Imagine the level of convenience you’d get if all your devices are internet-enabled.
Not only your PC and smartphones but also other home appliances such as security cameras, doorbells, sound systems, lights, and even your wall sockets.
Smart devices are undoubtedly one of the most remarkable innovations the 21st century has got to offer. You’ll be astonished to find out how much you can do with just the punch of a button or a swipe of your finger.
Ultimately, you can use a simple voice command feature to turn things around in a twinkle of an eye. Pretty amazing!
The year 2020 recorded a rise in the demand for smart home gadgets due to the increasing number of people who work from home – no thanks to the restriction imposed by the pandemic (Covid-19) that shook every nook and cranny of the world, leaving no country undisturbed.
Smart Home Technology
A smart home is one that has its essential home appliances connected to an automated communication technology or remote control. This gives the user access to issue commands and to give and receive data or information from a defined range.
Advantages of a Smart Home
- Convenience
- Control
- It eases multitasking
Every day, we worry about the hassles of life. Having a million and one tasks to handle daily can be daunting and stressful. In a smart home, you don’t need to walk down to your gate to check for whoever is lurking when you have a smart camera installed.
Never worry about eating a burnt breakfast when you can switch off your oven right from your room. All these can be done with a tap on your smartphone and so many freebies you get on your smart devices.
Best Smart Home Gadgets
1. Smart Lighting Systems
Asides being an item of aesthetics in your home, smart lighting systems include smart bulbs that are connected to your Wi-Fi Router. They can be controlled with the use of an app, a digital voice assistant, or remote control.
A collection of these bulbs creates artificial beauty that can be used during events and special occasions. An outstanding feature of a smart bulb is its infrared LED light that can help your security camera to see in the dark when connected. No more sneaky Bob!
These bulbs come in different variations, depending on their hue color, ambiance, and connectivity options available.
2. Smart Plugs
Image credit: safewise.com
You might wonder what feature or function of a plug can make it smart. Smart plugs work as an intermediary between a dumb device and your smartphone. When you connect a dumb device like a table fan or lamp with your smart plug, it “comes alive.”
Thus, it can be controlled using a tap on the smartphone app, Google voice assistant, or Alexa. An additional feature of smart plugs is that they also serve as a power surge protector, guarding against voltage fluctuations.
3. Tile Pro
Image credit: appleinsider.com
More often than not, we misplace items like car keys, wristwatches, credit cards, and wallets in our homes. With Tile Pro, you can track the location of these items without stress.
How does it work?
Simply connect Tile Pro to your smartphone and other things. Once you need to locate any of them, navigate the map feature and the exact location of that item will be displayed on your screen.
To find your smartphone, you can use the alert feature on Tile Pro to trigger your phone’s alert system to the maximum volume.
4. Alarm Clock Rug
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Do you struggle to get out of bed every morning? Or the tune of your alarm clock now sounds like a lullaby to you? This alarm clock rug will ensure that you never get late for work again.
The alarm has no snooze button; it requires that you stand upright on it for about 3 seconds to turn off the sleep wrecking sound. The struggle to get out of bed is over!
Amazingly, you can’t trick this alarm clock rug by placing one foot on it, you need to step on it with both feet for about 3 seconds to turn it off.
5. Smart Smoke Detector
Image credit: technewscode.com
Simply, all it does is to raise the alarm whenever there’s a smoke threat. This device is mostly installed in the kitchen or stores where highly flammable products.
6. Verdmo – Wireless Soil Moisture Sensor
Image credit: facesoman.com
If you admire the beauty of nature, the wireless soil moisture sensor is your best bet. You can connect this device to your sprinkler system to ensure that your plants get an adequate amount of water for growth. It provides feedback whenever you need to water your plants. Verdmo has a built-in feature that notifies you via your smartphone when to water your flower garden.
7. Wyze Smart Lock
Image credit: avasta.ch
This smart lock device is used alongside your traditional door It comes with exciting features like an auto-lock system. You can set the smart lock device to auto-lock or auto-unlock upon your arrival or departure from home.
You can also use it to determine to tweak the duration of the lock, say 5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes after the door is closed. While away from home, you can see a log of how often your door is being opened and closed using a smartphone or any other connected device.
8. Blink Mini Indoor Security Camera
Image credit: bgr.com
This camera has an inbuilt motion sensor that detects any movement in zones where it is triggered. With the 1080p video resolution, you can get a video feed on your smartphone anywhere you are. The wide range viewing angle ensures that you see every corner of your room. The camera can see in the dark, too.
9. Mirror Interactive Home Gym
Image credit: hypebae.com
Why go to the gym when you can have the gym come to you? Think of this as an AI gym instructor. You don’t need to spend a fortune to hire the service of a personal trainer.
Pre-installed with thousands of exercise routines perfect for your body type, this smart device offers a lot of unique features. Enjoy live classes weekly on various fitness activities like boxing, yoga, cardio workouts, kickboxing, weight training, arms and abs, and many more. The list is inexhaustible.
Are you worried you might miss your training while away from home? You have unlimited access to your workout library from your smartphone, tablet, and smart devices 24/7.
Challenges of Using Smart Gadgets
As perfect as these gadgets seem to be, and with so many comfy features that will make your life more comfortable and better without raking your bank account, issues have been raised on the guarantee of security of these smart devices.
The smart lock system, for example, triggers a self-defense mechanism within itself on any attempt to compromise or hack the device. While this may be a good thing, it becomes difficult to unlock even by the ideal owner.
Also, overdependence on internet availability is a problem. Not everyone can afford to stay connected to the internet 24/7. In countries where the government cannot provide free access to unlimited internet usage, these devices will not readily come to mind. The need for fulltime Wi-Fi access to the function is a limitation.
So much has been discussed on exhausting the features of these smart devices. Users often have very little knowledge about the devices, and they end up backsliding to their traditional methods after having control difficulties a few times.
Thus, the devices end up being abandoned and left for grace despite the functionalities they offer.
However, what the future holds is uncertain. Advancement in technology in the nearest future could provide solutions to these problems and ultimately make it the best option for every category of user.
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