BGR --> The best smart home hub of 2016

Just saw this review …

Someone didn’t do their homework:

Oh wait…there was a disclaimer I missed:

I’m sure, if you’ve never actually used ST, it would be quite difficult.

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Sigh. :confounded:

The hub offers it (bluetooth) but not the software.

The radio isn’t turned on. Yes, they could presumably turn it on with software, but the hub does not transmit or receive Bluetooth at the present time.

Don’t get me wrong here. I’ve learned a lot and overall have enjoyed my ST experience. I also knew going in that there was going to be a steep learning curve co-mingled with banging my head on the tabletop.

However as a new consumer, one who relies on truthful and accurate reviews, articles like this irritate me to no end. Having said that, I will credit them for mentioning the pitfalls of ST.

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Anybody have any idea on why the Bluetooth still hasn’t been turned on? Do they not have the software to handle what to do with Bluetooth devices, once they can connect to them?
Sure would be nice if they could get this fixed.

I have a feeling this was a selling point and never actually a part of the overall product plan. They had to stand out and that helped.

My personal guess is that it’s harder than they thought to have Bluetooth right next to Zigbee.

The original wink is in the same situation – – there is a Bluetooth radio, and in their case it’s turned on, but it’s only used during initial set up. You can’t connect any Bluetooth devices to it.

And Lowe’s iris is just like SmartThings: there’s a Bluetooth antenna in it, but it’s not enabled. In their case, they did say officially that they intended to enable it after the Bluetooth mesh standard is finalized.

The new Wink 2 is supposed to have a Bluetooth Radio, no word on whether it will work just like the one in wink one, or whether you’ll actually be able to connect a Bluetooth device to it.

So I’m thinking one of two things. Either the home automation hub companies thought the Bluetooth mesh standard would be finalized at the end of 2015, and that’s the Bluetooth they intended to enable. Or there’s just too much interference between Bluetooth and zigbee when they’re in the same box.

I agree it’s a disappointment that smartthings doesn’t have Bluetooth enabled yet, but it doesn’t seem to be something exclusive to them.

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Per the product page

The Hub is also future-ready to support Bluetooth.

My guess is that if bluetooth light switches and the like take off they would prioritize it. Right now its been a low priority.

I would like to see low power bluetooth presence at some point. Would use less battery on mobile than gps and should provide more reliabe sensing.

I suspect that you’re probably right about the signal interference. I can think of a couple very convenient scenarios off the top of my head:
Bluetooth speakers - we’ve all got em and it would be nice if they could somehow be repurposed.
Candelabra lights - there are no z-wave/zigbee ones that I"m aware of. Home Depot has a decent BT one.
Colored light bulbs - $10.99 beats the hell out of $60 Hue bulbs
Fingers crossed

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I suspect bluetooth was turned on and just broke. How easy would it be to just ignore it and never mention it again?

But why continue to include it in the hub? Obviously this would cost Samsung and/or the consumer more money for something that is function-less.

It costs $$$ to redesign update suppliers, test, … Why risk breaking something else for a part that costs less than a dollar.

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