Home Automation Remotes iPad or Android


hingepin

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I've been reading a little on tablets and the pros/cons between iPad and Android devices. I'll be moving back to FL once I retire next year and buying a house that I plan to remodel and since I'll be tearing out everything, may as well rewire for data/sound. I'm also researching home automation and whole home AV distribution.

 

I guess my question is the difference between tablets 6 of one, half dozen of another? I'll be using the tablet as a universal remote for the whole house, media library browser, ect. Looks like there are plenty of remote apps available for both. I plan to use XBMC as the front end for my media. There are not a whole lot (if any) of apps for automation for unRAID so I'll most likely just use it as a server and back-up stoarge for the PC's and Macs around the house.   

 

Still new to unRAID and learning. Just glad I got rid of WHSv1! Nothing fancy or to mess with. It just works!

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Ipad generally works better and faster as apps have to go through an approval process. Plus more devs currently work with apple products, if you ask me only because of the "craze" from all these apple lovers. I don't hate apple, but I don't think its the best thing since sliced bread either.

 

With android, the main problem is the plethora of tablets available. Every company is spitting out a tablet running android, because its so customizable. Even Coby has an android tablet out, and I wouldn't buy a Coby CD player, much less tablet. You have to do more research to see if the tablet in question is up to the task. It doesn't sound like your going to be pushing it to its limits, but you'll want a decently fast tablet to not wait for load times, especially as a media browser where you'll most likely be seeing numerous thumbnails at once.

 

Honestly, I'd go for an android based tablet by a reputable brand, such as a Samsung Galaxy, and I'd choose to run an app that is available on both Android and iOS. Chances are it will work better than others, and if you ever were to choose to switch to an iPad, the transition would be easier due to the backbone would already be in place.

 

With that being said, while your researching, you can pick up a used android phone for pretty cheap, and start testing out some of the remote apps your interested in and see which ones work well for you and which have features your looking for. Just remember, if you pick up a 1st gen phone running Android V1 or Cupcake, its not going to be anywhere near as fast as newer devices.

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As someone that is building a home and prepping it for the whole automation thing, I've looked into this a bit.  iDevices just seem to be better supported by both the automatin vendors (Crestron, Control4, Savant, linuxmce.org) and 3rd party hardware accessories. 

 

For example, I just could not find (before I gave up looking and settled on iDevices at least) a decent wall dock for Android devices.  Since there isn't a common form factor for Android devices, hardware accessory vendors don't give the swarm of Android devices much attention.

 

A shame too really, because I loved my original Droid and now my Bionic.  However, iDevices are the ones getting the love.

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If you have lots of money and want things done by someone else, go with crestron, control 4, etc. They are in the 10s of thousands for whole house automation.

 

If you don't want to spend too much, and are willing to do most of the work yourself, go with homeseer and zwave. The software with all the plugins costs about a thousand. It has a remote builder software that works on both ios and android. You can literally custom build your own remote interfaces on tablets or phones, that control homeseer.

 

If you want to spend the least amount of money, go with a Vera 2 (or 3 when released by MiCasaVerde) and zwave. It is pretty much a wireless router with a built-in zwave dongle and custom software and costs about $250. There is a lot of (and increasing) community support and it has a bunch of third party apps for both ios and android. Couple that with the official xbmc app and you should be set.

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Thanks for the input guys. This will all be DIY during a remodel. I don't plan to spend 10's of thousands. I might get a cheap android tablet and play around. I found a site that sells them with ICS for under $100. I have an ipod touch and can use that to evaluate which apps I like and work the best for me and how well I can build macros. 

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The key is patience, even though home automation is becoming more "mainstream" everyone does things a little different so a complete install and forget package is almost impossible. Closest to that is paying someone else to spend the countless hours planning everything out and setting it up.

 

If its DIY have patience. My uncle designs and installs high end home automation and AV equipment, he's done a few houses that have multiple media rooms, hell, a few have had a few bowling alleys. He has told me the actual installs are pretty straight forward and simple, but the weeks and sometimes months of planning is the hard part. Many small components coming together for the bigger picture.

 

Good luck and keep us posted! I'm always interested in these projects!

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Look into a company called Commandfusion.  They make a system that allows you to build your own system. It really helps if you know Javascript. With Javascript there is nothing that you can't do.  Without Javascript you can do almost everything that a remote needs to do.

 

The nicest thing about their system is that the file you build (an XML file) can be fed to the viewer they have for Apple IOS or to the viewer they have for the Andriod (in Beta).

 

I have my house HA system fully controlled by wall mounted iPads, while I still prefer the Pronto PRO line for mobile remotes for A/V. Both the Pronto pro line (with Prontoscript) and the Commandfusion system are strongly tied to Javascript.

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