Idk, my smart phone is pretty incredible.
this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2024
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The fact that there is basically no good "premium" options for smart devices, just cheap adware trash or more diy type stuff with home assistant and the like, tells me there is not much of a mainstream market for most of these devices to begin with. If your only niche is just the hobby crowd or shit that has to be so cheap that you can't make a profit without riddling it with ads then it might not be a market worth getting into.
The fact that there is basically no good "premium" options for smart devices
What’s wrong with Control4 and/or Savant, and Lutron?
Apple TV seems to be doing just fine. Considering investing in one. I don’t think it’s likely they’ll start putting ads in the hone screen and such.
I'm converting from Firesticks once the new Apple TVs come out. I'm sick of the constant upselling and Amazon's been putting much more effort into blocking me from using a custom launcher than basic stability and usability.
I really like the one I have. A relative has a much older model and it still works fine too.
It’s very responsive and the 4k models are quite powerful and future proofed IMO. If you have an iPhone you can quickly use it as a remote too.
Paired with infuse app it even does local streaming from my media server well.
And it’s cheaper to get this year’s top of the line Apple TV than it is the 2019 Nividia shield pro.
Weird how so few saw that coming.... It's why I've limited it as much as possible and I'm clinging to my self hosted shit.
Didn't expect to be hit by the caboose when the train has been running over them for years.
I self-hosted my remote and now I can't find it anywhere.
Blocked by an ad-blocker...
This is one area where Apple have actually done a decent job.
Even the article reluctantly admits the AppleTV is the best media box now. Because it’s the only one that doesn’t throw ads on the home screen.
HomeKit also enforces local network control so you don’t need the manufacturer app or third party cloud services.
But the industry as a whole really needs better standards and accountability. And people need to stop buying products from an ad company (Google).
Anyone who's serious about home automation eventually realizes that the only way to do it effectively is with locally controlled standards based devices like zwave and zigbee, and open source projects like home assistant and esp32.
Anything else will eventually be corrupted or abandoned by its corporate sponsor, as anyone who's tried it the other way can tell you.
The best case scenario is: when they cut off access there is a large enough public outcry that they immediately reverse position (until the next attempt).
The issue is really with the business model of most IOT device makers. They sell you one device once and they're basically committing themselves to running cloud services for that device indefinitely. This only works while you're growing, and when sales start to plateau you're suddenly paying huge amounts of money to maintain the infrastructure with no money coming in.
Companies like Google, Apple and Amazon are big enough to absorb that, but the smaller ones will quickly start looking at ads and subscription fees.
It would be a lot better if device makers could just stick to building the hardware, after which the user just plugs it into their IOT provider of choice (which would be a subscription or something self hosted like Home Assistant).
Lots of these companies just go out of business and leave everyone stranded. But companies like Google don't give a fuck when they leave open source projects stranded like they did with the Nest API.
Normally I'm a pretty earlier adopter of new technology but home automation doesn't appeal to me because I don't want to have to constantly pay a subscription to someone to process my commands when I have a perfectly functional computer.
I want to have a doorbell that does not financially commit me to a monthly fee I do not think that's too much to ask.
There's plenty of products without subscriptions... Including your doorbell example.
Maybe you haven't actually researched this enough?
For me, a doorbell that is more than a doorbell is a perfect example of tech built to fill a need no one had.
To be fair, I use a simple smartlock whose only purpose is so I alone can unlock my bedroom door without needing my physical key duplicated for others to enter at desired times.
To also be fair, I have a hodgepodge of smarthome lights and plugs linked via ifttt that I am now worried will not have any replacement option in 15 years. Maybe I made a mistake, but I do actually have a need to rely on a smartswitch to turn off the lights when I leave home.
Agreed, but there are choices. Even for the Ring doorbell, you can choose not to have a subscription if it suits your bpberds to have live video only, no history. But there are also full featured choices that do not require a subscription.
For me, I haven’t yet upgraded from Ring because I’m not ready to take on an NVR, nor build out the full system I want
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