I copied and pasted my review on Amazon.com here.
Updated the review 12/19 after Firmware update to Cubeone base unit and Android App update.
The Cubeone firmware was updated early Dec. After that, I had a power outage and internet outage but the unit came back to normal. I did not have to reset any sensors. Also, the Android App was not failing as much. Then I upgraded to Android 4.3 on Dec 17th days and also the iSmartAlarm App was updated.
In the past 2 days, I did not see the Android App failing due to "data fail". Also, the notifications seem to be working without having to force stop the Android App and re-start. One interesting thing I noticed is that there is sometimes a time lag of 5 min before notifications come and all the notifications come almost at once. I changed my rating to 3 stars from 1 star. Acceptable. I will be updating the review again based on how the performance is for a few weeks. I want to see no more data fail errors or cubeone failing because it cannot connect to network even if that happens for 24hrs. Since there is no display on
Cubeone, I would like to see the Android App work as long as Cubeone and Android are on the same wifi network even if internet fails. If a sensor is breached even if Alarm is not activated, there needs to be some notificaton even if it means an option to chirp the Cubeone. Two be fair, their Application engineer Jerry was in touch quite often by email.
See www.ismartalarm.com
This unit comes with what looks like a cube, 2 door contact sensors, 1 motion sensor, 2 remote key tags. I used Samsung Galaxy Note 2 TMobile version running stock Android 4.1.2 with a version of the App I received from ismartalarm directly.
10/9/2013
Opened the box at 9:30am.
Plugged in the Cube to power and a port on my network switch
Removed the battery drain protection sleeve on 2 sensors and a key fob.
Installed ismartalarm app on T Mobile Galaxy Note 2 running stock Android 4.1.2 but just rooted.
Opened the App and it did find the cube on my network. That is where it stopped. Asks me to set network settings manually and app just stops when I hit done.
All the above happened in 15 minutes. Called the toll free number. I was told that a tech would call by 10:30 or so. He called at 11. He sent me one version of the App to create a log file. I did that. What I found out is that the App thinks that my phone is not on the same network as the Cube. I was promised a fix by the end of the day by Jerry Yu. I told him that I will return by tomorrow if I cannot activate it. He understands. To be fair, I did not have to wait to talk to anyone. I will update the review when I have something new. I wanted to save grief to another Android user. It may work with iPhone.
7:15pm
Received updated .apk file from Jerry Yu.
7:40pm
Read the email, loaded the updated and all of a sudden it worked!
9:20pm
Added 2 sensors, 2 control FOBs as well as my wife's identical smart phone. Now I will go ahead and get 4 more sensors to cover all my doors. Yes. I have so many exterior doors. I added the motion sensor but I have trouble testing motion even after 90 seconds. I am sure it is something simple.
10/10/13
Jerry called me and helped me test everything. He even got the email to work when a sensor is triggered. I found out that one of the remote tags was not seen on the device list on the Smartphone App. By the way, be aware that the version of the App I have is not yet on Google Play store. It will be submitted shortly. I suggest that you contact ismartalarm and check if your smartphone will work with their system. They are very good about customer response including the CEO. The CEO personally decided to give me 10% credit in paypal account on my total spending of $320 including 4 more sensors and already did it. I also got a Fedex shipping label after I filled out RMA form and sent it to them.
All this happened in 48hrs. Impressive for a new startup company. Disclaimer: I have no personal contacts or financial interest in this company. I am retired hitech professional who likes to try these things before average user can use them. I will write a blog one of these days on this topic.
I will update this review after I add 4 more sensors a HTC One and a Nexus 4 also in my family. Moral of this story, if it is not working call tech support before you return the device.
10/13/03
I received 4 contact sensors very fast after ordering. 2 of them activated just fine. 2 of them were wrongly recognized by the Android App (Not yet released to Google play FYI) that I got directly from the company as remote tags. I removed them using the App, shut down the cube. closed the android App completely, removed batteries from the wrongly recognized contact sensors (very easy to do), waited for the cube to come back up, opened the Android App, But the batteries back in the contact sensors, waited for 10 seconds or more, tried to add sensor. No sensors found. I tried this twice and sent email to Jerry and the CEO last night and asked if Jerry who happens to live just a mile away from me can actually come home on Monday morning to see what is happening.
On this basis, I am lowering my rating to 2 stars. Not really a reliable DIY product. I think, there should be a PC browser based App which works on all platforms PC, Mac, Ubuntu like the Nest alarm as long as the user is on the same network and authenticates with the server. I see too much dependence on the server. Basic functions MUST work even when there is internet outage as long as router is working and control and monitor devices are connected to the router.
I will update this review until I finish the system or return it. This is my longest review on Amazon.
10/26/03
The system has become a known devil. The Android App keeps crashing which means I don't get notified when a sensor is triggered. I do get phone call if the ismartalram server and my internet are workign which is hopefully 99% of the time. If you need 100% reliability, you need battery backup and sim card in the system to send text message to multiple numbers in your area or pay ADT or some one.
I hope the Android App to be released supposedly at the end of this month and also firmware upgrede in the cubeone would make the system more reliable.
