So between Nest, Sonos music system and all of the connected Smartthings devices, my home has started to become more automated and requires a lot of cell phone use to get everything the way we want. In order to help alleviate the constant need for a cell phone or in case anyone else in the house would like to control our devices, I have been looking for a solution that could be placed in the wall, such as a tablet. Most controls are expensive and tablets are overpriced, poor quality for cheaper ones or too big. Yesterday on indiegogo, I came across a solution that costs about the same as a z-wave wall switch. The product is called bRight Switch. bRight Switch is a color, touch-screen wall switch that provides simple touch selections for immediate use of lights, security, intercom, Pandora® and Skype®. It is based off android and will have an open API, so you can add most android applications to the screen as shortcuts to help in the automation. Some features: wallpaper can be changed, on/off or dimming, camera and mic (skype calls or security), z-wave, WiFi, bluetooth (depending on version), and more. Overall price is $65 for the non-bluetooth version and $80 for the bluetooth version. There is also the potential to earn free switches.
Features:
Learning mode: Learns from your usage patterns over time and automatically turns on your lights based on your living patterns, saving you time and energy.
Dimmer: Use the kind of bulb you want. Selectable for incandescent, CFL, LED bulbs.
Wake up alarm, vacation and on-time timers: No more searching for that vacation timer for the lamp or trying to remember if you turned off the bathroom fan.
Proximity detection/motion sensing: Can turn off your lights when you leave the room, or when no one is using it—great for safety and saving energy.
Temperature: F or C display.
Nightlight/daylight: Dims/brightens screen automatically
Other features: Clock/date display, room name/message display.
Encrypted
Arm One or All: Selectable between arming one unit or all units.
Video: Live or recorded video.
Video Transmit: From switch to switch. (Wi-Fi Required).
Proximity/motion Record: Records video of the room when alarm is set.
Sends Message and Image to Phone: When alarm is triggered.
Video Block: Camera Cover blocks/un-blocks video and images.
WiFi Camera: Accepts WiFi camera video for baby’s room, front porch, or?
Zone Arming: Future feature-coming.
Sends video to phone: Future feature-coming.
I am excited to see how well this play in my setup, but I would also love to see smartthings work with this device as well, imagine the possibilities - if the door opens during work hours start recording video, if motion is detected skype user/police, when presence is detected turn on devices and prepare something…possibilites are endless.
@Darryl That’s what happens when it starts getting late and you are only running on a couple of sleep each night (newborn) - you tend to copy/paste things from the source directly into the post. I personally could care less if anyone purchases the item or not, since I am not affiliated with the company. However, I thought it was an interesting idea, that could be a great alternative for people setting up home automation - even the entry level people. Like Col. Hack above, I searched online and ebay for 7" tablets, but there were several things that I still disliked: quality of tablet, buttons on the sides, price for a cheaper version hardware, hole in the drywall and even running the power to the device. I understand it is not that hard to get setup and the screen/hardware may be better, but it is roughly the same price and a convenience. For users who do not want to attempt setting up a tablet or a hole/stand inside, this is as simple as a light switch and still offers the touchscreen display. Technically, I have a 7" tablet at home that I thought about using, but it didn’t seem practical for this project.
I know you mentioned that you didn’t like it, but I haven’t fully decided on what to expect. I am very excited of the capabilities, providing it offers what it says it will, but I am not sure if this is the exact or best solution. To me, it is almost worth the convenience of just replacing a switch and having the capabilities I need. Again, this is only for the people at my house, I still prefer the cell phone above this. I also really like the idea of this being an open API or Android-based…I have modded most electronics in my house, including my phone and tablet. If I really don’t like the way this works, I would be happy to try an unlock the device and install a new Android OS. This way I can just display the apps that I need, with all of the “drivers” necessary to make the hardware work. Maybe the post was a little gimicky due to copying/pasting, but there are some people out there that need/want easy methods of doing things or making their systems work. I do agree though, there are parts like the wallpaper that I don’t like.
In addition, going over the list of features that they hope to include in this switch, it would be awesome if they could work with smartthings directly. Smartthings could capitalize on the camera for motion or security, mic/camera for recording events, intercom/speaker as an alternative to the z-wave siren, skype feature to call someone/emergency personnel instead of a simple SMS or email, launch other applications in general and even the ability to control them (instead of lights waking you up, use the sonos system to play music), and more.
@KyleDees : Fair enough! haha, It just read like a big ad.
I have a few tablets, all cheap Android tablets (and a PengPod). My hope is that SmartThings will support higher resolution, making a few of my spare tablets usable for being controllers. Would make me very happy. Even the sub 100$ models have a decent touch screen. So I think it would be perfect.