An increasing number of households have adopted smart home technology. Nest Thermostat Sales 13 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With a Nest Thermostat 13 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With a Nest Thermostat You'll be surprised how many tricks you can pull off with your new Nest Thermostat! Read More Philips Hue Starter Kit Review and Giveaway. Philips Hue Starter Kit Review and Giveaway Game. The market is awash with wifi-enabled light bulbs, all with their own silly mobile app that you have to fuss with to turn it on. Is the tone different? We find. Read More There is only one last hurdle for smart home technology to overcome - How can consumers manage the dozens of devices they use?
The answer? Axes .
These are physical boxes that connect to your network and discover any connected compatible smart home devices. The user can then control and combine all of their smart home products from one environment, rather than through a host of smartphone apps. So which ones are on the market right now, and are they worth buying?
There are a number of smart hubs on the market. Which smart home automation hub is best for you? Which Smart Hub for Home Automation is Best for You? For a while, people thought the idea was nothing more than a gimmick, but recent product launches have shown that smart home automation is starting to deliver on its promises. Read More Working on the right hub for you is a tricky business, as each hub supports a different set of protocols, which means the devices supported by each hub vary greatly.
It should come as no surprise that one of the best smart hubs comes from Samsung. The South Korean giant has carved out a significant slice of the market by adopting a strategy that has launched it into releasing its own peripherals, as well as a smart hub that is compatible with literally hundreds of devices .
The Samsung SmartThings hub is compatible with Samsung's own range of smart home devices, as well as those using the Z-Wave and Zigbee protocols. You can also interact with IFTTT, Nest, and Amazon Echo. In terms of connectivity, it includes an Ethernet port, two USB ports, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. It also includes a battery backup, which is helpful if you live in an area prone to power outages.
The SmartThings hub can work with an incredible number of smart home products. Up to 227 Z-Wave devices can be connected, as well as literally thousands of Zigbee devices. However, users should beware of the fact that as the number of connected devices increases, the performance and reliability of the network will drastically decrease.
You can pick up the latest (at the time of this writing, 2 North Dakota generation) through the Samsung website for $99.00. On Amazon, it's a bit cheaper at $79.99. Samsung also sells its devices through other third parties, such as Currys in the UK.
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Then there is the VeraEdge. At $99.95 through its official website and on Amazon, this roughly equates to the price of Samsung SmartThings. It mainly supports the Z-Wave protocol, which is the most promising effort to create an open standard for smart home technology. Z-Wave compatible devices are too numerous to mention but include offerings from Yale, Logitech and HoneyWell.
Interestingly, both Lowes and Staples have their own smart home hubs. The Staples Connect Hub (branded as the D-Link Connect Hub in the UK) retails for around $50 (£59.99 in the UK) and supports the Z-Wave protocol.
Lowes has the Iris, which supports both Z-Wave and Zigbee protocols, has a built-in battery backup, and can be purchased directly from Lowes for just $50. The Iris has two main downsides, ultimately making it less compelling. than other offers. First of all, to unlock the advanced features of the hardware you have paid for, you also need to pay a monthly subscription. This costs $10. Second, while the previous devices we've discussed are available internationally, the Iris Connect is only sold in the United States.
One thing consumers should be aware of, especially if they purchase a smart home hub that relies on a subscription or cloud service, such as Iris Connect, is the potential for it to be discontinued. This happened recently, when Google-owned Nest discontinued the Revolv hub, which it had acquired in 2014.
Like the devices we've reviewed here, the Revolv Hub connected disparate smart home devices and allowed users to access them through a smartphone app. The user didn't even have to be home, thanks to Revolv's cloud portal. Revolv was also unique in having perhaps one of the worst tech promotional videos of all time.
Earlier this year, Nest discontinued the Revolv platform. He had never intended to maintain the platform. Nest only wanted to acquire the team of engineers and developers who had built it. Users were furious as the hubs they had purchased for $300 turned into what one irate user described as "a hummus container."
