Smart devices are everywhere. They help you keep track of your personal calendar, answer questions on-demand, and control connected home appliances easily. Smart technology is extending into our daily lives in ways we never imagined possible. Smart devices have become so common that it’s easy to take them for granted. Fortunately, there’re also a lot of fun smart gadgets out there as well. Whether you want to stay up-to-date with the latest technology trends or get a head start on incorporating smarter home tech into your lifestyle, these are the smartest devices available now.
Amazon Echo
The Amazon Echo is a smart speaker that is capable of carrying out a variety of voice commands. It connects to the cloud and uses artificial intelligence to make voice commands understand what you want, then gets the command from the cloud and sends it to your devices. It can connect to third-party services such as Spotify and Pandora to play music, order food with DoorDash, control your smart home devices, and more. Amazon added a feature called “Alexa Skills” that lets you create voice commands that can do things like make calls or play music. You can even make Alexa read your email or let you know what’s happening on your calendar. You can also check the weather, create shopping lists, set alarms, and more.
Google Home
The Google Home is an always-on smart speaker that can respond to your voice commands. It responds with information for things like the weather, sports scores, traffic conditions, and more. You can also have it play music or give you a news briefing with headlines, a quick overview, and more. You can even ask it to control the functions of other smart devices around your home. Google Home is compatible with a wide range of smart home devices, including lighting, locks, security systems, thermostats, and more. You can control these devices using your voice. You can also ask Google Home to tell you the news or create a to-do list.
Samsung SmartThings
The Samsung SmartThings is an open platform that lets you connect a wide variety of devices and software like
GB WhatsApp app from various brands and vendors. It lets you monitor your home’s vital stats and make adjustments to your home’s climate from anywhere in the world. You can use the
app to create different rules for different scenarios. You can also connect your other smart devices, like security cameras, sensors, and locks, to the SmartThings system and use them to monitor your home. You can set up a “away mode” that sends notifications to friends and family members when they’re away in the event of a break-in.
Sonos Play:5
The Sonos Play:5 is a great smart speaker that works with Apple Music, Spotify, and Pandora. It also works with Google Music, so you can play any music you have stored on your phone, computer, or other music player. The speaker can connect to Amazon Alexa to control other smart devices and has an FM radio built-in so you can listen to music or the radio without any internet connection. The Play:5 is a high-performance wireless speaker that creates high-quality sound for music, movies, and more. It features a built-in voice control service so you can play music or control other smart devices from anywhere in your home.
Nest Learning Thermostat
Home thermostats are great for keeping your heating and cooling system running smoothly. Nest thermostats let you control your HVAC system from your phone or tablet, so you don’t have to worry about manually adjusting the temperature. The Nest Learning Thermostat learns how you like to keep your home warm or cool and makes adjustments automatically. It can also work with other smart devices and makes it easy to control your lighting, locks, and other connected home appliances.
Insteon Hub and Light Switch
The Insteon Hub lets you control everything in your home using common household tools. The Hub lets you create wireless control networks so you can turn off your lights or control your security system from anywhere in your home. You can also connect your other Insteon devices, like sensors, switches, and outlets, to the Hub so you can control them from anywhere. You can create custom “scenes” to control your devices from anywhere in the house or create rules based on sensors, like a sensor that turns off your lights when everyone leaves the house or when it’s dark outside.
Ingersoll-Rand Smart Thermostat
The Ingersoll-Rand Smart Thermostat is an easy way to control your heating and cooling systems from anywhere in the world. It can work with Amazon Alexa to let you control other smart home devices from anywhere in your house. Besides controlling your HVAC system, you can also use it to control your lights and other connected devices. The thermostat can be programmed to turn off your HVAC system when you leave the house or when you’re not home so your bills stay lower. It can be programmed to turn your HVAC system on at different temperatures, so you can set your home to a comfortable temperature when you’re home and set it to a higher temperature when you’re away.
Nest Thermostat
The Nest Thermostat works with your natural gas or electric heating system to help you save money on your utility bills. It learns what temperature you like to keep your home at, so it can adjust the temperature when you’re not home. You can also program it to turn off your HVAC system when you leave the house or when you’re not home so your bills stay lower. Nest can be programmed to turn off your HVAC system when you leave the house or when you’re not home so your bills stay lower. It displays the current temperature, so you can see at a glance when it’s time to adjust the temperature.