[coldtea]

>Smartphone controlled anything never feels great to me. If I have to type in code to unlock my keypad, then wait for an app to launch, just to change the temperature on the thermostat, it's already over.

For one, newer smartphones will mostly come with fingerprint sensors. So no code typing there.

Second, apps launch almost instantly in any recent iOS or Android phone. It's not like you'll wait 1 minute for he app to launch or anything.

Third, "it's already over" over typing and app-launching wait time? Oh, the humanity. I've lived in houses where the thermostat was in a specific room, or even in the basement next to the heater.

[vmarsy]

I think the parent comment is right,

>For one, newer smartphones will mostly come with fingerprint sensors. So no code typing there.

You're here assuming that people own the latest phone. You could have smart lights for $150 at some point, it doesn't mean that you have the latest smartphone with fingerprint reader.

>Second, apps launch almost instantly in any recent iOS or Android phone. It's not like you'll wait 1 minute for he app to launch or anything.

Again you're assuming people have the latest smartphones, also even if the app launch immediately, it takes some times to get a connection between your smartphone and your IoT device

>Third, "it's already over" over typing and app-launching wait time? Oh, the humanity. I've lived in houses where the thermostat was in a specific room, or even in the basement next to the heater.

_today's_ user experience with a smartphone is sometimes worst than controlling the device, just because it was much worse some years ago doesn't mean we have to accept it. It is like saying "Get this new car with a maximum speed of 30mph, it's OK people use to ride a horse back in the time"

[tmuir]

Some of the first world problems of HN users using technology are beyond the pale. I was arguing mouse vs remote/phone for playing media on a media server, and someone's retort was that a mouse would require them to have a surface upon which to use the mouse at their couch. I've spent way too much time envisioning this mythical surfaceless couch and person.

[polynomial]

Not that I spend a lot of time on couches, mine or others, but even if there is a "usable" surface nearby (I have no surfaces near my couch) it's usually a coffee table with terrible ergonomics for use as a controller plane.

But this doesn't seem like a major issue, since it really seems a tablet (or just your phone) solves the problem.

[tmuir]

Wait, what are these unusable surfaces? I have a $25 logitech wireless mouse and keyboard that I use roughly 8ft from the usb receiver. Besides the screen of my monitor, I actually cannot find a surface in my direct vicinity that my mouse doesn't track extremely well upon. This includes jeans, shirt, skin, paper towel, microfiber, drywall, carpet, rug, whiteboard, a glass coffee table (surprisingly), and books.

How can the capabilities of something as cheap, commoditized, and refined as a computer mouse vary so much that some people's mice are only usable on a small and inconvenient set of surfaces, while other mice have completely mastered the process to the point that nearly every surface imaginable works flawlessly?

[polynomial]

Indeed, perhaps I am being fussy about what kind of surface I prefer to use, and how precise I like the tracking to be.

I am inspired by your reply however to try to find another mouse which works well on glass, that would literally be a game changer.

[dllthomas]

I regularly struggle with an optical mouse on my couch or knee, when I need to poke netflix. It's manageable, but it's also annoying.

[untog]

Third, "it's already over" over typing and app-launching wait time? Oh, the humanity.

My point isn't that it's difficult, it's that existing solutions are already better than the smartphone-based ones.