šŸš€ In the Zone ā€” Introducing Homey Portal

Official Announcements
204

Looking at the hardware inside Homey Portal, the potential battery life would realistically be measured in hours rather than days or months.

Making the comparison to something like an Apple Watch is therefore a bit of a stretch. Portal doesnā€™t use an ultra-low-power mobile/wearable SoC designed around battery life. It uses a Rockchip RK3566, the exact same SoC thatā€™s used in Home Assistant Green, for example.

You could obviously add a fairly large battery and aggressively put everything to sleep, but at that point youā€™d also start compromising the always-connected and instantly responsive experience Portal is designed around.

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And in many cheap Android tablets and TV boxes. So there are battery-powered devices using Rockchip modules, but those tablets do of course have a bigger battery, not have the screen always on and very battery-efficient software (since itā€™s Android, which is designed for mobile devices).

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So is portal actually calculating stuf or just displaying info received from homey and sending commands to homey ? I mean it does not do much. Not much processing power is needed right ?

The main battery drain would be the screen and communication with homey.

And for ā‚¬ 299 in 2026 ā€¦ why is there no ā€œ ultra low power ā€œ solution used in the first place ?

And there are low Power screens or always on solutions software wise.

Put a round 1 cm thick battery behind the portal ā€¦ that size would be 20000 mAh at least ā€¦ in combination with good low powered hardware ā€¦it will work weeks and i will buy ( even if ā‚¬350 )

Not with a wire unfortunately. No wires across the table or across the wall for just a luxurious remote ā€¦ i have my MOBILE HOMEY APP for that.

why weather on a portal On a table with an ugly wire ? I have 5 weather apps On my iphone max with more options and way more info right next to me.

What does the wired portal hanging on my wall with a 1.5 meter cable do that the homey app on my iPhone ( that is always in my reach !! ) can not do ?

So i need to stand up from my couch .. walk to the wall .. check the energy pricing ? Its on my phone that is with me in the couch to begin with :person_shrugging:. The homey app / Zonneplan app / Vattenfall app show pricing all in my hand.

its 2026 ā€¦ i do not walk to my thermostat or portal to change temperature ā€¦ i check the homey app and move the heat up if needed. Or I use the Remeha app from my couch.

Or better yetā€¦ the BASIC POINT OFF HOMEY (!) .. i automated the crap out of my thermostat with flows and sensors so i never have to check the temperature ā€œon my wallā€ in the first place :rofl:

And yes gadget wise there is a charm for the portal ā€¦ IF ā€¦ it was wireless and therefore flexible.

207

I just wanted to pop in and cut through some of the negativity in here. I love this thing!!! Would love it to be cheaper, sure, but for some reason I know it is actually going to work, and guests will understand how to use it because you guys rock!. The demo was sick.

I have a bunch of other devices around here that try to do something like this; they were all about half your cost (or a little less), and ZERO of them actually work. Noone uses or understands them in my house. 100% waste of time and money.

Anyone who cares what their home looks like does not want a tablet on their wall, and every home I see with one is total trash. The person who made it likes it, but a normal person in a space will avoid it.

To all the people who are like I have a Phone to do all thisā€¦ Reminderā€¦ you still have your phone and you donā€™t need to buy this. This is a device for a person who regularly has friends and family over and not for nerds in their momā€™s basement.

I would really like to see this as a Bridge replacement (With +$), though (specifically with IR, Zigbee and Thread). Would feel better as a wall switch replacement then, and be the new NEST thermostat.

208

I guess you are just not the target audience then. I think a lot of people would love to have more ways to keep their phones inside of their pocket. Intuitiveness is not just having everything on your phone. I have clocks around the house because I also want to see the time with the phone still in my pocket. I have light buttons for the same reason, in the room where Iā€™m standing. If Iā€™m making coffee then I want buttons right where Iā€™m standing too.

So, in that respect, the Homey Portal makes perfect sense. Itā€™s focused on the room where you are at that moment. For me, the kitchen would be the most logical place to put one. The kitchen is my gateway when entering or leaving the house, so a good place to see the weather or any reminders before I leave my house. Itā€™s where I listen to music. And itā€™s far from the front door, so I could really use a display for my front door camera here. Having a timer for cooking would be a nice bonus.

