Its ā¬ 299, introduction price lasted only 2 days.
is it expected that the price will drop when RAMmageddon is over?
the current price is a bit to steep, i am interested and was thinking of bying one for the ā¬249 because i was realy curious of the portal but ā¬299 is not my price range. If it would be set to ā¬150 or max ā¬175, i would have some use cases for it.
Perhaps, but I donāt think itās realistic to think the retail price will drop to ā¬175 because of it.
My home/life is more complex than yours, I guess.
My lights are not just controlled by Lux (sometimes we want it bright, sometimes dark, sometimes lit a specific way) so the on/off/dim does not work for me. Lux control can only take you so far. I have an open floor plan with 2 large A Frame rooms intersecting at 90 degrees, one with a loft above. 20 foot ceilings and 28 foot ceilings, respectively. There are multiple light zones with track lights (on multiple zones) mounted the bottom of the open beams, hanging lights/chandaliers, wall sconces, table lamps, grow lights for some plants, a vivarium, and then some accent lights here and there. It is too complicated for just switches and dimmers, plus some of the switches do strange things like turn the fountain on/off and control all the outside lighting. I donāt like people massing with the switches so they are intentionally kinda hidden. Add that some lights are RGB (which you can control on Portal and I have not seen anywhere else). I also have operable skylights with operable shades, 2 other zones of operable shades - different manufacturers due to different window types. One entire wall is 2 floors top to bottom, all glass. The sun interactions in the space need to be delt with. To control the lighting how you want it for whatever activity, you need a phone/tablet. This home was not built for all this later-added tech. The switches are all over the place, the shades donāt even have switches, and the zones in terms of switched circuits vs the zones created in homey do not align. It would cost a fortune to redo all the switching/zones in the house, wspeciually given the walls are all clear grain ship-lapped wood siding and vaulted ceilings with no attic. It was a yoga retreat in its past life. Portal can sit on the main coffee table and take care of lighting in a way others can use, curated into a few simple ways with some limited control. (Or everyone can wait until I get home, I guessā¦ or call me on the phone, which is what happens now. Not getting that call is worth more than the Portal to me.)
This space is also heated/cooled by either 2 fireplaces (the Propane one is connected to Homeyor a remote) or Wood Fired that has a fan connected to Homey to circulate the heat. The main room is the middle floor with rooms below and above, though open stairwells. Cooling comes from the AC in the open area above, and heating from below when not using the fireplaces; guess where all those thermostats are? Not in this space. The windows and skylights are also operable and there are fans in all the spaces to naturally ventilate the space most of the time; guess where that thermostat isā¦nowhere. Try telling someone to open the windows on the 1st and 3rd floor to cool an areaā¦ Its currently controlled by an ugly W100 on the coffee table that looks lame (1/2 the price of Portal, looks lame, does almost nothing with a shit UI noone understands) The shades also automate to control heat/cooling in the space.
To manage this space, I have tried all the products I listed. It is automated for a normal day, but it is rarely normal. I am not putting a tablet on the wall; it is the wrong aesthetic. We spend a lot of time hiding all the tech in the space, as it has a more Buddhist/BoHo temple feel in the forest than some condo on Main Street. The space can be set up for 2 areas to hang out (small group/large group), can be set up to play live music or roll out yoga mats, turn on the candle warmers, and get your chi on, and blast a dance party. Itās a dynamic space full of dynamic people. Sometimes it is fully open to the outside deck area; sometimes it isnāt.
You are correct that I can control everything from my phone, assuming it is on me and I have my glasses with me to see all this stuff cluttering my screen. Just the Homey UI on an iPad for this space is a lot to deal with and not the vibe we are going for.
I am sorry Homey did NOT make a device for you, especially as you donāt need anything anyways. Not sure they could make a device that is not needed for you since these needs are defined by not needing anything. If you want a wireless powerful screen that is battery-powered, get a used iPod touch. They are $80. This $300 device looks to be the best and cheapest option for the space I described (easy to read, simple UI to learn muscle memory on) and will be an awesome device for the Master Guest Room/Game Room as well, which has a lot of these same complexities but at a smaller scale. I am paying the extra $ for something that looks nice in that space because it is just a beautiful/impressive space to be in, and this device will look the part.
A Honda Civic is cheaper than a BMW, and they do the same thingā¦ Not everyone drives a Honda though. My couch isnāt from Ikea; my clothes are not from Walmartā¦ there is a reason we pay just a little extra for different versions of things sometimes.
I am impressed, mate! Where are your clothes from? Maybe we all can learn a little style from you 
target.
Iāve ordered one and I admit itās a steep price. But I saw a use case in my home that this device will hopefully fulfil.
But for the future; have you considered an new version/adapter that has batteries and Qi charging? Dynamically changing zones depending of which zone the device it is in would be cool, or just when weāre having integrated Qi in our TV tables. 
Of all your posts I like this one the mostā¦
It is just one wordā
