With the popularity of personal tablets and smart phones, who needs a dedicated expensive in-wall touch screen to automate and control your home's electronics? The in-wall touch screen market is dead. Passed over by the sexy, portable, and powerful hand-held devices that virtually everyone owns. Smart phones/tablets can hold hundreds of apps, connect you to the world of social media 24 hours a day, provide for your personal entertainment, and do everything the in-wall panels can do. Why would anyone want to limit themselves to a dedicated single purpose touch screen as part of their automation system? Well I have some answers to that question. Or at least some items to consider.
If you're considering including automation in your new home or during a technology upgrade of you're existing home, don't be so quick to dismiss the convenience of an in-wall touch screen as part of your system design. Yes, the tablets you already own can likely be used for precisely the same purpose as can your smart phone but lets consider a few other benefits of having a dedicated in-wall panel at your fingertips.
- You always know where the in-wall panel is located. Right? You know what I mean. Phones and tablets are portable. Great for using them wherever and whenever you want but not so great when you need it right now and have no idea where you, your spouse, or the kids have left it.
- It's always on. Connected physically to a power source. Never needs charging. Always ready to use. You cannot say that about any hand-held device.
- It's typically wired to your home's network. Wireless networking (WiFi) is great and usually reliable. You tolerate occasional drop outs or lags with your portable devices because, I guess, the enormous amount of data that is consumed greatly outweighs the minor inconvenience that's part of WiFi networking. For some reason, no client is EVER tolerant when their automation system lags and is not immediately responsive. The wired network connection greatly improves responsiveness.
- Every tablet or smart device wants to be updated regularly. Honestly, they need to be updated regularly simply for security reasons. Updating the operating system will eventually lead to incompatibility issues with your apps and your home system or sometimes the app simply will not function until you install the update. Your in-wall panel never needs to be updated unless you want it to be. It will function for many years with little or no updating necessary.
- Some in-wall panels have the necessary connectivity ports to communicate directly with your electronics thus eliminating the need for a separate control processor. ALL apps on your smart device that are communicating with your automation system, require at least one control processor for connectivity and system programming.
Yes there are great options for embedding or mounting a smart tablet on or in the wall and sometimes that is a great solution. It does even the playing field a little but still doesn't overcome all the benefits of the in-wall touch screen. So I must apologize. I lied. The In-Wall Touch Screen Market is NOT dead.