All about Smart Homes – Page 7 – Trusted Smart Homes

I think you'll agree with me when I say; With all the smart home devices out there, it is really difficult to make a decision about the ones to buy that will match your taste for the new year. Some people feel you have to buy different kinds and use them before you can say which is actually best for you. But I tell you that with good information on the products you can make the right choice 15 Top Smart Home Devices In this post, I'll be giving you the listings of the best smart home devices based on lots of reviews. I'm sure you will make the right decision with this. Best Smart Speaker: Amazon Echo The Bluetooth speaker works with Alexa, Amazon’s voice Assistant. Apart from the good sound, it gives as a speaker, it also does a lot of other things like controls other smart home gadgets, reads audiobooks, checks the weather and helps you purchase things online just with the sound of your voice. Though it may take a while for it to adjust to your voice, it's worth the try. You can also change the skin to match your home interior decoration. This smart speaker beats its competitors. Best Indoor Security Camera: iSmartAlarm iCamera Keep Pro The iCamera keep pro has a lot of wonderful features embedded which includes 1080p image sensor, sound and motion detection features, event-triggered video recording, mechanical pan as well as a motion-tracking feature. For the aspect of storage, there's free cloud storage as well as a slot for external SD Card for local storage. It also has support for IFTTT integration. All these features are the basic sort after features in any indoor security camera. Best Outdoor Security Camera: Netgear Arlo Pro The Arlo Pro's 720p camera provides both indoor and outdoor security monitoring in just one single camera. That's if you want to kill two birds with one stone. I just admire the wonderful features of this little smart home beauty. It has wonderful motion and sound detection. Though it is costly and then the night vision is not so clear. It's also important to know that it also has a rechargeable battery can last up to six months and you get one week of cloud video storage free. There's still more... Best Smart Remote: Logitech Harmony Elite The Logitech harmony elite specially designed for people that don't really like talking to control their smart devices but people that like things the old-fashioned way of pressing buttons. If you fall into this category I have great news for you: "You are not left out". The universal remote doesn't just control tv and sound systems but it also controls devices that have Bluetooth, Wi-fi, Zigbee, Infrared or Z-wave in your house. Best Smart Thermostat: Ecobee4 The predecessor, Ecobee3 had a lot of wonderful features which we all admired like a sleek design, a wonderful touch screen interface and a remote sensor to regulate the temperature in any room in your house but an added feature in this Ecobee4 is the built-in Amazon Alexa speaker. This makes it the best smart thermostat because it can do all Alexa can do like to control other smart devices, play music, shop online, check the weather and lots more. We don't need the Echo again to do things like that if we have the Ecobee4. Best Smart Light Bulb: Philips Hue Family The Philips Hue family comes with different kinds of bulb: the white ones and the colour ambiance bulbs. The white bulbs have the power to increase the intensity to be much brighter as well as reduce it while the colour ambiance bulbs give you control over the looks of your house. You can set it to you can schedule it to look like the sunset when the sun is setting and like sunrise when the sun is rising. This feature really catches my attention. The whole ecosystem is compatible with so many voice assistants out there from Alexa to Siri to IFTTT. But that's not all... Best Video Doorbell: Nest Hello Nest Hello has the best speaker, microphone and video amongst its competitors. It has an optional facial recognition feature as well as also announces them when they come to your door. Unfortunately, it has a hardwired connection that you have to do manually. You can also set up regions in which people's movements announce their presence within the region. It has no free video clips storage. One of its advantages is that it is integrated with the Nest Cam IQ indoor and Google Home speakers so you'll really get to enjoy this device if you have a big a bigger Google / Nest smart home. Best Smart Smoke/ Carbon monoxide Detector: Nest Protect The Nest Protect detects smoke, carbon monoxide as well as slow and fast-burning fires. A wonderful feature is that the Protect also tells you the room where the fire is located and it can automatically turn on your Philips hue lights in the event of an emergency because it's linked to other smart home devices. It has a handy alarm silent feature. It also comes in a compact design for those that appreciate simplicity in beauty. Best Smart Lock: August Smart Lock Pro The August Smart Lock Pro is unique in its features. It has a wonderful design, it is easy to install software, it has a simple interface and high performance. It's also integrated with the three voice assistants that are Siri, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. You can lock and unlock the door from anywhere. It also automatically opens a door when you arrive and lock the door when you leave. It keeps track of everyone that goes through the door. So much wonder that the small device brings. You think you've seen enough!!! There's still more... Best Smart Plug: Belkin Wemo Mini Wifi Smart Plug The new Wemo mini is compatible with IFTTT, Google Home, Amazon Alexa and Apple Homekit which implies that it is well connected. This is one of the most outstanding features of the Wemo mini. Scheduling on and off can also be done with this device. It is also easy to set up. Best Cookware: Anova Culinary Precision Cooker The Anova precision cooker is sous vide machine. Which means it uses a hot bath to cook food sealed in a plastic bag to your preferred taste. The cooker uses Wifi for its control whether you are in or not in the house. It is easy to use and the app has a lot of wonderful recipes provided by Serious Eats. Best Smart Home Hub: Samsung SmartThings Samsung SmartThings The best smart home hub that we've discovered so far is the Samsung SmartThings. Making your home smart needs the presence of a central system to integrate and control the rest of the other devices. Fortunately, the SmartThings plays the part flawlessly. It works with a lot of devices and has built-in Wifi which eliminates the need for plugging in a router. Finally... Best Smart Garage Door Opener: Chamberlain MYQ Garage The Chamberlain MYQ Garage is very affordable and also one of the easiest to install. If you can spare about 15 minutes then you can have it totally installed. It is compatible with Google Assistant, Home Kit and IFTTT but all these options are not free of charge, so when using the Chamberlain MYQ you may also have to spend a little money on making some other purchases. It also has another setback of not having a camera feature that enables you to know what's going on in your garage but a camera that can support it can be purchased at a very cheap rate. I feel this one really stand out because of it's very simple and quick installation such that non-techies can also use it. Best Smart Vacuum: LG Hom-Bot Turbo+ CR5765GD I love this one specifically because it has a double functionality as a vacuum cleaner and also a watchdog. The watchdog feature transmits images and videos so you can instruct the vacuum cleaner to park at the specific location of your house inside or outside and take pictures of anything that passes. This really helps you keep track of the security of your house. For people that don't have enough resources to afford internal or external security cameras, this vacuum cleaner can also go a long way in that regard. Concerning the aspect of the vacuum cleaning it does tremendous work, it averages around 12.6 grams of dirt picked per run. Unfortunately, it currently doesn't work with Alexa but works wonderfully with Google Home and it has a very sophisticated smartphone app. It also takes record of places cleaned. I really have to say that among other vacuums this one stands out because of the watchdog feature. Best Smart Fitness Device: QardioBase 2 This smart scale and body analyser have a lot of wonderful features that will get your attention. It has a comprehensive tracking system for your health which includes your weight measurement, your BMI (Body mass index) and other measurements in your body. It is highly user interactive and aids you in fulfilling your fitness goals. The pregnant women are not left out in that it tracks the progress through each trimester with charts and pictures. It is able to recognise each of its users and keeps their data private. It has a wider base which provides added comfort and stability no matter the size of your leg. All of these features are just to guide you to make your body to match your preferred taste. Looking at the larger market personally I can't really see any other fitness device that beats this one. A downside to it though is that it is pricey but I feel it's worth it. Now it's over to you, I'll like to know which one of the smart home devices you'll buy first.