Companies regularly readjust their priorities. They are not required to service discontinued products, which have long since ceased to make them money. Microsoft recently discontinued support for Windows XP Why Windows XP Isn't Going Away Any Time Soon Why Windows XP Isn't Going Away Any Time Soon People can't stop using Windows XP. In businesses and homes around the world, it will stick around. We spoke to three Windows XP users from different generations and backgrounds to find out why. Learn more and most recently Windows 8 Why Update Windows at the End of Extended Support Why Update Windows at the End of Extended Support Eventually, support for every version of Windows expires, leaving PCs riddled with holes, entry points for malware and Opportunities for hackers. Windows 8 recently reached end of support status:Here's why and how... Read More In 2013, Google Reader was closed. The End Of Google Reader Is Near:Get Ready With These Alternative RSS Readers The End Of Google Reader Is Near:Get Ready With These Alternative RSS Readers Google Reader is dead. By July, the Internet's main RSS service is shutting down for good, allowing users to find a replacement on their own. If you're looking for a Google equivalent, these are just... Read More Despite that, Nest had to quickly go into damage control mode, offering affected users a refund.
Ultimately, the affair was a sobering reminder of how risky it is to rely on a cloud service, especially when paired with an expensive physical device.
Probably the biggest reason for being In order to have a smart home hub, you don't need to install an app for each device in your smart home. You can simply connect a single piece of hardware to your network and control it through that.
But that's not to say there aren't convincing software-based solutions out there.
Take Yonomi, for example. This free app (available for iOS and Android) is completely hardware-free and lets you control a wide range of smart home devices, including those produced by Belkin, Nest, Jawbone, and Amazon Echo.
Similarly, ThingTon (available exclusively for iOS), acts as a virtual hub for devices made by four manufacturers:Phillips Hue, Belkin WeMo, Automatic, and Netamo. While it lacks the flexibility offered by Yonomi, it makes up for it by allowing users to set up "guest lists," where you can give your visitors limited control over their devices.
Finally, there is also Apple's HomeKit. This was the flagship feature of iOS 8, and it's quickly gaining traction as Philips, Elgato, and GE have all signed on.
This is the one million question. As the number of smart home devices increases and costs continue to plummet, users are increasingly looking for a solution that allows them to better control their equipment. While a hub offers a much cleaner experience than dealing with dozens of apps, I'm inclined to encourage people to wait. This is why.
I think a lot of my skepticism stems from the fact that smart home technology is so young . There's no obvious winner yet, even among tech titans like Google and Apple Google vs Apple:Know the winner before you buy on Smart Home Hype Google vs Apple:Know the winner before you buy on Smart Home Hype Google and Apple are trying to dominate the world of smart home. While both companies are similar in size and similarly endowed, they both have radically different strategies. This is what you need to know. Read More You can buy a piece of hardware from a manufacturer, only to have it purchased and the product discontinued, as happened with Revolv.
Alternatively, they might decide to abandon the smart home field altogether, in order to focus their efforts and resources on other fields. Personally, I can easily see Lowes exiting the market as its US-focused offering has seen relatively low customer enthusiasm, poor reviews, and isn't really representative of Lowe's core business, which is the DIY retailer.
Second, the world of smart homes suffers from a lack of standardization. If These 4 Things Happen, Every Home Will Be A Smart Home If These 4 Things Happen, Every Home Will Be A Smart Home In just a few years, smart homes have entered mainstream consciousness. For the first time in a long time, smart homes have real mass-market promise. But there is still a long way to go. Read more . There are multiple competing protocols, such as Z-Wave and Zigbee, with no obvious winner. Worse still, some manufacturers (such as Amazon) have chosen to create their own communication protocols. This means that no matter what you buy, there is a very real chance that it could be made obsolete by the release of a new, incompatible smart home product, or a new interoperability standard.
If you don't have that many smart home gadgets, you don't really need a hub. If you have a medium to large smart home, you may want to lean on HomeKit and YoNoMi software-based services and wait for the market to mature.
Do you have a hub? What type is it? Or do you prefer to stay with the applications released by the manufacturer? Whatever you do, I want to hear it in the comments below.
