Home Smartomation made easy!!!
Control4 is one of the biggest names in home automation. Long before Apple was pushing its HomeKit ecosystem, years before Google unveiled its Assistant, and in the days where the only echo at Amazon was if someone shouted inside one its warehouses, Control4 has been creating bespoke smart home systems for its customers - through its authorised dealer program - using connected products, from a wealth of different partners.
Launched over 15 years ago (at the 2004 CEDIA Expo home technology trade show), Control4 specialises in high-end products, at high-end prices, for users who not only want the reassurance of a professional installation but also a support system to rely on to maintain and update their connected tech.
However, while Control4 may have had the jump on its more mainstream, and cheaper, smart home rivals, it is now operating in a market where connected home products are more prevalent than ever; and users are a lot more savvy at creating their own smart home setups and automations.
So, is there still room for a premium service such as Control4?
Major selling point for Control4; i.e. people don’t have to worry about setting up their smart home tech, nor maintaining it. But it does limit you somewhat too and adds extra costs.
The starting point for any Control4 system is the controller, which is essentially a smart home hub, combined with advanced AV features and skills, so you can control things like lighting, blinds, shutters, heating and and connected locks.
The on-screen TV display is great for controlling AV action - using a universal remote that can be programmed to control a huge array of tech - but, when it comes to the rest of your smart home kit, you’ll interact in a range of different ways.
Controlling Control4:
The most intuitive approach is by using a dedicated touchscreen panel – Control4 offer 7-inch and 10-inch models that can free stand or be wall mounted. There are apps available on both iOS and Android that replicate - with some limitations - these touchscreens.
Control4 also offers keypads that wire into your light switches, which can be the triggers for Control4 scenes. Scenes are routines that automate smart home actions. So you could have a 'good night' scene, for example, that turns off all of your downstairs lights, turns off the TV, sets the house alarm, locks the smart locks and so on.
The UI has seen a major overhaul in the last few months with the launch of Smart Home OS 3, which totally revamped (and massively improved) what you see on the digital displays and the app.
OS 3 allows for more customization on what is on show, with users able to select their favorite operations to see on the main home screens of each room.
Adding tech to the system:
With Control4, you have a huge range of in-house tech to choose from; networking kit from Pakedge, audio equipment from Triad and more; and you can also add in compatible devices from a plethora of third-party brands. The system is able to work with over 35,000 devices and services.
The future for Control4:
Control4, for all of its many plus points, does feel a little bit like a legacy system at times. For years it was automating people’s homes in a world where a DIY option was almost impossible.
But then Alexa, the Google Assistant and the rest of the off-the-shelf smart home gang turned up, making is easier, and cheaper, than ever to get an automated smart home. DIY setups are now a doddle and the smart home is a rapidly expanding consumer technology genre.
The verdict:
Control4 is an absolutely world-class system and, in the area that the company operates it is a serious force. There’s a reason that people with huge mansions and high-end hotels turn to Control4.
There’s also a reason those are the two places where you’re most likely to find a Control4 system; it is seriously expensive. However, as explained - especially with the in-house tech - you are getting your money’s worth, with industry leading devices and a pretty much unrivalled support service.
Control4 wants to appeal to a mass audience beyond this though, and is making great strides to compete with lower-cost, DIY systems. In my house (which is far from a mansion) a Control4 setup sits alongside a predominantly Alexa-driven system and the two compliment each other.
And that’s the way Control4 need to keep heading in order to appeal to a broader audience. The good news is all the signs indicate it is.
Source: Paul Lamkin@Forbes.com
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