OMG!! I am so tired of this app

[DennisC]

Hi DennisC,

We are in negotiations. I will all you posted.

With kind regards,

Michel

Thank you, Michel. You're attention to concerns and details in everything you do is very much appreciated.

 

Dennis

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Dennis,

 

My pleasure. I cannot guarantee that we'll have everything immediately but at least we get started.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Guitartexan01]

Yet another example of Michel Kohanims' professionalism and dedication to customers.

Kudos Michel.

 

 

GT

[giesen]

Michel,

 

Maybe partner up with the developer of M1Touch? DroidSoft seems like a competent Android developer, and if something could be worked out it could be good for UDI, DroidSoft, and the market will start to get an app that can compete with eKeypad

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi giesen,

 

Thanks so very much for the feedback. Starting off with a brand new developer who does not know anything about ISY makes things take a lot longer. We are in discussions with one of the developers who has already developed an app for ISY. 

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[DennisC]

Great to hear!

 

If there is anything I can help with, please let me know.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi DennisC,

 

I sure will. Thanks so very much.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[rlanza1054]

Oh God. Being a newbie to ISY, I, just finished reading almost every single in this thread. And its now 1:40am. Trouble sleeping.

 

I recently signed up for a years worth of Mobilinc.

 

I did that being well aware that there was no support any longer (I guess I should say no interest).

 

I believe the reason the Android side flopped to put it nicely, was like Apple people, we like polished apps as well.

 

Android users are wiser about where they are going to put there money into.

 

As its been clearly stated because its Apple you can demand a higher cost.

 

I'm not sure if Google take a full 30% of the revenue. I did not see that part mentioned.

 

And you can aways make two versions. Ad supported and the paid Ad, free version.

 

Most people like to try out an app and if they like it and it restricts complete usage, they will pay for the full featured version.

 

I personally tend to support developers.

 

And sometimes Google will help in the cost of development just to get an Apple app over on the Android side.

 

And they do help developers with, coding.

 

I'm not sure, because I haven't seen it mentioned but has anyone, contacted Google about this issue.

 

You do know that Google just released their own router for Home use?

 

Did you read the reviews of this device. They calm its so over powered that Google has future plans for this device and it most likely will be in the Home Automation area. Read the specs.

 

It has radios on this thing that are not usually found on wireless routers.

 

Maybe UDI should contact Google and see if they are interested in teaming up with ISY?

 

And I just read today; and its been stated over and over again, that Logitech will NEVER support Insteon, but now a Harmony Home Hub is available for $99, that interfaces with Insteon (not sure if its the Insteon Hub or Insteon devices.

 

What I have to laugh at, is that the Harmony users (like myself) have begged Logitech to provide support for Insteon.

 

They said it would NEVER happen

 

Smarthome and Insteon said it would NEVER happen.

 

It happened and everyone is jumping in on the Home Automation market, that will be exploding.

 

And if ISY doesn't figure out the Android side of things, some other company and product will come and take away their share of the market.

 

Your right, the Insteon HUB isn't full featured.

 

But how long do you think it will take for Insteon to improve their products and partnerships that they will no longer be, throwing customers to UDI, as they did to me.

 

I did not know about UDI until a sales rep told me about the product. Because of what I wanted to do, continue to control Insteon via IR. I was in the process of switching to all Insteon from X-10. And because Insteon decided not to add the X-10 protocol on their newer devices, my only option was the ISY.

 

That was only a few months ago.

 

Today, do you really think that sales person is going to recommend ISY for IR support.

 

He's going to recommend the Logitech Harmony Home Hub for $99 and not the ISY which cost me $350 (ok, I purchased the Pro version).

 

I think the issue with the Android side of things, was marketing.

 

If you don't market a product, then nobody knows it exists.

 

If Mobilinc has gotten bad reviews because of lack of development.

 

Heck, use the existing code build on it the new stuff, and rename the product so you have a fresh chance of getting better reviews hence driving up sales.

 

Mobilinc reviews presently are only complaints about the lack of development. Who on earth is going to spend a nickel reading that stuff.

 

Develop it and relaunch under new name!

 

Rob

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

[MrMxyzptlk]

Yup. Can't stand Apple products, but companies constantly treat Android users like second class citizens, even though we command a larger market share.