Updated the review 12/19 after Firmware update to Cubeone base unit and Android App update.
The Cubeone firmware was updated early Dec. After that, I had a power outage and internet outage but the unit came back to normal. I did not have to reset any sensors. Also, the Android App was not failing as much. Then I upgraded to Android 4.3 on Dec 17th days and also the iSmartAlarm App was updated.
In the past 2 days, I did not see the Android App failing due to "data fail". Also, the notifications seem to be working without having to force stop the Android App and re-start. One interesting thing I noticed is that there is sometimes a time lag of 5 min before notifications come and all the notifications come almost at once. I changed my rating to 3 stars from 1 star. Acceptable. I will be updating the review again based on how the performance is for a few weeks. I want to see no more data fail errors or cubeone failing because it cannot connect to network even if that happens for 24hrs. Since there is no display on
Cubeone, I would like to see the Android App work as long as Cubeone and Android are on the same wifi network even if internet fails. If a sensor is breached even if Alarm is not activated, there needs to be some notificaton even if it means an option to chirp the Cubeone. Two be fair, their Application engineer Jerry was in touch quite often by email.
See www.ismartalarm.com
This unit comes with what looks like a cube, 2 door contact sensors, 1 motion sensor, 2 remote key tags. I used Samsung Galaxy Note 2 TMobile version running stock Android 4.1.2 with a version of the App I received from ismartalarm directly.
10/9/2013
Opened the box at 9:30am.
Plugged in the Cube to power and a port on my network switch
Removed the battery drain protection sleeve on 2 sensors and a key fob.
Installed ismartalarm app on T Mobile Galaxy Note 2 running stock Android 4.1.2 but just rooted.
Opened the App and it did find the cube on my network. That is where it stopped. Asks me to set network settings manually and app just stops when I hit done.
All the above happened in 15 minutes. Called the toll free number. I was told that a tech would call by 10:30 or so. He called at 11. He sent me one version of the App to create a log file. I did that. What I found out is that the App thinks that my phone is not on the same network as the Cube. I was promised a fix by the end of the day by Jerry Yu. I told him that I will return by tomorrow if I cannot activate it. He understands. To be fair, I did not have to wait to talk to anyone. I will update the review when I have something new. I wanted to save grief to another Android user. It may work with iPhone.
7:15pm
Received updated .apk file from Jerry Yu.
7:40pm
Read the email, loaded the updated and all of a sudden it worked!
9:20pm
Added 2 sensors, 2 control FOBs as well as my wife's identical smart phone. Now I will go ahead and get 4 more sensors to cover all my doors. Yes. I have so many exterior doors. I added the motion sensor but I have trouble testing motion even after 90 seconds. I am sure it is something simple.
10/10/13
Jerry called me and helped me test everything. He even got the email to work when a sensor is triggered. I found out that one of the remote tags was not seen on the device list on the Smartphone App. By the way, be aware that the version of the App I have is not yet on Google Play store. It will be submitted shortly. I suggest that you contact ismartalarm and check if your smartphone will work with their system. They are very good about customer response including the CEO. The CEO personally decided to give me 10% credit in paypal account on my total spending of $320 including 4 more sensors and already did it. I also got a Fedex shipping label after I filled out RMA form and sent it to them.
All this happened in 48hrs. Impressive for a new startup company. Disclaimer: I have no personal contacts or financial interest in this company. I am retired hitech professional who likes to try these things before average user can use them. I will write a blog one of these days on this topic.
I will update this review after I add 4 more sensors a HTC One and a Nexus 4 also in my family. Moral of this story, if it is not working call tech support before you return the device.
10/13/03
I received 4 contact sensors very fast after ordering. 2 of them activated just fine. 2 of them were wrongly recognized by the Android App (Not yet released to Google play FYI) that I got directly from the company as remote tags. I removed them using the App, shut down the cube. closed the android App completely, removed batteries from the wrongly recognized contact sensors (very easy to do), waited for the cube to come back up, opened the Android App, But the batteries back in the contact sensors, waited for 10 seconds or more, tried to add sensor. No sensors found. I tried this twice and sent email to Jerry and the CEO last night and asked if Jerry who happens to live just a mile away from me can actually come home on Monday morning to see what is happening.
On this basis, I am lowering my rating to 2 stars. Not really a reliable DIY product. I think, there should be a PC browser based App which works on all platforms PC, Mac, Ubuntu like the Nest alarm as long as the user is on the same network and authenticates with the server. I see too much dependence on the server. Basic functions MUST work even when there is internet outage as long as router is working and control and monitor devices are connected to the router.
I will update this review until I finish the system or return it. This is my longest review on Amazon.
10/26/03
The system has become a known devil. The Android App keeps crashing which means I don't get notified when a sensor is triggered. I do get phone call if the ismartalram server and my internet are workign which is hopefully 99% of the time. If you need 100% reliability, you need battery backup and sim card in the system to send text message to multiple numbers in your area or pay ADT or some one.
I hope the Android App to be released supposedly at the end of this month and also firmware upgrede in the cubeone would make the system more reliable.
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