Some pointed thoughts as usual and many good points. I'm not in the least bit offended knowing the whirlwind of activity getting ready for and rolling out at CES. Definitely can be a hectic time, products are never far along enough, Marketing folks making promises that the Tech folks have to deliver. Last minute fixes, demos, media, scoping out the competition, it's a busy busy time.
Securifi, hope you realize it might pay to reward your loyal customers with some information about such things first OR at least at the same time. It seems embarrassing that a forum member would see it first in an article elsewhere. What about in the blog? Heck we even asked about CES. I did just notice that it is showing up on securifi.com.
It's is generally unwise to spill the beans prior to CES or you lose any 'punch' in the hyped media highlights coming out of CES. Besides, the writing has been on the wall for a while now.
That being said... The Almond 3 sounds interesting. The branding is bad (I would have gone with 2016) as you have officially muddled the lines... Almond, Almond+, Almond 2015, now Almond 3 (which is clearly based on the Almond and Almond 2015 lineage).
Almond 3 works for me, locking your product into a "year" is soooo Windows98.
Feedback (based on Techcrunch article):
1) Why white versus the original black devices? Will there be color offerings or a cover available?
All my residential installs wanted white. Looks more in place as an appliance when mounted to the wall. Some of my folks have them mounted in the kitchen, others the study/library, still others in the hall upstairs. None of them wanted black or the other color options. I do like the idea of a snap on color cover but not at the expense of cooling issues or possible damage to the internals. An over cover would work.
2) I only see one USB port and it looks like a 2.0. Is there more on the other side? Did Securifi consider 3.1 and the new port?
3.1 would be slick but I'd want a legacy 2.0 port for sure
3) Related to 2... Hopefully there is more than one port. If there is only one, it limits options for Z-Wave, Bluetooth or storage... Choose only only, unless you will also support hubs.
An excellent point and I certainly hope it can handle 2/3 usb connections as I would absolutely want ZWave, Bluetooth and Storage
4) Siren...OK. Can you strobe the screen backlight at the same time? I live near Rochester, NY which has a substantial deaf population (due to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf located at RIT). Sirens do not help them but flashing lights do. The backlight should be able to be linked (if desired).
A cool idea. Not sure it would be attention getting enough. BTW, flashing the lights is easy enough to do and makes me think it would be a nice app option based on any number of triggers.
5) When are we going to see Rule creation in the App? That may just be a made picture... But it looks like a screenshot!
Going to be a nice feature when it arrives. Hasn't been high on my wish list because personally but it will be a nice option.
I assume the 4 times faster is faster than the Almond 2015 (not Almond+). What about memory, etc...
Any beta testers on here that can now talk about it as it has come to light?
