Is this to say that some of them are simply not possible with the current hardware?
e.g. true local processing, Bluetooth, UDP etc?
Or local execution of custom smartapps and devicetypes? Or hub migration? or cell backup? I could go on and on. But there already are tons of threads of the v2 promises⊠The v2 hardware is fully capable of all of this, its really choices by management to over promise and never deliver.
It is what it is⊠But I do appreciate the attempt at honestyâŠ
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I hope they do manage to sort out the bugs. Iâm not brand loyal to anything. If ST manages to get things working and offers a compelling reason for me to switch back, Iâll switch back. That said, the Wink 2 Iâve moved to has a much nicer interface and is so far rock solid. The local processing is great. If ST can bring its advanced feature set to a more reliable user experience it could once again be an option for me. For now, my system has no need for third party device handlers or rules engines. If I outgrow what Wink can offer Iâll reassess the market and buy the best available option at that time.
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I respect that. However, in the past SmartThings have hired a few people from the Community, who were supposed to be âpersonally vestedâ, but it barely moved the needle. Unfortunately, in most tech companies engineers are too far removed from the decision making precess to make a real impact.
I appreciate the sentiment, and wish you every success, but it just canât be a good idea to suggest that people having issues with stability should join a beta program. Betas are by definition both unstable and likely to change. (Plus the separate issue of customer frustration because itâs not an open beta so not everyone who signs up will actually participate.)
I realize my lens is different than many people is because I donât have the same Plan B. I use a wheelchair and have limited hand function. If the lights donât come on when theyâre supposed to, I canât just flip a switch as an alternative. I canât pop the batteries on a sensor by myself. So a âminor glitchâ for someone else might leave me in the dark. 
I admire the never ending optimism of SmartThings staff, and I appreciate the long-term vision. And I do wish you every success. But at some point the staff has to internalize the concept of MFOP (maintenance free operating period) and understand that from a consumerâs point of view, âreliableâ means âset and forgetâ â â a system that doesnât have to be touched for up to six months at a time. That canât be signing up for a beta program, the two concepts are in conflict.
Submitted with respect.
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For very different reasons I canât be gambling either.
I like what ST is capable of and I love the flexibility it offers. Iâm a technologist as well as a hobbyist and I thrive on what it brings to day to day life.
However, the acceptance factor of the family has diminished based on reliability. Another issue or the requirement to reset a substantial number of devices or something as simple as a light not coming one may well be the straw that I donât want to see anywhere near the camels back! Stability is key and gambling with a beta programme doesnât go hand in hand with that, not in my mind anyway!
I hope 17.x brings everything youâre promising I genuinely do. Good luck! @nastevens do you have any provisional date pencilled in for general release?
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I did. What can it get worse??? With all the whining and complaining I see on here for a $99 hub and no other fee I feel everyone thinks they bought a thousand dollar system and feels entitled. But then again that is what this and some other generations are becoming. I think we as a society are becoming it and I for one hope it reverses. There are more stable products out there for more and less versatility. If you want that move on. But stop bashing what has to be a money bleeder for Samsung and be happy they are still investing in it!!! Because frankly after $99 you donât have to spend another dime to them as everything pretty much works on it due to their openness and the great developers in the community.
EDIT: That was not directed just at you JD. I hit the reply to your post by mistake. Just a general IMO post!
Absolutely right - normally, I would not suggest a beta for improving stability. The only reason Iâm suggesting it in this case is because of the specific content of this particular beta. The 17.x release is almost entirely about stability improvements. The one headline feature is factory reset, which is, in itself, a last-ditch reliability effort.
I appreciate that for users where things are working or where ST is an essential quality of life tool, beta is not the best option. But the people with stability issues are exactly the people we want to be testing on to make sure weâve actually improved.
Only that we will go from beta to general release quickly unless there are unexpected problems in the beta. We have already had a long soak in our internal testing group with good results.
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Beta testers are essential to overall users. Without them to report issues in the real world it may never get better. I beta Android and when an issue arises I submit it to them. And I and others may have helped others never experience that particular issue.
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If I buy a $99 weedwhacker and it only works 50% of the time, am I an entitled brat if I complain? Really? If ST is bleeding out their rear end on these things and thatâs why the platform isnât stable, they need to raise their pricing. If they canât bring a stable product to market at a competitive price point, perhaps this isnât in their wheelhouse.
ST marketed and sold this product. Nobody bent them over a barrel and said âYouâre gonna sell me a wonder gadget at a loss or else.â
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No I wouldnât complain because when they first came out they did work like that. I talk with my wallet but in this case what is better really??? Nothing. Iris charges and has issues. Wink 2 isnt that great so unless your going for non plug and play and expensive equipment no. If I bought a 99 dollars chainsaw to do work with and not a 349 Husqvarna or something similar that was on me. You get what you pay for.