[rlanza1054]

Yup. Can't stand Apple products, but companies constantly treat Android users like second class citizens, even though we command a larger market share.

 

Thank you!

 

Just discovered some fantastic news today!

 

I called Logitech Harmony support to find out what Harmony Hub I needed for my Ultimate One to work with the Insteon Hub 2245-222.

 

They are selling the Ultimate Home Hub for $99, but later the are cming out with a Harmony Hub Extender, no price listed yet.

 

Right now the Ultimate Home Hub support the Insteon Hub, which means it uses the Hub to use the Insteon protocol via Ethernet commincations to the Insteon Hub.

 

Later the are going to come out with a Ultimate Home Hub Extender which will contain Z-wave and ZigBee. It might replace Ultimate Home Hub and also do the Insteon communication so you won't need two Harmony Hubs, but I could not verify that part.

 

Here is the terrific part for me, it seems that my now 3 year old Logitech Harmony Ultimate Hub; which at the time cost me $375 each! I own two full systems, one for Livingroom and one in Bedroom. All it needs is a firmware upgrade and it will be able to communicate with the Insteon Hub 2245-222.

 

They did say that they do not yet support UDi's ISY994 Controller.

 

Here is how Universal Devices Inc. and its ISY994i products provides us Android users an app that is polished. There are a lot of Insteon and ISY users that have Harmony investments.

 

We have wanted a Android app that can at least do the things that the Mobilinc can do for iOS, example, Mobilinc's voice control, camera additions all those apps that are NOT available to the Android users.

 

See it ISY can make a deal with Harmony to have the ISY be supported. But if they are coming out with the Hub Extender which contains Z-wave and Zig-Bee, then they might be so willing to add ISY to the bunch. But if there software is limited, then Universal can either have them support the ISY for power users, or license the software that is the real jewel from UDI, to Logitech, then with Logitech marketing machine, UDI will bring in a ton of money from the licensing.

 

If this Logitech Harmony Hub to Insteon Hub does just a fraction of things, it might be worth, putting away my new ISY994. Remember, in my previous post, I got the ISY originally to be able to maintain IR usage. And yes, I know the ISY is much more powerful. But let's see what the Harmony has.

 

It turns out that my Bedroom Harmony was upgraded already, I just never finished upgrading the Livingroom one which is near the unplugged getting dusty Insteon Hub.

 

I'll let anyone interested know what features it actually provided. Who knows it could be a flop.

 

Rob

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello rlanza1024,

 

Thanks so very much for your feedback. I appreciate it very much.

 

Google to invest in UDI, not likely (and perhaps impossible) since ISY is autonomous and Google is anti-autonomy. Just look at their OnHub and everything else they do.

 

Harmony/UDI partnership, not likely. Just like other companies, they feel the pressure to be in HA market and thus all they need to do is to support protocols rather than intelligence. i.e. control things from your remote vs. when x then y (autonomously).

 

How long will it take for SmartHome to make something like ISY? Well, it's a good question. You are welcome to search the forum as now, they have gone through at least 7 attempts. Will they eventually be able to, of course but by then 5.0 is mature enough and with a large integrated ecosystem such that INSTEON is just a minimal part.

 

If all you need is command/control, then you are 100% correct: you can put away your unit and use Harmony Hub/INTSEON HUB/OnHUB, etc.

 

Android, I completely agree and that's a very high priority item for us.

 

Thanks again and with kind regards,

Michel

[oberkc]

My needs and desires are more aligned with the approach espoused by UDI.  I want automation.  I value some level of control via phone, but this is, generally, a backup or occasional need.  I don't care about skeumorphic, flat, material,  or polished.  I want a couple of configurable icons on the home screen that I can program as needed.  I don't want to open an app to control my house.

 

I am not jealous of the iOS app.  In fact, I prefer the greater flexibility available with current version of android mobilinc...home screen icons and integration with tasker.  I understand that there are some features missing that are important to some, but just be aware that there may not be a general consensus out there that we all want the app to be like apple. 

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi oberkc,

 

Thanks as always for your invaluable feedback.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[bipto]

My needs and desires are more aligned with the approach espoused by UDI.  I want automation.  I value some level of control via phone, but this is, generally, a backup or occasional need.  I don't care about skeumorphic, flat, material,  or polished.  I want a couple of configurable icons on the home screen that I can program as needed.  I don't want to open an app to control my house.

