ST system just works, Gizmodo calls us passionate!

General Discussion
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In a buying guide, Gizmodo calls us ‘passionate’

I’ve followed SmartThings ever since they were an ambitious Kickstarter. Now, they’re owned by one of the biggest technology companies in the world, and for good reason. They make the idea of a “smart home” less scary with a suite of gizmos that just work. The starter set comes with a hub along with two all-purpose sensors, a motion sensor, and a smart outlet, but the system also plays well with a variety of third-party gadgets as well. The coolest advantage of SmartThings is a passionate DIY community, constantly exploring new ways to use the smart home system.

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I feel the passion… Do you feel the passion? ? ? ? Oh yeah baby… Feel the passion!

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Waiting for Terry to speak his mind. Media is his favorite subject. Isn’t it @tgauchat?

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“…a suite of gizmos that just work”

…sometimes.

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^

  • Walks away slowly *
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“SmartThings just works” is the last thing I would ever say about this company. “SmartThings occasionally works” would be more accurate.

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Actually, it always works… Just in mysterious ways…

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They did get the “passion” of some users of the community right. :wink:

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well I have been a fan, an advocate and influenced many buyers for ST. BUT now look at what garbage they are using to confuse users and potential buyers. Each ST device now says that it requires the ST hub. JUST TO CONFUSE THE CUSTOMERS AND VERY MUCH LIKE SAMSUNG----NOT THE OLD ST. This is like IRIS which loses far more sales for Lowes than they can possibly measure for their otherwise good device. And Apple and many others. Cut it Out! The consumer does not need this type of bullying. tell the truth and make them interoperable…

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Not sure I have a favorite subject to complain about :smiling_imp:!

Looks like various posts in this Topic already have the right gist… i.e., Super nice and accurate that the acknowledge the Community, and, the WTF general inaccuracy of the idiotic lazy journalist cliche statement “a suite of gizmos that just work”.

Worth noting: Gawker has included their Amazon purchase button which is an affiliate link. This means a barely disclosed (light grey text) conflict of interest here. Gawker is incentivized to give the product(s) only positive recommendations, since they profit from every sale made through the links. Rather unprofessional mix of editorial and advertising. Shame on you, Gawker!

Of course, the article is hardly an in-depth / critical review of any of the products… heck, let’s just call it what it is … space filler + advertisement. Nothing to see here folks, move along.

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Hi Jon …
I’m not sure what you mean by your statement… What did SmartThings / Samsung say that you believe is “confusing the customers”?

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below is a copy from the noted shop site. It says “Requires a SmartThings Hub”. This is a Zigbee device. the other items are similar.

Requirements

Requires a SmartThings Hub

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I’m not sure what you think is confusing the consumer about this…? I’m still not clear on your point, sorry? :confused:

While SmartThings’s ZigBee devices may work with non-SmartThings Hubs, but surely anyone shopping on the SmartThings website doesn’t expect to buy things to work with non-SmartThings systems.

PEQ’s devices (also made by Centralite) say “requires hub and $10/month service fee” or similar, but they also have the “Open Home” (or something) logo.

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Removing that note would be even more confusing for consumers. I can see people buying a sensor and asking support why don’t they get notifications on their phone when the doors open.

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OpenHome is operated by iControl I believe.

I think that’s the point. This space is new enough that we can’t assume users understand they need a hub.

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This is the passion that guy was talking about!

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Oh my… Wait… Are you suggesting that this is the only time Gawker Media or any other tech publisher uses affiliate links or in kind advertising?

Even if Gizmodo hates a product, they still provide affiliate links to the products. this is not a deliberate SmartThings only marketing partnership…

Tin foils hats only work so much…

Try insteon for a week, seriously, I’ll take ST over that mess any day. The core zigbee ST devices and the ST hub do “just work” (ok maybe not everyone’s presence sensors, but mine just work…) It is only when you try doing other 3rd party stuff where problems arise.

99% of installs of ST are probably just a starter kit. Monitor a door, turn on an outlet, check temperature… That does work, and works pretty darn good for 99% of the people.

It’s us 1% that want the platform to do more, which it does… Just not to the level we all want it to be.

Passionate posting must continue, we have a reputation now to uphold.

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You’re right (and PEQ is an iControl white-labelled brand); though I bet that majority of OpenHome certified devices are ZigBee HA compliant.

Hmmm… probably drifting off Topic, of course, … but if OpenHome has any significant visibility or reputation, then it might be nice if SmartThings could claim to be compatible with “all” OpenHome devices.

As we learned from bulk-PEQ buying this past summer, that turned out to be the case with, well, a lot of stuff.

I guess there are some competitive issues though.

http://www.openhome.io/home

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Yep… I’m definitely feeling it now…

… So, about Android 2.0.6 mobile app. An announcement was made but we can’t comment? ? ? Ruh-roh shraggy!

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Nope. But ubiquity doesn’t make it right.