How to Turn Your Home into a Smart One?
Today, nearly everything in your house – including lights, thermostats, doorbells, and door locks – can be connected to the internet and be controlled remotely with a smartphone or smart speaker.
But in all honesty, setting up a smart home can be overwhelming. There are a plethora of accessories that only work with specific products, while others work better with the rest. The 21st-century smart home is one that might not have been depicted in the movies.
There are one too many benefits of converting your regular home into a smart one. The two major benefits are convenience and ease. No one can deny that the smart home makes our day-to-day lives more relaxing.
When thinking of building a smart home, you need to first ask yourself what’s your goal of building it? Do you want more flexibility in life? Do you want to be more tech-savvy? Once you’ve established the “why”, you can then decide on what smart home devices you want to invest in.
Here’s a guide on how you can turn your regular home into a smart home through the use of various smart home devices.
Let’s dig in!
First, Pick Your Assistant
Voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant, and Apple’s Siri make it easy for you to control and manage smart home devices by speaking simple voice commands such as “Alexa, look at the door.”
Each one of these tools has its advantages and disadvantages, so pick the one that will work best for your needs:
Amazon’s Alexa
Advantages:
- If you want to start your smart home quickly, investing in Echo products is the best option.
- Amazon’s Echo products are simple and easy to set up.
- It’s one of the most broadly used and supported smart home hubs.
- Its smartphone app works with Android and Apple devices
Disadvantages
- Its app can be clunky to set up on Android and Apple devices.
- Alexa might have difficulties responding accurately at times.
- Alexa can only be triggered if you spoke into the speaker.
Google’s Assistant
Advantages
- Assistant is available on Google’s newer versions of speakers and smartphones.
- When it comes to AI, Google’s Assistant is the best among the top three voice assistants.
Disadvantages
- Assistant can only be summoned by “Hey, Google.”
- There are more smart home devices that support Alexa in comparison to Google’s Assistant.
- It has trouble responding to commands at times.
Apple’s Siri
Advantages
- Apple is best when it comes to handling privacy and protecting data.
- It’s easy to integrate Apple HomeKit into mobile devices.
Disadvantages
- Fewer smart home devices that support Siri.
- Siri can only be found on Apple devices.
- Siri is not as user-friendly as Alexa and Google’s Assistant.
Smart Home Devices
Here are some smart home devices you can consider investing in for your smart home:
Smart Doorbells
Today, you no longer need to walk to the front door to inquire who’s been ringing your doorbell. Smart doorbells are not only ways to install, but inexpensive as well. You have the option of wired or wireless doorbells.
Smart doorbells have amazing features that let the user monitor who’s at their doorstep and even communicate with them, as most of these doorbells have both a speaker and a microphone.
Smart doorbells also enhance your home security as you don’t have to open your front door in the middle of the night to see who’s at the door, just access the doorbell’s camera through its app.
Smart Locks
If you want to add an extra layer of protection to your front door, you can consider installing a smart lock. This smart product is usually keyless and is touchpad enabled. Moreover, apart from its basic features such as automatic locking, it also allows the user to lock and unlock their front door from their smartphones.
This feature is perfect for someone who always misplaces their keys or forgets to pass the spare key to their housekeepers. You can also create passwords for different individuals who might need to access your home while you’re away.
For the ultimate front door security, you can install both a smart doorbell and a smart lock.
Smart Plugs
Did you know that plugged-in electronics and devices use power when they’re not benign? This is also known as standby power, which results in wasted energy over time. Therefore, you should look for ways to conserve energy.
Smart plugs give you the ability to transform regular appliances and devices into smart ones, as you can control and automate their schedule when plugged in. This can be done from your smartphone.
Smart plugs are one the most energy-efficient smart home products out there.
Conclusion
Converting your home into a smart one will bring about a lot of advantages, but it’s important that you know which voice assistant and devices you want to purchase.