The Telegraph – iPad for your pad

A TOOL THAT CAN CREATE MAGIC AT HOME.

Praneet Chawla, 36, bought an iPad through a friend in the US and even after a few weeks of playing around with it, hadn’t been able to figure out what was so new about the touch toy. It was a larger version of the iPhone, he thought. He used it to surf the Net and key in a few documents, but most of the time his kids used the iPad to play games on its 9.7-inch high-resolution screen.

That was till he heard how the iPad could be used as a tool to manage the fully wired, fully loaded home.

“The iPad can be used to control the lights, audio and visual elements as well as the temperature and security aspects of any home. There’s a special app for this and we programme the graphic-user-interface (icons and widgets) as per the customer’s requirement,” explains electronic architect Tejas Doshi.

The 30-year-old who has recently lit up City Centre New Town, The Park and Delhi Metro, with a client list including L.N. Mittal, Vijay Mallya and Sunil Khaitan, has been busy ever since the international launch of the tech tool.

“The iPod Touch was too small a touch panel but the iPad is just the right size. A home automation device usually costs Rs 4 lakh but now with the iPad, the same functions are available for only around Rs 25,000. No wonder everyone wants a piece of this magic to jazz up their homes,” says Tejas, who runs Light & Beyond, a lighting consulting company.

Apart from costing a fraction of the price of a home-automation device from a company like Creston, the iPad throws in an added function — it works through walls.

Not only does this add more masala to domestic battles between she and he fighting for their share of telly time during the World Cup month, it also means that you can change channels from the bathroom — if the need should arise.

Lights, camera, action…

With a home automation system on your iPad, you can watch the curtains close, the lights dim, the AC go on and movies play without leaving the cosy comfort of your couch. And Calcutta, currently playing catch up with the more savvy metros, is going for it with gusto. “In the past two years, Calcutta homes have become more tech-savvy. It is either because the youngsters in the family want to keep up with their peers or it’s due to the so-called snob value. But once they are aware of the advantages of such systems, they want more,” explains Tejas Doshi.

The iPad, two million of which have already been sold, can free you from the constant search for the growing number of remotes that have invaded your home. For example, the functions of the DTH remote and the TV remote are both programmed into the iPad. “In fact, anything that can run by an IR (infra-red) remote can be controlled, down to motorised curtains or shades, a fountain in the living room, or gates,” says Tejas. Plus, instead of going by ‘guide’ on the DTH remote, a channel widget on the iPad’s desktop will take you to your favourite channel.

With a battery that lasts around 10 hours, the iPad can come in handy around a well-equipped den. “Almost every fifth home in urban Calcutta has a theatre room better known as the den,” points out the lighting designer. While in some houses it is a spacious zone complete with a bar, many smaller homes also have such an area carved out with just enough distance between the projector and the screen for a sink-in sofa.

Wireless wonder

The best news of all may be that the iPad allows grandma to listen to bhajans in one room while the teenager of the house blasts Justin Bieber’s latest track. “You don’t need two music systems — the iPad acts like a multi-source control system. This allows you to listen to different sources simultaneously in different zones,” explains Tejas. The process doesn’t involve using iTunes but what it does is control the multi-room audio as well as video sources via the iPad or iPod Touch.

When it comes to mood lighting, it’s the Lutron Lighting Control system to the rescue, helping create the right ambience while also stabilising voltage fluctuation that Calcutta is so prone to, thereby “saving energy and increasing lamp life by 20 times”. Of course, along with the iPad one does require additional hardware. While the Creston controls starts at Rs 1.5 lakh, the Lutron controls come for upwards of Rs 50,000. The cost varies according to the number of devices being controlled.