But.. I do agree with you that the cable will always be a source of irritation. I would need to move the display around depending on where Iā€™m standing. Actually now that Iā€™m thinking about it, when you are using the alarm for cooking it would be really essential that you can take the portal with you and easily move it somewhere else. It would have been amazing if the portal would have a wireless charging cradle so you can have it ā€œalways onā€ but also move it freely, even for just a few hours.

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@MediaSmurf

Well people differ.

I have an apple watch .. so no need to for clocks .. or timers in a kitchen. And if you need to ā€œmove a wireless portal to where you are standingā€ ā€¦ why not carry a wireless phone doing the same and even way more functions ?

When i am in the kitchen and the bell rings .. my hands are dirty of food .. i can see on my phone who is ringing the bell and even tell them i will need to wash my hands first before I open ( just with my phone wireless on the counter )

Well if the must is there to ā€œleave your phone in your pocket ā€œ ā€¦ sure spend ā‚¬299. I personally put my phone on do not disturb and will use it to read a recipe in the kitchen or set the same timer ( or just ceck my watch )

But everybody is different off course

as i said in my post .. IF wireless i would buy ( more as a gadget .. not a revolution on my kitchen counter )

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Friends and family can use the still workable light switches ( works AND with homey AND with the actual switch ) or thermostat or use the somfy remote hanging on the wall next to my sunscreen :+1::rofl:

And i use the homey app when i am locked in my mommies basement :partying_face:

My friends and family do not have to do a thing in my home ā€¦ i automated it with homey you know !!!

Lights go on automaticallyā€¦ sunscreens operates on there own. When they shower the fan goes on automatically. All can be overrided with regular buttons or available remotes. Think that is how automation should work. So they do not need a separate portal in the living room / shower / guest rooms ( costing ā‚¬900 !!! ). Hence my 80 year old family would not even know how to operate the portal !!

Are your friends and family checking the weather on the the ā‚¬299 wired portal hanging on your wall ? Or will they check on there phones when they visit you ?

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@Doekse

You know what Athom should develop instead of a ā‚¬299 remote ā€¦ a good battery powered outside illumination sensor. That updates like the aqara light sensor ( every few seconds for months with a watch battery ) ā€¦ but working waterproof. And not like the popular hue one ā€¦ updating every 5 mins ( useless for screens for example )

The size in between the two .. so bigger battery then aqara one .. ā€œ made for Homey ā€œ . Bestseller at ā‚¬60

A working FP300 .. but made and tuned by athom

Build in switches / dimmers .. but smaller form factor that fit easily in wall boxes

So much options and you end up with a ā‚¬299 wired remote :rofl:

Make high end sensors !!! You can ask a higher end pricing.

ā€œMade by athom .. tuned for homey.ā€ Sensors !

212

You donā€™t have to buy it. No one is forcing you, but you are wasting time crying about it online, so there is the.

Who cares if it has weather? Every feature is optional. I would have the weather shown in some locations as I donā€™t have a phone on me when i get out of bed and make my coffee, im neked. Quick glance and I can decide what to wear that day.. or not. I guess you donā€™t like options and need to be told what to do. Lets just be honest, you want this thing but just canā€™t afford a bunch of themā€¦ Its OK. If they were half the price, I would likely buy double. If this thing is great, maybe someone else will make a cheaper one, but so far all the others suck!

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@Jeff_B

Affording is no issue.

This is a forum ā€¦ open to discussion (what you describe as crying )

If u can read better u would understand I think a wired remote for ā‚¬ 299 is not worth to replace or compliment my phone that does the same ā€¦ BETTER. I like to discuss this and hope people can find a use for that wired thing ā€¦ and perhaps convince me.

If you you do not know how to solve simple basic automation and how to use flows ā€¦ buy many portals so you can use home automation ā€¦. manually :joy:

Btw ā€¦ my iPhone clock already show me the weather when I am still neked in bed. Removing the phone from my dock will trigger my coffee machine to turn on. No need for a WIRED portal in my kitchenā€¦ not convinced

Good luck with your portal ā€¦ hope you like it :+1:

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If you think 299 is not worth what it does, seams like you made the point, and itā€™s time to move on, as this product just isnā€™t for you.

