I saw this on The Verge this morning. It’s only a seven day battery, but would probably do presence so much better. I wonder what kind of price + monthly for the cell data we’d be looking at.
2 Likes
People already complain about having to change the batteries in the ST arrival sensor every couple months…
1 Like
it’s rechargeable, so i’d imagine you just plug it in via micro usb or something. I suppose it’s always good to have another presence option for SmartThings.
1 Like
Understood, but recharging the battery could be an inconvenience for the user too.
1 Like
When it comes to recharging possibly being an inconvenience let me put it this way - with the money I’ve spent on lithium batteries every couple months it’s well worth any trade off being made. There’s no way I’m not replacing my Arrival Sensors when this goes on sale, Anyone know when that will happen?
How many batteries do you buy at a time?
I bought a 15 pack of cr2032 batteries 11 months ago on amazon for about 6 or 7 bucks, I still have one or two left. Sure I wish they lasted longer than like 4-6 weeks each, but I’m satisfied with the cost.
I’d really like to drop one of these in my kid’s backpack. It would just be one of the weekend tasks to pull it out and charge it.
1 Like
I hadn’t heard of “NB-IoT, Cat.M1” … so does this thing require a cellular data plan? It is not just a presence sensor that tells SmartThings when it arrives; it is more like a full fledged cellular GPS tracking device from what I understand after reading for 5 minutes.
I’m assuming that this will need a cell data plan for when it’s away from WiFi. That’s the real question, is what network type it would work on in the US, and at what cost.
1 Like
There are “whistle 3” GPS pet trackers for $60, + $7 monthly fee, 7 day battery…
http://a.co/3yPFwT6
I wonder if there is a way to receive email in SmartThings, IFTTT? Already been discussed here…
I bet it will be US only!
But perfect for cars. Permanent power. job done.
I believe the article said its actually coming to South Korea first.
1 Like
Random! but maybe it will.
Could work well if easy to dock some how to charge it.
“For example, the tag can trigger lights to turn on when a user enters the room”
Room specific triggers? It’s like the holy grail of HA, haha. Just marketing blurb I suppose but would be cool.
1 Like
Surely for accurate room triggering you would need beacons around the house.
I have seen this setup with Bluetooth but not any other tech.
1 Like
This device has Bluetooth as well, so that might be what it’s using indoors, it’s hard to tell at this point.
As you point out, for microlocation you would probably need beacons or receiving stations in each room. In this particular case, I think the tag itself would function like a Beacon. So it would work in a similar way to the wearable beacons that are available now.
For example, the radius networks radbeacon is used at some conferences for micro location.
But again there’s a receiving station device in each zone. Maybe they intend Samsung smart appliances to act as receiving stations? That would actually be pretty cool.
One disappointing note:
The tag currently only works with Android devices
1 Like
I have had a play with beacons before in a commercial capacity. they are quite accurate. It it did work like that it would be very cool.
1 Like
Damn I didn’t even notice that line in the article about these only supporting Android. I was excited about getting these thinking of ways to use them and looking forward to no longer having to change batteries out! This sucks, but I’ll never leave iOS.
1 Like
These are insanely cool!!! They work insanely well too! Our BD guys are already looking into getting them into the ST family too!
2 Likes
Are they being used for micro location inside the building to tell one room from another? Or just for Geopresence?
1 Like