. Seriously?

Redefining what a dashboard is since 9/3/2015 - SmartThings.

What dashboard should have been… (and maybe one day, could be)

Add any smartapp or device tile to the dashboard or a shortcut to a room, app or device.

Call it what it really is, Solutions. A place where SmartThings want’s to show you souped up smartapps on steroids.

How about giving us real dashboards, with real user control over what shows up there. Not a waste of space showing us one solution and removing all of the previous solutions we had in the old app?

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Is there a way to re-order things? I had them all set in the order I wanted them in V1 now in V2 they are alphabetical and I can’t re-arrange like in V1 by long pressing and dragging. Did I miss something?

Thanks.

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@celblazer, yes but only within a Room - and when you try the app will crash. Edit a Room and then you can see the devices to move, press and hold to slide up or down.

Under Home, it’s under menu-reorder to reorder the rooms.
In a room, goto edit and you can drag them around.

The only thing that looks like it cannot be rearranged is the thing page

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Thanks. I did see that but I hate the device list in alphabetical order. Pretty much useless with 50 devices when I need just a handful at the top of the list. I had it setup with the flow of my house so it was easy to get to what I needed most. Now with rooms I have extra steps added when doing things. Hopefully they can make the device list editable again in the future.

The new way might work but I have to retrain my way of doing things. We will see.

At the moment there isn’t.

Consider renaming them. I have a half dozen switches I never activate from SmartThings, so I have named them something like “Zwitch Kitchen”

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That might be an option but “A Front door Lock”, “A Back Door Lock” , “B Front steps light” and so on to get things back in the order we are used to may not get the better halves approval. :smile:

Maybe try a leading space or period (.).

That may just work until they implement device sorting. :wink:

You can reorder rooms, but not the things view.

However, since it is alpha sort, use this to your advantage. Sucks, but at least we don’t have to shake it to find out the names…

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Not very happy with the app. The icons are so small they are not identifiable and vertical scrolling is not more efficient than a grid view. Especially when you can not re-order the Things or Individual rooms. All we really want is a way to view and control all our items. You can take some cues from SmartTiles (See attached). .


I also can’t get some of my switches to show they are off. They will turn on and off from the app but they always go back to showing they are on. Could be the issues you are having with the app update and the server but I can’t trust the app. The Hallway, Bathroom, Kitchen Table and Sink are all off even thought they transmit as on. Ticket already submitted. Unfortunately, I am forced to re-install the old APK until you have sorted out these major GUI issues.

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How long will the old app continue to work? I may move to the new app fairly soon but the GF will probably balk at it due to the permissions. Also will her app still work if I migrate and make rooms and such and she doesn’t migrate? All she uses the app for is changing modes when she goes to bed or gets up if it is at a different time than me.

My holding point is not wanting to have to reconfigure my house. I only have smart alarm, smart tiles and the ecobee app from community members and don’t want to deal with my minor automation getting hosed up. I can’t imagine dealing with what some of the other folks here have to deal with.

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I can’t get “publish to myself” device handlers to show up. I’m looking in Marketplace -> SmartApps -> MyApps , but no show. Am I looking in the wrong place?

The device handlers won’t show up, even in the old app. Depending on the device, you’ll either need to let it search for a new device, or add it via the IDE

If it’s zigbee or zwave it should detect. If it’s network or something else, you’ll have to add in IDE

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Some suggestions. If you are keeping the scrolling lists please make them more compact.

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