One other thing I am not seeing great instability. It could be your ISP for all you know. I forgot I left it armed stay and as soon as I opened a window early this morning it went off instantly. I say that is good. Also rebooting the hub at least every other week helps greatly is no different the a computer or phone they need that to clear out things.
I would have to respectfully disagree with this statement.
You can go into pretty much any drugstore in United States and buy a $15 smoke alarm which will be extremely reliable. Mostly because no one would buy one that wasnât. But the difference between the $15 smoke alarm that you pick up at Walgreens and the six times more expensive Nest Protect isnât reliability. The nest has an expanded feature set, but not improved reliability.
You can pay for more and get more features, but that doesnât mean a basic device at a basic price is unreliable. Those are two separate issues.
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Letâs be real here. Internet connection as far as Smart things is concerned
is entirely variable. The entire platform is online which is both
incredibly good and incredibly bad. It means if your hub dies, you still
keep your information (well, that was the plan, but not really since if
your hub dies then your âlocationâ dies and you have to redo EVERYTHING),
but the problem with this is itâs not a one size fits all. If my internet
is awesome and yours is horrible, youâll have a worse experience, and it
doesnât matter what you do about it, youâre not going to fix it. And by the
way, good luck getting a refund. Because the entire platform is online,
itâs incredibly difficult to actually solve and fix connectivity problems,
and low and behold if the platform has a problem, then everyoneâs out, not
just one guy.
Iâm sorry, I just feel like the platform being online was a horrible idea
to begin with. Itâs been shown that itâs a horrible idea, so why are we
still doing it? Furthermore, a lot of the issues users have complained
about never get fixed, or if they do, itâs like two years down the road
when everyone stopped giving a crap about it. When they come out with new
things theyâd like to introduce, they do so to build customer excitement
and donât deliver in a timely manner or never at all.
As for, âOh everyone stop complaining about a $100 toy you bought and get
over it, itâs not like itâs $1,000â, Iâll have you know that peopleâs time
is valuable. Maybe itâs not valuable to you, but itâs valuable to us. I for
one get paid VERY well for my skills, and if I calaculated how much time
Iâve spent trying to get this POS to work the way itâs SUPPOSED to work,
Iâd of already spent thousands upon thousands of dollars for it.
However, I will say that right now Iâm not experiencing too many problems.
Things are running smoothly. But this is after I had to completely redo my
entire setup, change all of my automations, and rescript hundreds of
connections through the various apps I have connected to smart things.
Another thingâŠwhy the heck do we have batteries on these hubs âin case
the electricity goes outââŠseriously? If my electricity goes out, guess
what else goes out? My INTERNET, which this brick of a hub REQUIRES for it
to even begin to function. Oh, and what about the bluetooth? Itâs been
promised for years now, still nothing, not a thing.
My original gripes I had with this company still stand, and havenât been
fixed or remedied. Iâve just had to deal with it.
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I often talked about how it was more than just $100, how it was wrong that ST broke a lot of promises, and how they basically do false advertising making people feel safer than they actually are.
The result of all this was being shamed into silence.
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This is marketed as a consumer ready plug and play home automation solution. Nowhere on the box does it say âMay or may not work. Third party support from an online user forum required.â or âHey, itâs a cheap piece of junk. Donât expect much.â
I moved to a Wink2 hub. Itâs the same price and itâs doing what I need done. Itâs only a matter of time before Google or Amazon put device radios in their automated home products. ST, Wink, Vera, Zipato, etc. will have a very hard time staying in the market if they arenât prepared to compete with that. Consumers wonât adopt ST if it remains a mess of developer based workarounds and dodgy cloud architecture - they will be crushed the moment Google or Amazon offer a âtell me what you want doneâ home automation product, and itâs coming.
How long have they been around and how complicated are smoke detectors? They do one thing and one thing only. ST does thousands if you want it to! Its like comparing the old tecom cable box with a TIVO.
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yeah and 4g was really 4g when ATT and tmobile marketed that. Hell 4G still isnât 4g by the real standards and they are already talking about rolling out 5 G when there are no standards. Everyoneâs marketing is BS do your own research and buy off that not what a company is trying to tell you so they can sell you something.
How does it not? My house is automated just fine. And its a mix of all different brands. I ask google to do something and it happens. If its a little slow its because of the internet delay. Do research!!! Then buy. I did read on every platform before buying ST and is it perfect no but none are and the others were the farthest. I am mostly happy. Just like when computers first came out and I paid $3000 for it. It mostly worked and I was happy. Fast forward 20 some years and now it still mostly works. But no one complains about that. I guess after so many years they just accept it.