We live in an increasingly technological world, where large companies offer tablets and smartphones of various specifications that help us with our daily lives. But in recent years, industry experts have imposed a new rule aimed at the future: everything that can be connected will be connected. The whole point of having a digital home is to make simple tasks even easier. Undeniably all these technologies make our lives more convenient, making routine tasks increasingly simple. But that can be difficult when you can’t remember which app dims the lights and which app changes the TV channel. Luckily there is a fix for that problem, unfortunately it requires an additional piece of hardware; a hub.
1. Nest Thermostat
Nest is a self-learning thermostat that will act as core for your heating. The first time you start using the device, you may simply use the function on/off of the boiler at home, or set a timer to automatically handle your boiler. But you can also use Nest to turn the temperature up or down accordingly. This thermostat can also learns from our habits, and use its motion sensor to automatically adjust the temperature. Installation involves connecting the wireless Nest Bridge to mains electricity and unless you really know what you’re doing, it’s best to rely on the services of a professional electrician. Costs vary depending on the type of boiler you have at home.
2. Termostato Honeywell Lyric
The Honeywell Lyric thermostat is similar to Nest but instead of relying on a motion detector, Lyric uses geo fencing to detect if you are in the vicinity of a predetermined area and thus when to turn on/turn off electrical appliances automatically. For example, if you are on the way home, Lyric knows and will automatically turn on the air conditioner to cool your home. Lyric boasts that comes with better control of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) than Nido, since it takes into account the current time, indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity levels before setting the perfect temperature for your home. The Lyric can be controlled from a smartphone using an iOS or Android app, but you can't control it from a PC using a Web browser. It also lacks detailed usage reports.
3. Sentri
Another successfully crowd-funded connected-home product is coming to market. The Sentri is an all-in-one home-monitoring device similar to the Canary (discussed below) in function (such as the ability to control third-party smart lighting), but falls behind it on others (video resolution is only 720p). But Sentri is not just a gadget to monitor temperature. It can be used to control your security system from home. There's a 360-degree camera integrated within the device that lets you watch your home remotely. You can also make a video call through the smartphone app.. Sentri is actually cheaper than a traditional security system, and does not require professional installation services. It has a built-in Wi-Fi adapter, but its designers also wisely provided the option of hardwiring it to your network.
4. Canary
Canary is a complete home security system packed into a single device - a modern approach to security that lets you protect all of you care about. It's built to learn and adapts to your home over time; whenever it detects something out of the ordinary in your home (with motion-triggered recorded video), Canary sends intelligent notifications with HD video and audio directly to your smartphone. Use the Canary app to sound Canary’s built-in 90+dB siren or connect directly with the local police, fire, or emergency services near your home. It has pricey cloud subscription plans and absolutely no local storage but you can access the last 12 hours of recorded video for free. All parts of the system—from the device to the cloud to the app-employ extensive security measures to protect private data, such as AES 256-bit symmetric-key encryption, Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), secure HTTP access (HTTPS) using TLS/SSL, and more.
5. Homey
Athom Homey is a home automation hub that allows the control of appliances, entertainment systems, multimedia and online accounts through the Homey App or voice commands. Homey, allows you to give directions around the house. For example, asking him to turn on the lights in the living room, close the blinds, set up a movie you want to see and more. All these adjustments have to be preconfigured, of course, but the possibilities are immense. For the Athom Homey to work properly, the Homey and the connected device must be in the same room. So you need to have more than one Homey to ensure all devices in the house are covered. But once you’ve done that you can get your reminders, schedules, alarms, and get your automated appliances working even before you need them. The Homey definitely makes life easier.
6.Icontrol Networks Piper nv
The Icontrol Networks Piper nv is a unique security camera that doubles as a home automation hub with night vision, a robust camera sensor, and a fast processor. The Piper is much more than a surveillance camera. It uses motion and sound detection to alert you of any activity while you're away, tracks indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity, and issues local weather alerts. As if that weren't enough, this multifaceted device also controls and interacts with various Z-Wave home automation devices, including smart switches and dimmers, door and window sensors, and range extenders.
7. Tado Refrigeration
Instead of replacing your old air conditioner with a new energy-saving one, why not make it smarter?. Tado can be easily installed and helps regulate the temperature of your home, for any situation, adjusting it for when you're awake, at work or even when you are sleeping, helping you save on your electricity bill. Detection-based thermostats like the Nest and Tado are ideal for smaller homes and flats, while the Honeywell Evo home’s room-by-room system is your weapon of choice for bigger houses. Tado is ideal for those with flexible schedules, with those users seeing the most benefit as they it works in a way your pre-existing boiler settings will struggle to match.
8. Savant
Thinking that you want to dip a toe into home automation but not sure if it’s for you? Savant is a unique system that can get you started with a DIY remote before you have a dealer install a whole system.
At the centre of every Savant Home is a host. Enabling wireless communication between other devices, it creates the experience of home automation, allowing you to sample what the system has to offer without the investment or hassle of having to do fully automate every aspect of your home. Savant’s website makes it clear that the company caters to luxury homes, but despite this high end focus, Savant should be a product considered by any home looking at automation options. The company has good customer resources that show how the system works and offers direct customer support. You can add security equipment to Savant and control the system with a mobile app. Savant manages to deliver great product quality and helpful service, which is why it earns our Top Ten Reviews Bronze Award for home automation systems.
9. Ninja Sphere
Ninja Sphere is both a hardware and software platform designed to seamlessly bridge your smart devices together. By connecting to products from various brands, your home can start using them in new and exciting ways. While you’re away from home, the Sphere app can notify you if it sees a problem and will help you to fix it. Left the heater on during the day? Turn it off from the car and save a day’s worth of electricity. It can inform you through your smart phone, smart TV or even Smart Watch. The Ninja Sphere works with a wide variety of the smart devices available in retail stores today. This includes WiFi light bulbs, connected power sockets, Sonos media centees, plant monitors and more. With an open architecture and accessible SDK, developers are continually adding support for new devices as they hit the shelves. ‘If This, Then That' rules mean that the system can work with new third-party devices that are added to it. For example, if you happen to have labelled keys, or pets (dogs or cats), Ninja Sphere can tell when they are lost and arrange to inform you immediately.
10.SmartThings Hub
With Samsung’s backing, former star tup Smart Things improves on its original connected-home offering, delivering increased power, polish, and reliability for those willing to master the system. The Smart Things app offers a complete home monitoring and security solution that allows customers to get instant alerts if there's unwanted entry, smoke, leaks, or other unexpected activity. By adding a compatible camera, customers can also get accompanying video clips that capture footage of these events. The Smart Things hub has Z-Wave and ZigBee radios, so it supports two of the most common connected-home protocols (it also supports Internet Protocol). One positive of Smart Things is its strong user community that is constantly improving the base capabilities of this unit using its web-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) based on the Groovy language. Some of the most useful applications of the Smart Things hub come from user-developed content.
Please let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
