Decide to upgrade your humble home to a smarter one? Smart Home devices are not widely used as of the moment but the amount and quality of smart home gadgets are every growing. These gadgets allow the owner to control everything with just a few simple clicks on their smart phones; anything can be controlled from the lighting to the thermostat and even music. Dozens of brands want to do the honour of providing an entire ecosystem for your home, one that can be control by a single device regardless if it’s an Android or iOS one.
Of course you can choose varying gadgets across different brands and assemble them in your home; every brand will have their own forte in terms of products produced. Here are 6 smart home gadgets that you need to check out. Just imagine the convenience possible through a multitude of small but surprisingly affordable devices installed in your own home.
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Amazon Echo
Out of all the Bluetooth speakers out there, our top pick would be Amazon Echo. This nifty device has numerous voice activated features; not only that but it’s able to connect to other smart home gadgets and other smart home hubs like those offered by Samsung and Belkin. Another cool feature is its ability to read any audio book, provide weather updates and even allows you to purchase items online with just the voice control. Of course as a speaker, it produces high quality sounds.
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Nest Cam
One of the most important smart home gadgets has something to do with security and it’s the Nest Cam. It is a third generation model from Dropcam, for just $199 you can have a camera that cab take videos in 1080p; lower resolutions are also available, but the lowest is 720p. The base in structured in a way that allows it to have magnetic and swivelling movement, so you’ll be able to see from almost every angle. Nest Cam offers a two-way audio, digital zoom and is compatible with other smart home products like the Nest Learning Thermostat. Take note, in order to optimize the features of Nest Cam, you have to be willing to pay at least $10 a month for the entire program. It may sound pricey but the features are incredibly useful, you won’t regret it.
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Ecobee3
Ecobee3 offers tons of futuristic features, like the slick design and touch screen interface. But the best of its feature is something that thermostat makers should have implemented years ago and that’s to make sure that every room in the house is properly heated or cooled. A wireless sensor will be placed on a specific room, the thermostat will keep a close eye on that room and keep the heat until it becomes comfortably warm. If you compare it with smart thermostats from other brands, in our opinion, it offers the best feature set and the mobile app that comes with it works like a charm. Ecobee3 is compatible with Amazon Echo and Apple’s HomeKit, to name a few.
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Philips Hue White
As for your dream smart light bulb, the Philips Hue White starter kit is the perfect choice. The starter kit includes two light bulbs alongside a hub that connects everything to other smart home gadgets installed in the house. Even though you won’t be able to change the colour that the bulb give off, you can adjust the brightness; it can reach up to 800 lumens. The Philip’s Hue White is compatible with numerous other smart home systems like Nest, Alexa, Google Home, Apple Homekit and IFTTT.
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iHome ISP5 Smartplug
An incredibly simple and inexpensive way to turn just about any device into a ‘smart’ one, your smartphone can control and monitor the power headed to the ISP5 plug and you can do it just about anywhere in your home. Another great feature of this product is the iHome app that comes with it, you can create schedules; when and which plug gets turned off and on. Plus you’re able to liknk it with other smart home gadgets like Nest Learning Thermostat, Alexa and Wink.
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Roost Smart Battery
Sure the Nest protect Smoke plus CO2 alarm is amazing for people who want a 2-in-1 gadget which is able to connect with several other smart home gadgets but the Roost Smart Battery is another story. The Roost Smart Battery costs only about $35 and it’s compatible with just about any CO2 or smoke detector. In case your alarm goes off, you’ll immediately be alerted through your smart phone; you and everyone else at your house connected in the system. After the alarm goes off, you can choose to immediately call 911 or silence the alarm in case burnt food was the culprit.
