Hacker News

points by r0fl 3 days ago | 0 comments

I saw a lot of people say the homeview is stupid, they can get an iPad and a dock

The homeview at $299 is the great value Apple product by far, compared to the price of new iPads

The 512 nano texture iPad mini with a case and pencil and Apple care and tax and tip in Canada is well over $2000!!!

I don’t see homeview being worth it unless they allow app installs. $300 for a display that shows photos and smart home controls is kinda pointless. You can’t even put up your home assistant dashboard on it.

[–] Tagbert 3 days ago

I think there will be be app integration, but hopefully no App Store. We know that apps can work on HomeView using CarPlay. Not sure that is sufficient long term, perhaps just to jump start things. They may need to enhance that library to allow more kinds of apps to work with HomeView.

Right now, I think they are bringing out an MVP and waiting to see how people react to it and what kinds of things turn out to be useful. When they launched the Watch, no one was sure what kinds of things we would want to do on it. It took a while to see what was useful. I think a model where apps on your phone provide HomeView widgets like the Watch might be better than writing apps specifically for such a device.

[–] paxy 3 days ago

Sure, but it’s weird to consider a device to be good value when the reason for that value is features you hope will launch in future updates maybe years down the line.

[–] tacker2000 3 days ago

The homeview is DOA, I'm sorry. Who is the target for this?

There is no app store. I mean maybe they will add one later, but still until that happens I really dont see any use case besides setting some kitchen timers.

Yes, smart home is a thing, but tons of people need apps like Hue or Shelly to control their setup.

[–] r0fl 3 days ago

Old people

I’m buying one for my parents and in-laws

They have iPads

iPads are never charged and in some random spot in their being empty houses

This will make sure my kids can FaceTime their grandparents whenever they want

That’s worth $300 to make my kids and my parents happy

[–] bigyabai 3 days ago

> This will make sure my kids can FaceTime their grandparents whenever they want

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that charged iPads are not the primary constraint here. If you can't trust them to keep their iPads charged, there's a good chance that you'll come back in a year and the HomeView hasn't left the setup screen, or is sitting in a box somewhere.

[–] StrictDabbler 3 days ago

I haven't been in Canada in a while. I don't understand why you are tipping on an iPad mini. Are you Doordashing it? What changed since I left?

[–] dkdbejwi383 3 days ago

You tip for purchases from a shop in Canada? Or is that a joke that's gone over my head?

[–] r0fl 3 days ago

That was a joke lol Tipping culture is so insane in North America