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How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

arstechnica.com

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Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#41

Post by tehbeard »

ga_to wrote: post #7
dainiusse wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO this is absurd. If you need a phone in your hands - it is quicker to open the UI and do the thing

I would bet it's not. Based on the same starting point (phone in pocket) how many steps are there actually? UI Option: - take out phone - unlock phone - leave current app - find and open control app - find icon to toggle action - lock phone - put phone back in pocket NFC option: - take phone out of pocket - bump phone against NFC sticker - find NFC sweet spot - put phone back in pocket

Your NFC option missed the "move to be within arms reach of said NFC sticker" step.

For some actions colocation might make sense.

But having to stand up to go rub a magic sticker on the wall or coffee table to turn on the lights seems pretty dumb compared to a few thumb flicks.

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#43

Post by esel2k »

I have a smarthome or playing with it since more than 5 years (Mystrom, logitech pop, homeassitant) I ended up with the most simple things:

- sensors to control the lights: motion and brightness as treshold

- save power by reaching low power usage (standby) will turn it off

- a few buttons to make RestAPI calls to turn on or off when something is not controlled automatically: lights, power, vacuum cleaner

I don’t understand why anybody would use voice assistance. I never got it except rare situations to make a note:while driving, cooking. Everything else a sensors, a button or text entry use the smartphone is the way to go.

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#44

Post by pasc1878 »

leoedin wrote: post #20
izacus wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both Android and iOS devices can be put into so-called Kiosk mode when they run a single app without other chrome. Is that not acceptable? The cheapest fire tablet is fine for the use-case.

It's not a software problem - it's a hardware problem. A tablet is designed to be a portable, handheld device - I want a wall mounted (or maybe tabletop), permanently powered device. I have no need for a battery. There does appear to be a few Lenovo tablets which come with a permanent dock - maybe that's the solution?

The current rumours seem to be that Apple and Google are working on that https://gizmodo.com/apple-ipad-could-get-smart-home-dock-upg...

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#45

Post by HPsquared »

Helmut10001 wrote: post #32
ocharles wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think voice is a fine interface for a lot of smart home things. If I'm watching TV and want the lights on/off, I don't want: * To have to reach for my phone * To have a tablet mounted within reach (that's more clutter) * To have to get up to the light switch/nearest controller. This sounds lazy but that is literally the point of all this stuff - to make things convenient. Likewise, if I'm in the kitchen and want to…

Yes, I hear these arguments over and over. Yet, in cars, it is already increasingly recognized that touch screens (another interface) are worse than physical buttons. The examples you name are somewhat exceptions where I can imagine, if someone is really lazy, that a language control could be better than buttons, but in most cases I think the difference is minuscule. I have to walk 2 Meters from the couch to the butt…

Cars are actually a decent application for voice controls - you can do a wide range of functions without having to hunt-browse (especially the more complex infotainment / navigation functions), and you don't need to take either your eyes or hands off the task of driving.

You can simply say "navigate me to such-and-such", or "turn off the display", or whatever, tasks which would otherwise involve several steps and be much more distracting.

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#46

Post by testmasterflex »

tuananh wrote: post #36

sensors is the key to an "actual" smart home. sensors along with lots of automation rules will make the home works for you, instead of requiring you to shout at the assistant.

That’s exactly my vision with Loodio (https://Loodio.com) that today only has a motion sensor but even that makes a huge difference.

Sensors are also getting cheaper by the minute. For example, I can add a microwave sensor for under a dollar and read hand gestures.

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#47

Post by srmarm »

Ikea Tradfri buttons/switches have been a gamechanger for me. They're zigbee, very well built, well supported and cheap. Have a nice solid feel with proper mounts that are magnetic, Have mounted them in place of regular switches around the house and they just work, no user training required (although I use with homeassistnat which is still very hobbish on the setup side) but my wife can use it all without needing to know whats going on in the background. Can do smart stuff in addition, i.e press the on button multiple times to cycle between scenes.

The other thing is automations, I've got a bunch of timed automations, certain lights come on at dusk, heating comes on half an hour before the alarm goes off in the morning and heats only the rooms I tend to use at the correct times, so office is heated during work hours and living room comes on for the evening/weekends - all can be overridden from my phone or voice or whatever but ideally that's the exception as I find voice clunky and phone takes quite a few steps.

If my phone was able to display the controls for the room I'm in without requiring an unlock that'd be good but for now but generally I find tactile buttons much nicer to interact with.

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#48

Post by ClikeX »

alkonaut wrote: post #29

The best controller for lighting by far is the light switch. "Smart lightbulbs" behind dumb switches might seem like an easy solution, but it makes everything dumber (If you have a light switch you must not switch off because then you can't turn the "smart" light on, then you have a dumber house not a smarter one). Smart switches which fall back to regular switches if they malfunction is fantastic. Add some scenarios…

I personally like the Shelly switches. They're just WiFi relays, so you can control them remotely, but also use a normal wall switch to control them.

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#50

Post by ldoughty »

Anyone know of a screen solution that isn't an old tablet/phone?

I'd love to pay in this area, but I don't want to was mount an old tablet that will be a fire risk.

I know the Pi's have a tiny touch screen screen hat, is there other ideas for a wall mountable solution that people can recommend?

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