Homegate or Wiser for PC/ipad/Android control

This is a request for general advice regarding the choice of Homegate or the Wiser unit for remote control of loads (sometimes simultaneously) by Android, iPhone, PC?s, laptops and possibly ipads (or whatever else may become popular in the near to mid future). Primarily remote control would be from within the building (i.e. via Wi-Fi).

Existing setup has Ethernet CNI, PAC (no touch screens). Single CBus residential network.
The building has a BT Businesshub 3 wireless router for Internet.

Main basic programming in Toolkit has been done. Important logic / scenes soon to be implemented in the PAC.

An ?always on? server for file sharing / streaming is likely to be available (but not for exclusive use of CBus equipment).

Thoughts to date from reading the forum etc. (am happy to be corrected on any of this) include:
- Wiser good but the installation already has a wireless router, and logic capability in a PAC (which is potentially more reliable but harder to program then the Wiser?).
- There is a possible lead time on the Wiser for updates to appear for better user experience with e.g. ipad2 (maybe it is the same with Homegate?)
- Don?t know if Wiser and Homegate both need apps on Android, iPhone and PC?s.
- Homegate can use server X so can use any browser enabled device (does the screen look nice?). NB: Note the Server X download and version of Java looks old compared to Homegate.

Do either systems make use of the work already done in Toolkit or is it starting from the beginning with these programs? Do different client screen sizes complicate things?

If anyone can comment on the merits and experience of either that would be great. Are either just 'nicer' to operate?

 

NB: not sure if also posting a second time in the Wiser forum area too was permitted, so didn't.

 

It sounds like you would be much better off using Wiser for use with all of the mobile devices.

 

Thanks Darren.

Are there any main points that make the Wiser better?

Also, is it OK just to use the Wiser between the CBus and the computer LAN network i.e. not for wi-fi or adsl internet connection?

 

As far as I know (today is Dec 14 2011), Clipsal has not released the Android app for Wiser to the public. The iPhone/iTouch app has been released and is support on iOS 4.2 but not newer versions. The native iPad app has not yet been released.

 

I was wondering about the Wiser.
Can it be accessed on a browser?
If so does that include iphone, ipad, pc, osx and android.
Someone can tell me if I am wrong but I dont think iphone browser works with serverx.
Opto
I think the Wiser is pretty good value if you dont already have a CNI, Colour Touch or Homegate.
But it possible for you to try right now an rdp session to the Homegate trial to see it that suits you.
It can work on most platforms.
And then you most likely wouldnt need the pac.
I think the capabilities of Homegate logic exceed the pac and Wiser also.
You can find it in the help files if you need to check for some specific function.
I dont use a Wiser but a lot of people way smarter than me seem to like it.

 

Yes, if said browser has Adobe Flash support. If the browser does not have Flash, then you have the choice of the iPhone/iTouch client that will run natively on iPhone/iTouch with iOS 4.2. If you have iPad, then you can also run that app but it will just be scaled to fit. On Android, there is no currently released Android Wiser application, however, some Android platforms have Adobe Flash and thus work with Wiser.

 

Hello kjayakumar
Thanks for that information.

 

These replies are really useful - thank you.

For the Wiser, if Flash is used on the client device e.g. Android, do all the screens look similar and navigate similarly to the situation where an app is available (similar to iphone)?

 

The currently released iPhone app's look&feel is very much Apple-ish, so it looks and navigates differently to the Adobe Flash app. When running Adobe Flash on Android, the look and feel is similar to that of the desktop Adobe Flash app (except with touch of course).