How to find a smart system that is best suited to your home
Decide on a core hub, as not all devices work with all infrastructure,
and hook your home up
Ciara O'Brien
The technology trade show CES has barely closed its doors and already
there is high excitement about the coming generation of smart home
devices. But the sense throughout was that focus is shifting from simply
connecting devices to the internet to making them smart in a way that
will actually benefit our lives.
If you haven't embraced the smart home, now might be a good time. The
automation enabled by the connected devices means you return home to a
well-lit, heated house in winter, or have a home that shuts down as you
walk out the door.
The sheer volume of products can be overwhelming, however. In an ideal
world, we would find a smart home system that works for us, and it would
all be easy to set up and control, and from a single app.
But while one company may make smart bulbs and plugs, you might have to
go to another to get a smart light switch or IP-connected security camera.
To make things more confusing, there are different standards on the
market, and they don't play well with each other.
Some devices will work with Amazon and Google, but won't support Apple's
Homekit. Others are designed purely to work with Google Home devices,
while others support Samsung SmartThings.
There are a few wireless standards in smart home products and hubs. Z
Wave, Zigbee, Thread: all are mesh networking technology, designed to be
low powered. But Zigbee can connect more devices than Z Wave, and Thread
is designed to offer more stable connections than its predecessors. Some
companies support both Zigbee and Z Wave, whereas some support only one
or the other.
The good news (possibly) is that a single standard is on the way, with
Apple, Google, Samsung and Amazon all signing up to support Matter and
make it easier for consumers to see what devices will work with their
smart home ecosystem.
Before you invest in any smart home devices, there are a few questions
you should ask yourself:
What do you need it to do? Choose smart home devices that will fulfil
your needs rather than installing technology just for the sake of it.
While smart bulbs are a simple addition to your home, you could be
better off with a smart light switch. If you have LED bulbs already in
your home, smart bulbs are an added cost to bear, and they aren't cheap.
Also, if someone accidentally turns off the light switch, your smart
bulbs are useless without power.
Likewise, if you only use lamps, you could get by with some smart plugs
instead of switching out lightbulbs unnecessarily.
There is also the risk of overpaying for something to get extra features
you don't need. If the cheaper device fits your needs, there is no point
in spending extra for features you won't use.
What system is it compatible with? While each device has its own app,
which you'll need for the initial set-up, you'll more than likely end up
handing over the day-to-day running of your smart home to a smart hub.
This is where you need to choose wisely. There is no point
buying something that works with Google Assistant but not with Amazon if
your entire system is linked to Alexa. While the arrival of Matter
devices will help simplify things with a common standard that the
manufacturers have signed up to, at the moment we are in a situation
where some devices will work only with Google or Amazon, and others will
work only with Apple. Choose which way you want to go, and buy your
smart devices accordingly.
Does it allow remote access? When you are investing in a smart home
device, ask your
self if you need to access the controls when you are outside the home.
If you do, check to see if your chosen device will allow that out of the
box, or if it requires a hub.
As a general rule, devices that use Bluetooth will require a hub for
remote access due to the range restrictions on the technology. Which
brings us to the next question.
Bluetooth or wifi?
Bluetooth can be a better option than wifi. It's easier to connect for
one. Having too many wifi-connected devices on your network can cause
issues, crowding the network. And Bluetooth has the advantage of low
energy standards.
Wifi on the other hand has better range and facilitates remote access.
What about security?
Anything connected to the internet runs the risk of being compromised,
and while we might feel aggrieved about a virus on our laptops, the idea
that someone could take over the IP-connected cameras in our homes or
access security systems would understandably make anyone wary.
But there are things you can do to mitigate the risk. The first is to
put in place strong security on your devices, changing the default
passwords to something stronger. Secondly, keep the device's firmware up
to date, as that will address security flaws.
Buying from a reputable manufacturer will also help, as potential
security problems and vulnerabilities are more likely to be flagged.
Finally, if your device supports remote access but you don't need it,
disable it. It is one less potential entry point to your smart home for
would-be attackers.
Hubs Why do you need a smart home hub? Strictly speaking you don't need
one, but they can help make your smart home life simpler. A hub will
allow you to control devices from different manufacturers, and bring it
all into one place instead of having to go through 10 different apps.
It can also help with automation, so e when you leave the house, your
hub will tell the smart thermostat to turn down, wifi-connected lights
to turn off and the smart speakers to stop playing music. It can also
act as a bridge for compatible Bluetooth devices so you can control them
from wherever you are in the world. And it opens up voice commands for
your smart home, so you can command Alexa, Google or Siri to turn up the
heating or turn down the TV. It can be as simple as announcing "Alexa,
goodnight" and the smart speaker will knock off the lights, turn down
the heating and switch off the TV.
But which hub is best? That all depends on what you want from it.
Google Nest devices have plenty of fans, with products that range from a
smart learning thermostat to cameras. Nest has become Google's smart
home brand, encompassing smart speakers, cameras, smoke alarms and video
doorbells. That is in addition to the third-party "works with Google"
products; there are more than 50,000 devices from 5,500 manufacturers
that work with Google Assistant, allowing the system to act as a hub for
everything from smart plugs and bulbs to thermostats and motion sensors.
Its Google Home devices can act as a hub to control all these devices,
once you link the account to your Google Home app on your phone - both
Android and iOS. If you have cameras, the Google Hub, with its
seven-inch touchscreen display is the ideal choice, streaming video
footage when you ask, playing music or podcasts or even for casting
Netflix.
If you don't need another screen in your home, you can choose from the
Nest Mini or Nest Audio speakers. Or there's another option: build it in
to your home wifi network with the Google Nest Wifi kit, which includes
Google Assistant in the points you place around the house to give you
stronger wifi and smart speakers in one.
Apple Apple announced HomeKit in 2014, but it has taken off in recent
years as the company made its Apple TV 4K device into a HomeKit hub and
launched the Thread-supporting Homepod Mini.
Unlike Google and Amazon, it doesn't have a range of its own products
much past its own hubs, but it doesn't need to. It has support from
lighting experts Nanoleaf, smart-home provider Eve, home-heating company
Tado and tech company Eufy, among others.
Last year Apple announced support for Home Key, a system that would do
away with your household keys in favour of digital keys on your
smartphone if you had a compatible smart lock. There are two options:
express mode, whereby you unlock your door by holding your iPhone or
Apple Watch near the lock; and a more secure mode that requires FaceID,
TouchID or your passcode to unlock it.
Amazon Of all the digital assistants, Alexa seems to have the most human
sense of humour programmed into its algorithm. But that's not the only
reason why Echo devices are popular. If you have a Ring doorbell - which
Amazon also owns - it makes sense to go for an Echo Show that will
display the feed from your front doorbell. Likewise for the various Ring
security cameras you can place around your home.
The fourth-generation Amazon Echo, which is Zigbee-enabled, also
replaces the hub for some devices that would require one for remote
access, such as Philips Hue bulbs.
A range of devices support Alexa, ranging from the budget friendly Flex
and the Echo enabled Amazon earbuds, to the screen-toting Echo Show.
Alexa has also been doing deals with car makers along with integrating
into accessories such as Fitbit and NextBase dashcams. Speaker makers
such as Sonos are also producing their own Alexa-enabled smart speakers.
Samsung SmartThings Samsung's SmartThings system differs from the others
in that it contains both Z Wave and Zigbee antennae. That allows it to
sit on the fence a bit when it comes to backing one standard. Samsung
has its own smart home devices, but the system supports more than that,
offering users access to August smart locks, Arlo cameras, Honeywell
Home devices and Somfy smart blinds.
Irish Times
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