Control4 (CTRL), a leading provider of smart home solutions, today announced the upcoming roll-out of its OS 2.7 software, which will power several new Control4® solutions for smart homes. The OS 2.7 software release will support elegant new touch screens that will enable instantaneous HD video intercom communications throughout the home, beautiful enhancements to the Control4 user interface for an enriched, interactive climate control experience, Control4’s versatile new wireless thermostat, and a newly redesigned handheld system remote.
“Today, we announce several new solutions that have been designed to dramatically enhance the Control4 experience for homeowners and their families around the world,” said Control4 Chairman and CEO, Martin Plaehn. “By centering our efforts on delivering exceptional performance, exquisite design and engaging interaction, including integrating with the third-party products that customers may want in their homes, our new solutions will empower our Dealers to deliver to their customers the customized lifestyle benefits of a Control4 Smart Home.”
A New HD Video Intercom Experience Featuring Powerful and Blazingly-Fast touch screens
Whether you want to see who is at the front door, check on your sleeping baby, or simply call the family together for dinner, the Control4® high-quality audio/video intercom makes it simple and convenient — and all of that functionality is automatically enabled on every new Control4® touch screen.
Homeowners can experience this elegant video intercom capability with the all-new Control4® touch screens, which feature a High Definition camera, high-quality speakers and microphone, and a fast, high-resolution display providing full frame-rate HD video – delivering a smooth, life-like call experience. Other key benefits include:
- Dramatically faster connection speed, to let you quickly see who’s at the front door
- Crisp, full-screen visual clarity so that you can monitor your sleeping baby or check on your children playing in another room at a glance,
- Enhanced control and privacy functionality, including settings for do not disturb, audio-only, and auto-answer
- The ability to select an alternate camera as the video source for exterior video door stations, providing preferred view and the best audio source whether inside or outside the home
- When connected on the same home or business network, interoperability with third-party SIP products, including door stations (from industry leaders like Siedle and 2N), home phones, and mobile apps for iOS & Android
- Out-of-the-box intercom functionality – simply add at least two video-enabled end-points (one or more video touch screens or video door stations), and the security and convenience of Control4’s HD Video Intercom is now part of your smart home experience.
Control4 also announced a new line of gorgeous, gesture-capable glass-edge touch screens that operate as dedicated interfaces for Control4 Smart Homes, bringing intuitive, responsive, and elegant interactions to homeowners’ entertainment, lighting, comfort and security experiences. With a simple swipe, you can browse music playlists and display bold cover art images. In addition, it’s easy to personalize lighting, temperature, and security settings directly on the expansive touch screen. As powerful on the inside as it is beautiful on the outside, the new line of touch screens are powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core processor, providing all the horsepower necessary to drive the new graphics and HD video capabilities, as well as the capacitive-touch user interaction. Key features of the new Control4 touch screens include:
- 7” and 10” sizes available for in-wall installations
- 7” tabletop available for coffee-table, bed-stand, and portable use
- Extremely fast and responsive processing power
- Crisp, beautiful picture quality, with twice the resolution of previous models
- HD camera, high-quality speakers and microphone for video intercom use with touch screens, a door station, or front gate
- A brand new interface for managing smart locks throughout the home (exclusive to the new line of touch screens)
- One-touch access to local and regional weather forecasts.
A New Comfort Experience
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Control4® OS 2.7 also delivers a completely redesigned Comfort Control experience, with an elegant new UI to provide easy interactive climate control in the home – or from miles away. The new Comfort Control experience features a more intuitive dial interface for quick access to all comfort functions, including temperature, heat/cool set-points, thermostat mode, fan speed and humidity levels, as well as access to new configurable comfort control presets. These new presets are an intuitive and easy way to save all of your HVAC settings and recall them with one touch, or simply have them take effect automatically on a schedule or when a designated event occurs. The new Control4 comfort experience also works with the world’s leading HVAC systems, including forced air, radiant heating, split HVAC, dual fuel and geothermal systems. Additionally, the new interface works seamlessly with the most popular thermostat brands across the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia including: Aprilaire, Carrier, Cool Automation, Heatmiser, and Nest.
As part of the OS 2.7 release, Control4 is also introducing a new wireless thermostat, purposely built for comfort control and automation, and jointly developed with climate control specialists Aprilaire. The new Control4/Aprilaire Wireless Thermostat delivers a consistently comfortable home, with advanced HVAC control built-in for ideal comfort and efficient operation. The wireless thermostat features enhanced compatibility for use with more modern HVAC systems, including geothermal, dual fuel, and humidity control systems, and offers advanced scheduling and presets for increased flexibility and comfort. Additionally, the new wireless thermostat can be powered using AC power or batteries, allowing for maximum installation flexibility.
Entertainment Enhancements
To enhance the entertainment experience in homes worldwide, Control4 also announced a new handheld system remote. The new Control4® system remote is the perfect handheld interface for your entire home and is available in two models, with either English or iconographic buttons. The new system remote features:
Control4 will demonstrate these new solutions from February 10 to 12, 2015 in conjunction with the 2015 Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) at the Amsterdam RAI Exhibition and Convention Center, and will share the news with its global Dealer base through a Livestream video event scheduled for February 10th at 11am EST. Integrators at ISE are encouraged to visit the Control4 booth located at 10-N114 for live demonstrations, and Dealers and distribution partners not attending the ISE show are encouraged to contact their Control4 sales representative or visit www.control4.com to learn more.
- Intuitive button layout and powerful programmability to give you the perfect remote to control your entire smart home, from entertainment to smart lighting
- Custom buttons that Dealers can program to control devices in the home theater, the family room, or elsewhere in the home
- A larger display that offers a variety of font colors and improved readability
- A more intuitive List Navigator design, making it easy to control everything in your home
- Two models, one with English buttons (SR-260) and one with international icons (SR-260i), making this the perfect remote control for a global community
- Redesigned button layout that makes your media experience more intuitive and easy to use in the dark or with one-hand
- Brighter keypad backlighting that automatically adjusts based on ambient light levels
- On-screen support for multiple languages, including multi-byte characters
- Faster and more responsive command processing
- Interoperability with Control4’s existing recharging stations.