Just preordered Ubi-02. It will be my first speaker connected device. I almost bought a Sonos, but we donāt listen to music often at home. I really am looking for home automation, 2 way speaking of commands and status reports, so hopeful this is going to be it. For almost $300 I sure hope so. I also requested a $99 Echo too, but Iāll be waiting a while I suspect. Anyone know much about the Ubi-02?
I have two original pre-sales Kickstarter Ubiās! Do two Ubi-1ās add up to one Ubi-2?
What are the new features? Faster hardware?
Iām also waiting for my Amazon Echo (Mayā¦).
ā¦CP / Terry.
I have both UBI and Echo.
If echo can be integrated with IFFT or ST it will much better device.
The voice quality of echo is great and it recognizes voices very wellā¦
You donāt need to say OK Alexa and then wait , just say Alexa, what time is itā¦and it goes on.
I would not spend $300 on UBI the voice quality sucks, thought it is the only device on market to control home automation with voice.
Did you get an invite to pre-order? I have not seen anything about an Ubi 2.
Iām on the list, but donāt have it yet. Iām hoping to get one soon. It looks amazing and if ST or ZWave can be integrated it would be an amazing addition to the ST family.
Ok. I figured it out. Ubi-02 is just the revision. You can get one today if you want to, there is no wait list for that. The Smartthings integration is there but the voice recognition needs a lot of work. The white version is on back order. You can get the black one today.
Iām sorry, I got 2 threads mixed up. Iām waiting on the Echo. It looks pretty cool and is so much cheaper.
I have both of them. Amazon echo is nice for what it does, its voice recognition works really well even in noisy environments. At this time there is no offical API or support for any sort of home automation. Maybe one day, but I would not purchase one with the intention of using it for that.
The reviews for Ubi are few, but positive on Amazon. Iām torn. Itās so expensive. And then there is Sonos.
I have an Ubi and an Echo. Ubi is unusable garbage. The voice recognition is awful, the speaker is pure tin, and itās just craptacular.
Thank you. That seems to be the consensus on Ubi. I guess Iāll wait for Echo, but that leaves a gap in communicating with ST. I need to be patient and wait I suppose, but thatās no fun. Maybe Iāll buy a Sonos 1 as well.
Sonos is just a speaker. A very expensive speaker.
It does work with ST if I read correctly so I could use it as an audible alarm and to tell me about the conditions of the various sensors. Not really too useful though if I canāt talk to it. . Iām not a huge music guy, but it still is nice to have a good speaker for those occasions. I wish there was a better option. Someone could be getting rich if they could plug this gap. Echo seems to be close, but misses the ZWave piece.
I appreciate the input from everyone. Youāve helped me decide. Iāll get the Echo now at $99 assuming they pick me, and then wait patiently for the next product to fill the void.
If you need only speaker integrated with Smartthings like sonos, you can try RELEASE Generic Media Renderer (DLNA Speakers). Cheap Sonos Alternative (Update V2)
If you already have an ios8 device with Siri and unlimited texting you can have voice control for free using @Will_Poirier 's IFTTT method.
Iām quadriparetic with limited hand function so totally handsfree was important to me. Iām using this method and while itās a little stilted, it works very well.
I recently added a virtual switch created with @baldeagle072 's custom app and now I can even use Siri to initiate a Mode change.
Also, some of the community members have something similar working with android, tasker, and custom code. @joshua_lyon has one called SharpTools .
āHey, Siriā utilizes a phone, but I donāt have to pick it up, I can be several feet away.
Iām going to add an inexpensive bluetooth mic and see if I can get whole room coverage.
I also have an Echo on order so if somebody comes up with a good interface, I may switch in the future. But for now, this is very cool.
Thank you so much. Thatās awesome. Iām going to try it out!