Imagine waking up in the morning – your smart speaker’s alarm going off before it starts reading you the morning news, the blinds in your bedroom slowly open, and somewhere in your house, a little robot is stirring, starting to vacuum. Outside, a larger one is starting to cut the grass, safely observed from the security camera that can stream straight to your phone. It sounds like something from the future, but that future is here. Smart technology has been slowly finding its way into our homes in the last few years, it’s estimated that, as of 2019, around 33% of Americans own a smart speaker or use voice assistants at least monthly. The three main voice-assistant smart speakers, Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple HomePod, all open a gateway to a more efficient, technology-based home.
As more and more things get connected and the technology improves, you might be wondering what’s out there now. Check out this list for the best smart devices around.
Speakers
The three main ones have already been mentioned, but Amazon, Google and Apple control the market for smart speakers. They’re the perfect addition to your household for listening to music, setting timers, and reading the news but also serve as a voice control hub for the rest of your smart home products. Through voice activation, you can control the rest of your smart devices, as long as they’re compatible. Those three companies are working to make it easier for developers to integrate with each of the smart home services, rather than having to do it separately.
Plugs
These are probably the most flexible of smart technologies. With a bit of clever setup, you can control household items remotely, from your speaker, or even from your smartphone. Use them with old lamps, electric heaters, slow cookers, or electric blankets for controlling when they are turned on and off. This makes smart plugs great for reducing standby power consumption. No more leaving your laptop charging for hours on end while you’re out, just ask your voice assistant or use the app to set a timer, and the magical internet will do the rest. After all, it’s the little things that make the difference. Good plugs like WeMo Mini works with all the major smart assistants, while Kasa’s Smart Wi-Fi Power Strip lets you take control of every outlet. There are countless uses for smart plugs, so what are you waiting for?!
Security Cameras & Smart Doorbells
There are countless smart home security cameras on the market at the moment. The primary goal of security cameras is to keep an eye on your home and add that extra bit of protection. However, smart home security cameras can have some cool features beyond just recording and streaming video. For example, the more high-end security systems, such as the Arlo Pro 3 outdoor camera, have features like night vision, two-way audio, person, animal, vehicle and package detection as well as a built-in siren. However, there are great options for every price range. The Wyze Cam range are more affordable indoor cameras. They offer everything you’d need from a security camera, such as motion and sound detection, as well as HD video.
The majority of smart doorbells have cameras attached. The Nest Hello even uses facial recognition software and can tell you exactly who is at the door. Other cool features to look out for if you’re thinking of getting a smart doorbell are motion sensors, free cloud storage and two-way communication.
While most of these devices can function with an app through your phone or tablet, some may only be compatible with specific smart speakers. So, if you want to have all your devices under one system, check that your smart speaker is supported. Another important thing to consider is power. Some of them come with rechargeable batteries, which makes installation easier, but others are wired, and must be connected to a power outlet. This may limit where you can put them or require you to do some extra work when you’re installing them.
Smart Bulbs
Smart bulbs are pretty simple devices; you connect them as you would any normal light bulb, then connect them to the internet through an app or integrate them with your virtual assistant. Once set up, you can control them through apps or voice activation. There’s plenty of colored bulbs out there too that can change the entire mood of a room with a simple voice command. We’d recommend Philips Hue bulbs. They’ve been on sale for years and are compatible with Alexa, Siri, and Google, plus they have a good range of different products for all your lighting needs.
Smart Locks
With a smart lock, you’ll never have to worry about forgetting to lock your door again. These have a significant price jump from a normal lock but you’re paying for some pretty useful technology. Control your lock remotely, manually or by routine, see if your doors are open or closed, and some locks like the Yale smart locks even send alerts if they’re being tampered with. Installation really isn’t as messy as it might seem, especially with clear instructions and plenty of online resources available.
Robot Vacuums & Mowers
If you find vacuuming too much of a chore, why not get a robot to do it for you? The most famous is probably iRobot’s Roomba, but there are dozens on the market to suit every home. They work by mapping out your floor, furniture and then vacuum around them. You can handily set them to routines or to come on at specific times, even when you’re out and about. There are some drawbacks: for example, they cannot negotiate stairs. But if you find yourself losing a lot of your life to the vacuum cleaner, a robot might just be what you need.
Robot lawnmowers are perfect for the person who loves the smell of freshly cut grass but doesn’t like cutting it themselves. These can save you a lot of time, and as they’re powered by a rechargeable battery, they’re not as loud as standard lawnmowers. They work by a perimeter wire connected to a base station. This effectively guides the lawnmower within the area so it doesn’t go onto the street or onto your neighbor’s lawn. When finished, it’ll return to the base station. There are additional features that some include, like GPS for security, rain detection and Bluetooth. Husqvarna has state of the art robotic lawnmowers and a handy lawn calculator on their website to guide your purchase.
Tile
Tile can be the best friend of anyone who loses things. These simple, but highly effective tracking devices stick to electronics, glass cases, keys, phones, or even the most elusive of household objects, the tv remote. You can then use the Tile app with a Bluetooth connection to locate the objects on a map or ring the tile itself so you can follow the noise.
Mirror Home Gym
Mirror is taking part in the home exercise revolution by changing something as simple as adding a mirror to a home gym. It combines a huge amount of styles of workouts and a huge variety of live classes to guide your sessions. You can sync it with a heart rate monitor or Apple Watch so it’ll show your heart rate in real-time as you exercise. Weekly dashboard and performance summaries mean you can keep track of your progress and set goals for the future. There’s a 30-day, free trial you can avail of if you’re interested and a monthly payment plan if you’re discouraged by the flat fee.
Thermostats
Thermostats were pretty much the flagship of smart devices, with Ecobee and Nest leading the charge. The draw of being able to regulate the temperature of your home from anywhere is massive. Whether that’s sticking on the heating during your winter commutes or setting up some cooling routines in the hot summer months. This also lets you track your heating to help you make your energy use more efficient.
There are hundreds of smart devices at your fingertips, from kitchen appliances to nifty gadgets like Tile trackers, to the extent you can build a home ecosystem controllable from your phone. Right now, the main drawback is how new and sometimes fickle the technology can be but, it’s still plain to see, that the growth of these products is inevitable. Smart home technology, including those mentioned above, will continue to improve and become more efficient, alongside others, like smart cars and more advanced robots. If you’ve got any smart devices you can’t live without, leave a comment below — we’d love to hear all about them.
With a background in psychology and sociology, love of football, literature, travel and music, Aonghus had always tried to be trendy, but then the trends changed.
