Internet of things ... that cry for good UI / UX

I think that, theoretically, we would already be able to connect most of the existing devices to the Internet, and this is the reason for the growing interest in the Internet of Things ( IoT ).

Whether we get much benefit from this is another question.

I recently caught a facepalm about the Internet of Things when I found out that my girlfriend had connected her cat's tray to the Internet. Through the application on the smartphone, it monitors how full it is. If only her cat knew about it!

Of course, the tray still requires manual emptying, and in the application you need to click on “reset” to reset the readings and start counting again. At this moment, I asked myself the question: “Why?”

Connecting things to the Internet that require your constant physical presence seems a little ridiculous to me: kettles, coffee machines, cat litter trays ... and this list seems to continue to grow.

Do not get me wrong, I have several IoT devices: in particular, a smart plug, which I use for security reasons to turn the lamp on and off in accordance with the established schedule. I set the schedule through my iPhone, and then leave the device alone using the switch on the plug itself.

Nevertheless, I have yet to find a good reason for using such lotions (not counting the dubious entertainment aspect). I don’t think that I’ll ever “ask Alex” to switch the light on / off remotely while being three meters away from the switch.

I use a smart switch solely because it has a better interface than most clunky mechanical switches.

Real internet of things or just a little better UI?

All this made me think about a whole class of home devices that have terrible user interfaces that could be used to make a much better UI when running from a smartphone.

I mean such devices for which the manufacturer did not want to invest additional funds: an extra button, another LED, a larger LCD display, a slightly more complex controller, etc. Sometimes I think that manufacturers have not even thought about the interface.

After all, a smartphone is an ideal universal place to host a user interface for managing home devices - it is always at our fingertips.

All of you probably used the devices to which a manual is attached, carefully describing how to hold down one poorly allocated button, waiting for some strange confirmation signal of a mode change, slightly different from the previous one, and then continue controlling by pressing the same poorly-marked buttons .

These were the VCRs when they first appeared (in the 1970s), such are the majority of alarm systems to this day.

Unfortunately, our houses are still filled with this kind of equipment, from boilers to refrigerators and microwave ovens, and all of them are limited in terms of UX, because the manufacturer was limited either by his ingenuity or by the budget for their development.

His innocent and simple look hides a more convoluted story: it is located right next to the water heater (which seems logical), about 25 cm from the floor (less logical, given the height of an adult), on a wall in a darkened closet, at such a distance from the heater, which requires you to hold your head between the heater and the device. I am over 40 now, and in order to see things nearby I need to wear glasses. Using the flashlight to read from the small screen of the device is made difficult by the reflection on this LCD display, so ultimately I use the hand mirror and the flashlight to see the display in the opposite direction. Needless to say, without a manual (I tried, but I could not find it on the Internet), I could conclude that each button is responsible (there are only 4 of them - with poor labeling and a choice of several modes), balancing in an uncomfortable position problematic.

It seems that this is exactly the category of devices that would benefit from adding a better user interface and control from a smartphone.

A slightly less frustrating, but still puzzling example is my washing machine: I rent an apartment, so I can’t choose a washing machine myself. Its controls are quite logical, although quite amusingly translated and the icons above the buttons look like hieroglyphs. What is really confusing is finding out the state of the machine during washing. The manufacturer decided to use a set of four LEDs to describe this, and avoided the cost of the LCD. In the middle of the wash, I usually do not know in what mode the machine works and how much time is left until the end of the wash. This is the type of device that I could configure using existing controls, but might have wanted to see the wash mode and notifications on my smartphone.

Is it online?

Do our home devices, which we use mainly at home, really need access to the Internet and the possibility of remote control?

If all the brains, with the exception of the user interface, are inside the device, should there be a better way to connect to it, given the growing number of such devices?

I'm not talking about those IoT devices that use cloud services for data collection and remote control in accordance with this data, but rather about the devices I like to be with while holding the smartphone in my hand and control them with the improved UI through the app.

Isn't connecting these devices via home Wi-Fi enough to authorize a smartphone connected via the same Wi-Fi?

It may be worthwhile to use more standardized home hubs and local networks, instead of connecting them to the Internet. In that case, can this be called the "Intranet of Things"?

Perhaps you should use a different kind of connection, for example, bluetooth ... although, also not an option, because the more devices I connect, the more unreliable the connection will be.

Easier interface, harder to connect

In addition to the need for the Internet, my smart plug each time performs a complex process of pairing with my smartphone and connecting it to your home wifi router. All this is required for a simpler online interface.

If the connection with the device fails at least once, you will have to reconnect it again.

It still amazes me that the pairing process is at least as complex as the direct physical control of the more cumbersome regulators without IoT, the use of which I tried to avoid.

More convenient home appliances control

Despite all these obstacles, all this is an excellent opportunity to introduce the Internet of Things and a decent user interface into many devices in our homes that have been deprived of a good method of interaction with them.

Manufacturers may suddenly have a tendency to add new features for which the user interface on the device will be cumbersome, but the UI on the smartphone will help to easily control the equipment. Refrigerator manufacturers may, for example, implement a function that reports internal temperature and defrost status. Microwave oven manufacturers can offer much more comprehensive cooking and defrosting programs that are too complex to use with existing controls.

Maybe instead of just connecting to the Internet, IoT technology can help control the technology if we also add the best UI to it?