 

I am not jealous of the iOS app.  In fact, I prefer the greater flexibility available with current version of android mobilinc...home screen icons and integration with tasker.  I understand that there are some features missing that are important to some, but just be aware that there may not be a general consensus out there that we all want the app to be like apple. 

With all due respect, I fear you may be mischaracterizing the "general consensus"...

 

Though I cannot speak for everyone, I am by no means "jealous of the iOS app," nor do I demand or expect the iOS Mobilinc experience from my Android version.  Like you, I am only interested in a limited mobile control capability, many of the buttons and whistles in the iOS version do not interest me.

 

I would, however, very much like to see some Android features that I was promised were "next on the roadmap" by the developer prior to my purchase nearly three years ago now.

[rlanza1054]

What some people are missing is that besides the Mobilinc on the iOS side having a prettier app:

 

They offer add-ons for example: Camera support, Voice Control and a few other add-ons that are just not available on the Android side.

 

I would maybe like limited camera support and the voice control.

 

It might be nice if even the ISY had some of these add-ons.

 

I for one might would like an easy way to integrate voice control and the cameras.

 

I did purchase the Insteon HD Camera. Which is accessible and controllable from the HUB app

 

I gave up the camera integration when moving over to ISY.

 

The camera has motion detection built-in and records to NAS when someone walks in front of it. This camera also has a built-in mic and speaker (although not great but does offer an external audio/mic port.)

 

It would be nice for some lights to be turned on by the ISY when the camera's motion is tripped off.

 

That's just one example of the need for camera support by ISY.

 

Voice control (or the camera) could be an add-on module like the IR is an add-on.

 

A new version of the ISY box might be needed or a separate device connected via ethernet. (Offhand I don't remember if ISY has a USB port to add-on devices).

 

If its true that the ISY is just a CPU with radios, then you can move the ISY to these new Mini PC's which have all the external ports you would need for radios and add-ons.

 

I have one of those mini pc's which cost me $115, has one micro SD slot for memory card, two USB 3.0 ports, one micro USB port. And an HMDI port, no monitor and it can run on its built-in battery (which can be used to also charge your Smartphone). Presently, I use my TV as a monitor.

 

It comes with an Intel chip, came with Windows 8.1 soon to be upgraded to Windows 10.

 

You can optionally purchase the dual boot version that has both Windows and Android.

 

I had gotten it because, heck it was only $115, and was going to replace my desktop that died which functioned as a file server. I got a cheap NAS and will use this Mini PC to access files on NAS or HouseLinc or any other home automation software I had considered.

 

However, I purchased the ISY; again for IR supoort, but realized whatelse it had which is more important in the long run.

 

But if its true that the ISY is just a software company, CPU with radios, then you can move the ISY to one of these new Mini PC's which have all the external ports you would need for radios and add-ons.

 

Then the focus of the company would be just to put all the effort into the software end and not have to worry about hardware part of business, which might not bring in the most money.

 

I just an idea.

 

Rob

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Rob,

 

Thanks again for the feedback.

 

UDI is not a software company. Everything we do (including the operating system) is optimized for the hardware we design ourselves. And, a robust/reliable solution will not be robust if the OS decided to upgrade itself or drivers change, etc. This is one of the reasons for Life | Ware having problems keeping a stable solution (Windows updates killed and/or deprecated things for which the solution depended on).

 

The regular ISY web interface does have camera support. What you are requesting is for a camera to trigger ISY and that's pretty much up to the camera. If you have a camera that can send a REST URL to a device, then that's all you need.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[tandar]

Rob,

Camera integration is fairly straight forward using a program like Blue Iris. As a stand alone program that monitors and records multiple network cameras it's great. But linked to the ISY via the network module it's outstanding. I have cameras that are triggered by insteon motion detectors, recordings that start and stop depending on the status of my alarm system, and motion detected by the cameras will trigger lights to come on. You'll need a beefy pc running full time.

[oberkc]

With all due respect, I fear you may be mischaracterizing the "general consensus"...

I guess I was unclear.  In fact, the point I was trying to make was that there may NOT be any general consensus.  There is no collective "we", as in "we want". 

