I’ve done a little bit of work on @zpriddy’s device types tonight. My changes may not suit everyone, but here’s a quick rundown of what I’ve done so far:
Update the tiles to the ‘new’ style
Enforce a minimum of 1% when calling setLevel(...)
Do not change the switch state to on when setLevel(...) is called.
Reduce default transition times.
I’ve found these changes make using the bulbs/groups from the app much more enjoyable, but it is obviously a bit out of the norm from how these devices normally work in SmartThings. As an example, you could now change the brightness of a bulb/group in the background and the next time it is powered on by any means it will come on at the desired brightness. I use this as a way for me to simplify my automation by not needing to configure a dimmer level with my triggers.
I do have some some plans to continue improving the device types. In particular, I’d like to make the default transition time dynamic so that it’s effectively zero when the level is 1% and is several seconds when the level is 100%. This would maintain the nice smooth transitions while avoiding the ‘delay’ that is seen when turning off lights that are dimmed to 1%.