Personally, I host lots of people in my home, and they donā€™t know how automations work, and I canā€™t build automations for how all of them work, because people are very different. The automations in my main space are very complicated because I am lucky that I can use natural ventilation to heat/cool my home. People are NOT used to that.

That is great that your phone is with you and you can do everything. Thatā€™s a 1k device in your pocket that you charge and maintain every day. That works for you. I donā€™t give my guests a copy of my phone to carry around my home. We donā€™t have phones on us when we are hopping in and out of the pool/hot tub, working out, etc. I donā€™t expect every person in my house to have a device on their person 100% of the time; your life is better without your phone on you.

How do normal humans deal with all the automations in my main living areas or bedrooms when my automation does the opposite of what they want? I personally donā€™t have a set routine to use your coffee pot automation. I live a dynamic life where I probably wonā€™t set up my coffee maker every night before I put my phone on the charger. I also might wake up and want tea or another style of coffee. I also might sleep in later than someone else who wants coffee first.

This device looks like a great solution to pop down and allow anyone access to some complicated automations when they want them to happen, and some means to intervene when they donā€™t. You choose what to expose to people and can currate how complex it is.

The alternate options are:

Wall Mounted Tablet - ugly, and since they can do everything, they feature creep to be super complicated for others. Only your nerd friends will dig these. My home is beautiful inside; no way a tablet is going on my wall in most places.

Voice Assistant - I donā€™t want people screaming at my house, and guests donā€™t know the commands/features, as there is no means of discovery. The portal: you can give people a few toggle buttons for scenes, and some means to manually adjust items like the lighting colors; itā€™s a UI that looks approachable. Very iPhone/Apple Watch - which people are familiar.

Buttons - These are great for some things, but you need to make scenes/flows for everything and know what all these buttons do. These have their place. You can get 4 or 5 switches for the cost of a portal, but the portal can do more. Great solution for some things though.

SwitchBot Hub 3 - I use one of these. The UI is terrible. SwitchBot stuff with Homey is poor. It is very limited, but that device is basically a Portal at a lower price point. It works for me in My Spaces, but it sucks in reality for others. Do we need a device that can fill in the gap between these devices? YES. We do. A Portal Mini with some cost-cutting would be great here.

There is an Aqara switch with a tiny screen on it. You can get 3 of them for the cost of the portal. It is hard to use due to the size. Can only do basic things and is limited to your switch locations. You need to bend over to read it, and it is hard to see for anyone who needs reading glasses. The UI is not intuitive, but itā€™s not a bad option for some places. Only comes in white, so it is not an option for me in the public areas of my home.

So what did I miss that would solve my needs other than Portal?

I ordered 2 for my main public areas, and if they work out, I will put one in each of my Guest Rooms. Putting them in other areas will likely depend on what comes next in Portal, because you know Homey is going to continue development here. Are they going to allow community widgets.. maybe/likely? The value proposition attached to future development has some legs (but donā€™t buy things today based on future hopes/plans)

215

Again you are not reading at all.

The point is i ( or my wife ) do NOT have our phones with us for automations ā€¦. Because ā€¦ its AUTOMATED

So i do not need a portal ā€¦ because IF i need to use a portal for something ā€¦ that something can be better done or faster with a phone.

I gave examples ā€¦ you walk to a wired portal to check the weather when you wake up. I just look at my alarm clock when i wake up. I do not need a portal for the weather ( neither do others in my household )

The point of automation is AUTOMATE THINGS.

Homey is meant for AUTOMATION. So athom releasing a WIRED remote is the opposite of automation in my opinion.

And yes lots can not be automated ā€¦ but that can be covered by phone on my table also. No need for an fixed and wired remote ( i also stated that a battery version would perhaps change things for me )

And even then ā€¦ if my phone is not near me ā€œ he siri dimm the lights ā€œ !! The portal does not have a speaker or mike in 2026 for ā‚¬299

We look at it differently ā€¦ no worries.

Enjoy

216

According to the internal website, it does have a speaker though

217

I am afraid you are the one failing to read.

#1 - Automations are great until they donā€™t do what people want, like guests. If your automations work with no intervention, you wonā€™t need anything, so why are you here? I live a dynamic life that can not be automated by Sensors alone and I want my guests to have access to complex automations and controls easy. I listed available products that CAN NOT do what Portal CAN.

#2 - If your phone is faster YOU, YOU donā€™t need a portal. You donā€™t need any device, so again why are you here?