 

Some are pretty satisfied with the current app.  Others feel as if there have been broken promises.  Others are not going to be happy until there is parity with iOS.  Like you, I probably would be frustrated if there was a feature desired and promised, but yet delivered years later.

 

Some have suggested that there are two general camps...one who wants to control everything via the phone...the other who is more into the automation.  I find this breakout plausible.

[Scottmichaelj]

I recently saw that Mobilinc for Android does not have a plugin for Elk. There is a workaround of course but not sure why this plugin is not avail on the Android side? Mobilinc on iOS and ISY supports it so why not Android?

[oberkc]

I have heard about this omission, as well as the lack of variable support.  I must admit to being unsure what these missing capabilities allow one do accomplish that cannot be done via direct access to ISY devices, scenes, and programs.  Someday, perhaps someone could explain this to me so that I don't remain in such ignorance.

[Scottmichaelj]

I have heard about this omission, as well as the lack of variable support. I must admit to being unsure what these missing capabilities allow one do accomplish that cannot be done via direct access to ISY devices, scenes, and programs. Someday, perhaps someone could explain this to me so that I don't remain in such ignorance.

Your right for most things. However specifically for Elk plugin it allows you to use your "code" to turn off the system for security. Mobilincs Elk plugin on iOS allows you to see the status of your alarm system and also bypass areas if you like. Its also helpful as it shows all the alarm zones so if one area is not "ready" you can go directly to it to resolve. You can arm in away, nite, and stay modes as well. Again you can use work arounds (as I did state) by creating a program to do these things but they are less secure for home security and the other features I mention are missing.

 

I think the main complaint/frustration here is Mobilinc is sold (or marketed) as a compliment app for the ISY and it falls short on The Android platform. Then new "features" are being added for iOS rather than making both platforms equal then adding more once the base is there. Of course its Wes's business what he wants to do at the end of the day and I use the iOS version so I dont have many complaints. I am getting a little tired of the high price for the plugins but overall it works for me. I'm sure the end of the day ROI for dev on iOS is more profitable to him thats why it is this way. Simple math.

[oberkc]

I'm sure the end of the day ROI for dev on iOS is more profitable to him thats why it is this way. Simple math.

 

I always figured as much, along with a general personal preference for apple devices. 

 

 

However specifically for Elk plugin it allows you to use your "code" to turn off the system for security.

 

 

It sounds to me that this is a direct interface to ELK, rather than accessing the elk via ISY.  Interesting. 

 

I think the main complaint/frustration here is Mobilinc is sold (or marketed) as a compliment app for the ISY and it falls short on The Android platform.

 

 

iOS goes above being a "compliment app for the ISY", in my mind, rather than the android app falling short based upon that standard.  I wonder if there are android apps that provide this direct interface to the ELK.  To me, there is no direct support for cameras with the ISY, either, so I don't expect mobilinc to perform this function if all that marketed as being a compliment to the ISY. 

[Scottmichaelj]

It sounds to me that this is a direct interface to ELK, rather than accessing the elk via ISY. Interesting.

 

 

I have confirmed with Wes/InsteonNut that the iOS version talks to the ISY for the ELK command and control data for the plugin. It doesn't go direct to the ELK. Its on the roadmap for future implantation but no ETA, which is good news.

 

I also like to point out I have not personally found a better app than Mobilinc for any platform, even with its few limitations.

[oberkc]

I have confirmed with Wes/InsteonNut that the iOS version talks to the ISY for the ELK command and control data for the plugin. It doesn't go direct to the ELK.

 

Thanks for the clarification.  I could not imagine how one would use the ISY to use your security code, but I guess it must.  Perhaps it would be more obvious to me if I had the Elk module.

[MWareman]

Its on the roadmap for future implantation but no ETA, which is good news.

 

I also like to point out I have not personally found a better app than Mobilinc for any platform, even with its few limitations.

It's been 'on the roadmap' for at least a couple of years now, while more and more features get added to the IOS version, and only Tasker support got added to Android.

 

Personally, I gave up at that point, and implemented my home control using only Tasker and several Tasker scenes, talking directly to the ISY API.

 

Another 'advantage'. Mobilinc normally takes 20-40 seconds to connect and then 15-20 seconds to actually control a device. Tasker is able to call the REST API (over the same SSL) and have the device respond within 2 seconds. I've no idea why such a large difference from the same Android device to the same ISY SSL endpoint.