Computer Shopper - UK (2020-04)

100 APRIL2020|COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE386

S

amsung SmartThings is acombination
of hardwareand software. At the heart
of the systemsits the SmartThings hub,
which is both Zigbee and Z-Wave compliant,
so you can add devices directly to it, including
asmartbutton, motion sensor,open/close
sensor and even asmartplug. Forsmarthome
enthusiasts, being able to run all of these
sensors is amazing. Yo ucan buy the Hub
alone for £79, although starter kits are
available with some sensors, including the
motion sensor,multipurpose sensor (an
all-in-one temperature, movement and
entry sensor) and smartbutton.
Yo ucan add third-party devices, too,
although supportisquite limited: you can
add Hue light bulbs, TP-Link Kasa products,
and Ring cameras and doorbells, but there’s
only supportfor the Honeywell Lyric and
Netatmo thermostats. Official supportfor
other devices comes fromsmaller,more
niche companies. Supportisimproving, but
needs to move faster.

TheSmartThings community is very good

and can fill in some of the blanks, provided

you’rehappy to put up with some

complicated installation methods. For

example, you can add the Honeywell

Evohome heating systemvia abrilliant

third-party integration; Nest supportisstill

missing, mostly due to Google changing how

accounts work when it killed offthe Works

with Nest features.

SmartThings gives you aunifiedapp to

control all devices, which is neat.You cangroup

multiple lights into one group,too,sothatyou

can control all lights in aroomin one go.

WhereSmartThings is

brilliant is in its Routines.

These aresimpletoset

up and have simple logic:

if this happens (a door

locks, it’s sunset, etc),

then control these

devices. With the new

SmartThings app

(confusingly,there’salso

an older SmartThings

Classic app), you can set

multiple conditions that

have to be met beforea

rule is run. These don’t

cover every eventuality.

However,SmartThings

can become hugely

complicated, thankstoits

range of modes. Modes

let you change how the systemworks, such as

arule only running if the mode is set to

Nighttime. This can be clever: amotion sensor

can turn on alight at night, but if the systemis

set to away,the same sensor can trigger an

alarm. Thedifficulty is in getting modes to

work the way you want them, making

SmartThings quite complexfor novices.

SmartThings definitely has its place in

home automation, but it’s quite complicated

and is probably abetter choice for slightly

moreadvanced users. In many cases, you’ll

find thatyou can do the same jobs with

Alexa, HomeKit or IFTTT.

SAMSUNG

SMARTTHINGS

A platformdesigned t

ounify the

smart home,SmartThin

gs is

exceptionallypowerful

butitcan

beoverwhelmingfo

rsome

TOTAL CONTROL: WEBCORE

There’snodoubt in our minds that

webCoRE is the most powerful

and flexible automation system.

Once installed, following the online

instructions (wiki.webcore.co),

webCoRE changes how SmartThings

works,letting you develop Pistons,or

automation programs.

WebCoRE is atouchtricky

to program,because it uses

programming language-style

constructs,but that’swhatmakes it

so powerful. Using webCoRE,you can check adevice’sstate,use

variables (say,only running an action acertain number of times per

day),set timers and string together very

complicated commands.

Using this scripting language via a

web browser,you can program really

powerful rules,called Pistons.For

example,we have one Piston for our

garden office.Whenthe Yale Conexis

L1 lock is locked and it’s after sunset,if

the garden lights aren’t already turned

on they’returned on for 10 minutes,then turned offautomatically,

giving us enough time to walk into the house.

LEFT:WebCoRE is extremelypowerful

although alittle complicated to program

LEFT:Youcan control all

connected devicesthrough

the SmartThings app

CONS

Complicated

Limitedthird-partysupport

PROS

Verypowerful

SupportsZigbeeandZ-W

avedevices

ExpandablewithwebCo

RE