

Homeboy: Accessible home security system - natch
https://www.homeboy.com/

======
natch
Received the camera today. Designed in Australia, shipped from California.
Very well done packaging/unboxing.

More important is the software and the accessibility. It starts talking to you
as soon as you plug it in! Although I have to say we got off to a bad start
when it said "put your network in WPS mode" and I didn't know what that was.

The app gives control over the device and lets you monitor and clear alerts,
and share with others.

Very impressed with how well they've made it work end to end. There are a few
rough edges but anyone working on Internet of Things products that have a
human in the loop should take a look at this, because there are some really
good ideas here.

~~~
moonka
Can you see the video from your phone, or check in live? Can you elaborate on
the rough edges?

~~~
natch
You don't see a live picture but you can "check in" as you put it by tapping
on "record video now" in the app and it will immediately record 5 seconds of
video and show it to you AFTER it is done recording. Or you can ask for longer
videos (up to 30 seconds). If you think this sounds like a bad limitation,
keep in mind a main design goal they had is battery life, which buys you as a
user the ability to put this thing anywhere without worrying about running
power to it.

Rough edges:

\- The WPS mode tech jargon was one thing. Although many users will be, like
me, tenacious enough to Google, read the support docs, and figure it out, it
might freeze some in their tracks.

\- Physically the hardware does NOT have rough edges literally or
figuratively. The thing is very nicely made, has a very high quality feel.
Nice piece of kit. The design of camera, motion sensor, built in lighting,
magnetic base, magnet-friendly metal housing, and optional (removable)
physical cover are all really well designed and manufactured. So no rough
edges there.

\- Onboarding process is smooth and this thing seems highly interested in
getting itself connected and working. It's like it's taking the initiative and
pulling you through the process. This is a huge problem for this kind of
product and they have done an amazing job. (edit: so not really any rough
edges there either).

\- Weird rough edge (maybe) that it seems to want to redo the setup when you
press the one physical button. Which is the right thing to do the first time,
but once you've got the thing set up, and then you are adventurous and press
the same button again, it's a surprise to hear it say that it is beginning
setup again. Fortunately it doesn't reset your existing settings, so the
initial alarm you might feel at this moment is not justified. It cancels
(exits setup mode) when you press the button again. Or exits by itself if left
alone. And either way, it speaks and tells you it is exiting setup. This rough
edge could probably be solved with a wording change: have it say "entering
settings mode" which doesn't make it sound like it's done a full reset.
Another solution would be to simply label the button "Settings" or "Setup" but
if the latter is chosen there's still a user timidity issue as people might be
afraid to re-enter Setup wondering if their old settings will be lost. Anyway,
all that being said, the actual behavior (apart from my perception as a user
of being scared in the moment) is correct... settings are preserved. Whew that
was long winded.

\- iPhone software is generally excellent but a couple things are missing: I
don't see how to save or delete videos. I can imagine wanting to email a
video, say for a police report. Or delete old ones if they pile up.

\- When I invited someone to my Posse, we weren't sure if they should create
an account first, or accept the invitation first. I forget the sequence we did
but the app got in a weird state where it was showing the invite superimposed
over the create account button both on the same screen, both showing through
each other, and the accept invite button was not accepting taps. Not a big
deal, just your standard edge case type of bug that happens in version 1.0
software. We got past the problem by hard quitting the app and restarting it
from the invite link, and then it was fine. Adding the deputy went smooth
after that and we left the location and both saw the camera auto-arm (this
thing arms itself when your phone leaves the location... the app does not have
to be running).

In sum the rough edges are nothing that affects the functionality at all. This
camera is working great. I'm really impressed given the complexity of
everything they've done.

~~~
a13xb
Thanks for very detailed feedback! There is certainly some room for
improvement.

 _> You don't see a live picture but you can "check in" as you put it by
tapping on "record video now" in the app and it will immediately record 5
seconds of video and show it to you AFTER it is done recording._

Technically you don't have to wait until the end of recording, but with short
clips it is the case in practice. It takes about that long for the video to
propagate along the camera->server->phone chain. You will notice the
difference if you try to record for 20-30 seconds.

 _> I don't see how to save or delete videos. I can imagine wanting to email a
video, say for a police report. Or delete old ones if they pile up._

You can delete videos by sliding left over the timeline entries, which will
reveal delete button. We should do a better UX job there.

There is also a bug in the current version that affects iPhone6+ which makes
this button invisible, that may explain that you don't see it, if you use that
phone.

Saving videos: initially we contemplated adding this functionality, but it
didn't make the cut for initial release. We will probably add it in the
future.

In the meantime, if you really want a copy of the videos, you can create an
IFTTT trigger to save videos to Dropbox or google Drive.

Hope that helps!

~~~
natch
Oh very nice about the IFTTT trigger being able to save. I had seen that on
the website but had forgotten about it... was on my todo list to look into
adding this to IFTTT.

The feature wouldn't have to be saving per se... emailing would be fine too as
long as the size limits on email attachments don't kick in. But good that
there's IFTTT (at least for people with the foresight to set it up in
advance).

Yes I have a 6+ and had already tried the sliding with no luck before posting.

Thanks for the clarifications.

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bhhaskin
This looks great! I have always like the idea of dropcam, but don't like the
idea of having to run cables everywhere.

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daok
It is not clear for me if I can visualize from my phone what the camera is
visualizing or just see a notification.

~~~
natch
You can see from the phone after the video is finished recording. It's not a
live feed but if it's say a 5-second recording, you can start watching it
within around 1-2 seconds from the time the recording ends.

~~~
natch
Can no longer edit my own comment but just a correction: you can actually
start watching it just a few seconds after it starts recording.

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brandon272
Tried to order a unit - they won't ship to Canada. Frustrating.

