Almond 3 announced

[mparadis]

Some specifics from Securifi's webpage. https://www.securifi.com/almond

@Shazster, I believe that without the hue hub you wouldn't be able to control the colors of any of their bulbs just the on / off if you can even get them connected. As for bluetooth, there has to be controls for bluetooth devices, just plugging in a dongle won't create the programming to use bluetooth devices.


Edit: Also, too bad just a speaker for siren and no microphone...

[Shazster]

"@Shazster, I believe that without the hue hub you wouldn't be able to control the colors of any of their bulbs just the on / off if you can even get them connected."

...ahhh. OK then.  But If I want to add zigbee based bulbs other than Phillips, I can do so without having to bother with adding their Hub, if so then cool. As for bluetooth, I figured that but it wasn't clear from the press info.

Securifi really does need to start leveraging what IS possible with their products, and with a little more documentation. I see a lot of bitching and moaning about what these products DON'T do. I think a lot of that would stop with more, and clearer, doc about what it CAN do. Eg. Walk throughs of how to add an ext. HD to the system, with prep (ie. What file formating is acceptable, optimal, etc. for example.)

[mparadis]

...ahhh. OK then.  But If I want to add zigbee based bulbs other than Phillips, I can do so without having to bother with adding their Hub, if so then cool.

Correct, most other zigbee should work. Phillips, and a few other companies, add a proprietary layer to their protocols which make it not plug and play as much as other devices can be. Some do this so that you can't use them at all, some do this so that it can only be done with their support. For non-color bulbs check out the GE Link bulbs, zigbee based, dimmable, start at $15 for standard bulb, other sizes / types up to $25 (I think).

[SecureComp]

I like the Cree Connected bulbs, have had fewer issues with them as compared to the GE Link bulbs. Still have plenty of the GE and they are available in multiple types and wattages, so that's nice.

Doubt Phillips will let folks get away without using a hub but I can hope. Can't stand having to buy one of those things when I'm already paying big bucks for the bulbs.

@JesseD let us know if you go that route. The grass is always greener on the other side until you actually get to the other side and find out it's just a different shade of green, or brown, well you get the idea.  No telling how TPLink is going to do but we will know soon enough. Again, surprised many other folks haven't gone this route yet.

[mparadis]

I forgot the Cree Connected bulbs as I hadn't used them myself and have had almost zero issues with the GE bulbs. I have had one of them which on three different occasions stopped responding, I turned it on and off using the switch (this is on a really high ceiling fan that only has one switch to control fan and lights so I use the GE bulbs to control them separately) and it started working right away.

[Shazster]

Yeah. HA is fine until you end up with a router that looks like an octopus with all these hubs plugged into it. The day we bought our Almond+, my wife was eyeing the Harmony Home Hub. It took a great deal of convincing to explain that the harmony does not in fact REPLACE any of these things, just controls them. They are quite ambiguous about that.
We ended up getting the Almond instead. Just for shitsngiggles Google the price on the zwave/zigbee "extender hub" that is an "accessory"..."option".
Any day I can cut one of these hubs out of the equation is a good day.

[xchg.ca]

Great they added support of BT in new device, there will be many BTSmart sensors/devices coming out I believe, but unfortunately this means that will be no support of BT in Almond+

[SecureComp]

Great they added support of BT in new device, there will be many BTSmart sensors/devices coming out I believe, but unfortunately this means that will be no support of BT in Almond+

Not necessarily. We shall see.

[mparadis]

They stated that the almond+ will receive ability to control Bluetooth through a dongle as well. Hopefully that's true.