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With powerful features and control, Oomi is one of the best smart home solutions till date. You can automate tasks so when one thing happens, others automatically occur. We set up a system where when the door closes, the color strip turns green, and when it opens, it turns red.
I bought a wifi pan tilt camera for security and left it pointing out of the window at the gate into the tiny front garden of my house. I can use this to see who is coming to the door from anywhere in the house. I had a few options for which camera to get but most were clones/rebadged. Of the shortlist several wanted a permanent internet connection which I balked at. One of them had very negative reviews at how slow viewing via the cloud was.
About Oomi
1 x Oomi Cube which is the brain of your system, it's a super accessory in and of itself. Oomi Cube offers a HD Camera with night vision; multiple sensors including motion, glass break, noise, light, temperature, humidity; two way audio; iR blaster and more. Your home’s security can also be centrally controlled and monitored. There’s a whole plethora of different smart locks, camera systems and alarms to choose from. You could go for a fob system, a digital keypad or doors you unlock with your phone.
The camera's image quality wasn't quite as sharp as you'll get with the Nest Cam, however, and I noticed a persistent delay of about five seconds in my feed. It provides in-home control and monitoring from Oomi Touch, the dedicated touchscreen super remote, and remote access and control while away from the home with the Oomi App. As more and more smart home devices make their way into the market, controlling them all from one interface becomes increasingly important. The Oomi smart home system looks to simplify that task through its set of interconnected devices, all controlled by a slick-looking tablet. At $699, the starter package — which includes the tablet, a camera, two bulbs and a plug — is very expensive. With limited features and a very frustrating interface, the Oomi isn't worth your time or money.
Oomi Home starter kit
The kerfuffle of making the perfect cup of tea is not that onerous. I would like to avoid the clutter of remotes, have a universal remote, but, when I prototyped that, it really wasn't half as convenient or as useful as I thought it was going to be. Unfortuntely such issues do not always become apparent until after some time has passed. One that shows inklings towards emptying the bank account from the outset are best returned to the manufacturer immediately. A truly smart home would know what level of lighting is appropriate at each juncture and would therefore not need programming. And as for the rest, all I ask of a "smart home" and its lighting system is that it turns on the light when the first person enters a given space and turns it off again after the last one leaves.
As I was struggling to set this up, another thought occurred to me. Using the Oomi to control your TV will work only if you have the Oomi Cube in the same room as your set. But if you have the camera set up to watch your front door and you want to use the Oomi to control your bedroom TV, you're out of luck. The Oomi Cube has an IR blaster, which you can use as a universal remote for your TV. With its intelligence controller and array of sensors, the Oomi Security Kit offers your family and your home a lot of protection.
Oomi Smart Home System Bringing New Integrations to The Public
I love the use of NFC for easy pairing, and little details like the smart plug's USB charging port show that Oomi's creators put a lot of thought into their product. Other features, such as the universal remote functionality, feel a bit tacked on. The Oomi system allows for wireless control and automation of home lighting, entertainment, security and more. The centerpiece of the setup isn't the tablet, though -- it's the Oomi Cube camera, which doubles as Oomi's Z-Wave hub.
Christopher Null / IDG The camera feed isn’t HD, but it’s good enough for most security needs. Also, I don’t live in Fremont and couldn’t change the location setting. Remember the original Sonos Controller, a dedicated tablet for the high-end music system that sat on a dock in your living room? When you wanted to turn on the music, you didn’t reach for your phone, you reached for the Controller. Never mind the speakers, the Controller was a sexy showpiece that predated by years the smart home as we’ve come to know it.
Oomi Smart Home System Works with Amazon Alexa, Nest, Philips Hue, and More
It's a good setup – with the ability to select what sort of control you are cloning . It's also a nice idea – a controller and a smart home controller in one. The bulbs were better performers, reliably turning on and off and changing colors whenever I wanted. I appreciated that you can pick out a custom color pattern for each bulb to cycle through, but I wish that the colors themselves were a bit brighter. Still, they're perfectly decent smart bulbs, and a nice inclusion in the starter kit, since color-changing bulbs are typically smart home extras that you have to splurge on in and of themselves. "By piecemealing a system together, you don't get the simplicity that Oomi provides," counters Colin Marshall, vice president of Oomi's parent company Fantem.
The Oomi Home kit, featuring a new and user-friendly interface, includes the Oomi Cube with magnetic lens cover for the built-in camera, Oomi Touch, Infinity Dock, two Oomi Bulbs, and an Oomi Plug. Inside the Oomi Home kit is the Oomi Cube with magnetic lens cover for the built-in camera, Oomi Touch, Infinity Dock, two Oomi Bulbs, and an Oomi Plug. Instead, it consists of Oomi Touch, a dedicated 7-inch touchscreen tablet for controlling the home automation system. At the back of the entire system is another powerful component known as Oomi Cube that consists of a slew of sensors and components that make everything work together. It is a smart combination of a hub, a night-vision IP camera, an environmental sensor, and an infrared emitter for controlling the home-theater system.
It took seconds to set up and worked straight away (although there is a 2-3 second delay). It was a silly test but opens the door to actual useful automations in future. Similarly what was baffling for a while was the physical keypad to the left of the controller that didn't appear to do anything. It took some exploring to discover this was an entirely different feature of the Oomi system – a universal control. The Cube, for example, is not just an oversized camera but the hub of the system. It communicates with all the other devices and sends commands.
The benefits of full home automation have proven over-rated to me; as fun and as long lasting as watching an electricity consumption meter. I'll turn lights on as I enter a room without difficulty. If I accidentally leave one on then I consider the unnecessary walk to turn it off part of my 'five a day'. In our 30+ years of marriage the only light she ever switches off is the bedroom light just before she goes to sleep. If I go to bed first, when I get up I find all the downstairs lights burning brightly. Consequently home automation is something I need to look at and it's probably cheaper than upgrading to a newer Mk 2 WiFe, but I guess it all comes down to which will be most fun to play with.
The system is incredibly versatile, offering automation, security, color-changing light, entertainment controls and more. Lisa Montgomery has been a member of the Electronic House editorial team for nearly 20 years; most of that time as the Editor. You can use the tablet to program automated rules that dictate what your system will do. For instance, the camera's motion sensor can trigger lights to come on. Or you could schedule them to change color or color temperature at a specific time of day.
See what’s happening at home from anywhere in the world, day or night. Control your entertainment system and lighting from Oomi Touch. One thing we really love is the Cube camera comes complete a slightly weird looking rubber piece that magnetically attaches to the front of the cube and physically blocks the camera. And we must say that the tablet controller has a really nice, quality feel to it; solid and a pleasure to hold. Oomi devices pair using NFC, which makes setup about as foolproof as it gets.
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