Could we please have a sticky in the UK forum with a roadmap/ intro specifically for UK users?
Had Smartthings a month, product great and support responsive but think the UK specific forum is missing specific guidance on the differences and direction the UK product is taking.
Fibaro Motion sensors as example- bought many as they’re on Smarthings UK compatible list to find they don’t work (partly Fibaro’s fault as they’ve upgraded firmware.)
I read around a thousand related forum posts, trying various fixes to eventually find a thread where US Smartthings now have an Alpha fix supported by current US hub firmware- but not UK firmware.
UK support now tell me there’s no plans for this and, leading to the request for roadmap support advise:- “Once SmartThings is adopted in the UK you should see the compatible devices starting to diverge with our American counterparts.”
This really increases my integration time as:-
device handlers from Smarthings US may not work
I’ve wasted days browsing US community finding related solutions that won’t work in UK
I have to manually update my Smartapps as Github integration isn’t in place
I’ve not seen any strategy on planned divergence from US product
There’s only one sticky in the UK community group about UK product intro.
Can we please have a sticky which outlines the development roadmap for the UK market, some thought/ guidance on how the UK community group fits with the overall community groups, etc (ie “start here”). It should make very clear that the US ad UK products are not the same.
Interesting.
The fibaro Motion sensor is an officially supported product in the UK. My correspondence with support has only indicated that they need time to fix and no indication that they will not support. If this is so then I would need to be compensated on my purchases as they were bought on the basis that they were supported.
I don’t have a hard timeline at the moment, but a fix is being worked on (and certified) for the Fibaro sensors. I believe (although also cannot confirm… I know, ppl regularly tell me that I’m useless) that the first significant product divergence you will see for the UK is the Honeywell Evohome thermostat, which is not available in the US. As you discovered, there are a few bugs to quash before it goes live (hoooooray for beta tests!).
One of the biggest challenges of the UK market is just how nascent it is… we are working on a lot of foundation work. You should start to see the catalog expand soon, and hopefully snowball as we hit stride.
@Aaron he does have a point though, the EU servers are not kept in sync with the US servers for features/developments. For example all the new device capabilities that were announced as being available were not available on the EU servers but there is no mention anywhere that this is the case. This disparity is frustrating for sure
As I keep banging on in various other threads…as long as Curry’s remains the only UK retailer (Samsung shop aside) it will remain nascent - Curry’s are not well placed to promote ST because they are clueless. So with low UK ownership, comes low(er) UK demand for support, and therefore, inevitably, lower UK support!
Completely agree that it needs to be available in more places…
Curry’s don’t seem to like holding more than a couple of items in stock around my area and it was very annoying when it was on offer.
Saying that, once you get past your first initial setup, and first few devices to get used to it, I think a lot of people start to venture outside of ST add ons for other items which can be far cheaper and offer slightly more.
That is very interesting that they are on “pre-order”…completely agree with everyone that they need more competition specifically for ST Things within the UK. Be interesting to see if ST provide an official update on the exclusivity. So annoying the price difference between the UK and US devices. However saying that, one of the reasons I was drawn to ST was the amazing community support which is out there. I’m very new to the ST world and I cannot believe the “LEGENDS” out there and their willingness to help with various devices.
I agree with @SplanK that generally people will move to other sensors once they are established. ST Things are nice but there are some excellent devices coming onto the market all the time. The ST community make it possible to “keep up”.
I hope ST start to get some real agents, was in Curry’s at the weekend to pickup another sensor, just like previous trips the staff said they didn’t know anything about the product and gave some education. Makes you wonder what the Know-how installs achieve. Given they don’t have any control options except outlets not very much I’d imagine!
Just counted over 60 things and 53 IP addresses in house so far… wonder if Curry’s can support that!
I was in the Sunderland store buying a Hue bulb for the system and another sensor and the staff started asking me questions. They had just been on the training course and wanted some real user info. Walked them around what I was doing with the system and they were impressed.
When I used to work at Comet back in 2003/4, training was minimal and unless you had direct experience with a product it was difficult to offer exact advise, most of the time I winged it.
It will be the same with ST, unless the sales person has one, they can only really go of what they read. Just having a 5/10 minute fumble with a ST (goes for any kit really) setup isn’t enough to truly understand its potential, or even limitations.
The other issue is, whilst ST and other HA kit are good and powerful, it requires a certain type of person to fully expose the potential of them (such as custom programming), although ‘works out of the box’ experience is getting better. The pre built apps are great, but there is nothing better than making your own to exactly how you want it. Probably 90% of people who shop at Curry’s wont be able to fully understand or get their head around it. Great distribution platform if they kept stock at decent levels, but not really the right type of store. Maplin’s would probably be better, they have been great for me with wemo bulbs and I noticed they have a good stock of a decent range of the LWRF kit!