When we conceived the 'Implementing Tablet and PDA based Control' panel session at this year's Home Technology Event, we thought that the session would serve as a primer for attendees to start implementing PDA and tablet-based control. We were wrong. Everyone in the room was already successfully implementing these solutions, but the session was still extremely valuable, as tales of both triumph and woe served to reinforce that, like everything in this industry, design and thoughtfulness are paramount.
Everyone already seems to be implementing tablet-based home control user interfaces.Key points
The key points that came out of the session are as follows:
1) A tablet is not a control system. It is merely a user interface that is only as good as the control system behind it. Control systems that use tablets as the user interface (UI) exist at many levels of both price and customisation.
At one end of the spectrum, the tablet will simply replace a previously GB£4500-touchscreen from a control system manufacturer. You will still need all of your integration and programming skills to implement the system.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are more and more startup companies that are making control systems designed from the ground up to use a tablet as the UI. These systems can cost from as little as GB£500, and although not as customisable, provide an excellent solution for bringing the cost of touchscreen-based control down to a more acceptable level for many clients.
The BitWise BC4X1 is designed to be combined with apps, provides control via IR, RS232, IP or GPIO and comes with software for building GUIs and macro activities.2) Design and implement a robust wireless environment. Any control system that uses wireless panels is only as good as the wireless network supporting it.
For a single-room solution, do not necessarily rely on the signal strength from a wireless ADSL router located somewhere else in the home - look at having a local access point to the panel.
For a whole-house control system, it is worth looking at systems that use a wireless controller from companies such as Cisco and Pakedge. These systems make the wireless network look like one big single access point and allow seamless roaming between areas in the home whilst maintaining signal strength and throughput. As ever, always ensure that your wireless networks are secure.
3) People still like buttons. Touchscreens are wonderful for graphically-rich control of multimedia environments. They are, however, probably not the best solution for turning the lights on, channel flicking, or fast, reliable access to a mute button. Many companies still leave the fantastically-designed Sky remote as a vital part of a client's control solution in addition to a touch screen.
Whilst there are some very neat in-wall docking solutions for tablets, these are not the best solution for a lightswitch by a door, where having an unambiguously-labelled simple hard button is still the only choice for a light switch.
4) Manage power. Bright full-colour 10" tablets are power-hungry devices. There will always be a balance between the usability that comes from a tablet never going to sleep, and the extended battery life that comes from allowing it to do so. Always allow your client fast access to control - this means setting the panel to never 'Auto Lock'.
There is an increasingly large selection of aesthetically-acceptable docking stations for tablets that will ensure they are kept charged and ready for instant use.
5) Opportunity or threat to profit? It seems as if using a tablet to replace a dedicated touchscreen simply replaces a high-margin item with a zero-margin one. Whilst this is true, the savvy integrator will use this opportunity in two ways:
a) We now have the ability to sell an integrated control system to clients that would previously be put off by the cost.
b) Use the money saved from having tablets as touchscreens to invest more money in performance-enhancing equipment such as better speakers, a brighter projector or a higher-spec home theatre. Try and make up your margin by selling other high-margin products instead.
6) Tablets are cool! Most of your existing, and potential clients will now own a tablet. Use this as a way to sell the concept of using their existing device(s) for whole-house control.
Conclusion
Tablets are here to stay, and as an industry we need to embrace this idea and become the experts in extending their functionality to whole-house control.
Rather than taking away our profit, they should be viewed as an opportunity to either upsell other parts of the system, or bring whole-house control to a new, potentially lucrative, client base.