#3 - Your weather example is stupid and you are just using it because its on the Portal as a feature. Its a nice-to-have optionā€¦ that is all. I would never use it either, especially since the Homey weather module is very inaccurate for my location.

#4 Automate Everything. See Item #1. If you live such a predictable life that automations solve everything, great. Your life is predictable, and you have no variables like other people in your life, so you shouldnā€™t be looking at a Portal.. but you did and decided to post about it. Why? You should be 100% dialed in already.
#5 Homey may be only for automations for YOU, but since you are only you and no one else, I think the rest of the world might have a different opinion on what Homey is for. You just keep being you without a portal; the rest of the world will be fine with that decision.

Sucks that the Portal isnā€™t for you, but you made the argument that you also donā€™t need the Portal anyways because you already have everything you need on your phone, so maybe you can just buy another phone or something.

218

You also said something about needing a long cable hanging off the wall to mount a portal to the wall. That is 100% NOT true. Depending on your walls, there are a lot of ways to mount the portal to the wall with no cables hanging off. It ships that way because that is the MOST common use case for a world product and works everywhere.

Easiest way to add a portal to the wall is get a cut-in box and install it vertically above an existing outlet or wherever you can get power, depending on your homeā€™s construction (that varies around the world). Bury a USB power adapter/cable behind the Homey in the cut-in box. DONE. It is easy for anyone in the home building trades or has some DIY skills.
Now you donā€™t have to charge a main controller in your home, hide a huge battery or nerf the thing so it uses no power and lasts a long time. Those devices exist. See ESPHome.

219

@Jeff_B

My last response ā€¦ u do not read AND are twisting words

I tell you the same basically

It has nothing to do with leading predictable lives. The automation of my lights work perfectly in 99% of the cases because sensors read the lux. In the UNPREDICTABLE 1% ā€¦ I use my phone to switch on the lights ā€¦ā€¦ OR MY GUESTS can walk to the fixed WIRED light switch on the wall AND SWITCH THE LIGHT ON. Why buy a wired fixed portal to do the same ?

Sure we can think of a million cases a variable is different and an automation fails.

If it fails I use my phone or press a button TO CORRECT ā€¦ when if fails for you you walk to a wired portal and turn lights on.

I explained. When things are not predictable ā€¦ I press a light switch ā€¦. I walk to the screen remote to lower a sunscreen ( like my GUEST CAN like the old days we had no computers ). A portal does the same wired in a different form.

I explained. I automated the thermostat in homey. Works super In 95% of the cases. If unpredictable chilly I change on my phone OR my GUESTS can stand up an walk to the wall thermostat an change it ā€¦. Like most people do by the way. No need for a fixed wired location for a portal to do that. OR I say ā€œ he Siri temp one degree up ā€œ

Again this is MY opinion an feel free to differ.

This was my final post on this ā€¦. If u still not get it ā€¦ so be it

PS .. besides you blah blah ā€¦ you still did not give me ONE example where the portal outshines my combination of automation / fail safe phone / fail safe hardware options ā€¦ in case of unpredictable stuff happens or my guest are lost without a portal in my home ā€¦. NONE

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Ow I am not sure ā€¦ perhaps I misread.

Not sure why only a speaker is of much use ā€¦.. A Mike for a voice assistant would be useful though.

221

Having fun reading the last page of comments. Just one thingā€¦

My guests donā€™t have to change one thing in my house. Why?

Maybe in the toilet, but thereā€™s a sensor.

If Iā€™m with friends Iā€™m not the one who will decide when the shades are going down, or when the lights are turned on.

Itā€™s MY house, so I decide whatā€™s happening. Not my guests.

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It has a speaker. FYI: check my earlier question on it and Athomā€™s response in the subsequent post:

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ā‚¬249 wow.. a real ā€œintroductionā€.

Although it seems very cool en usefull but itā€™s way overprices. I would need 10pcs

kitchen, living, office, 3x bedrooms, garage, 2x bathrooms, halway (or at least 9).

AND for the ā‚¬249 DOESNT eveb have a TEMPERATURE SENSOR.

and i still need some usb cable running over the l, could they add a 230v wall mount verion/ option.

button+ is the way to go now.

Or just glue a phone on a wireless wall-integrated charger.