Digital Home Thoughts: Nokia Offers Z-Wave Connectivity

"Since hearing about Nokia's foray into the world of home automation, our curiosity has been seriously piqued. Thankfully, our girl-on-the-scene Drita has captured video of the new software / hardware combo in action on the Nokia World show floor. It looks like a fully decked out system is going to run you a hefty fee (given all the components required), but can you put a price on the extreme laziness it will enable? We didn't think so. Check out the thrilling video out after the break!"

Nokia World 2008 is in full force, and one of their announcements is the launch of their "Home Control Center." Engadget has a video that quickly demonstrates its capabilities. Apparently, the Home Control Center gives Nokia phones the capability to access their Z-Wave enabled devices at home. There's no mention whether it will also interface with X10 and Zigbee devices. While I'm thrilled to see more companies embracing home automation, I get the sense that this is no more than a Nokia specific gateway for their phones to talk to Z-Wave modules. The same sort of functionality can be had, more or less, through an browser enabled phone, albeit not quite as easily. Would this be enough for you to pick a Nokia phone? Or is it just a nice extra feature that you might use?