Smart Homes: 5 Things You Should Know - Augustman
Augustman Logo
Style
Culture
Gear
Food & Drink
Travel
Wellness
AM Select
E-Magazine
Most Trending
Smart Homes: 5 Things You Should Know
Most Recent
Smart Homes: 5 Things You Should Know
Most Trending
Ring In The New Year With These Stunning Minute Repeater Watches
Most Recent
Patek Phillippe Has Decided To Discontinue The Nautilus 5711
  • Fashion
  • Watches
  • Grooming
Most Trending
Will Music Streaming Spell The End Of Radio As We Know It?
Most Recent
2021 Blockbuster Movies: The Most Hotly-Anticipated Films To Catch On The Big Screen
  • Design
  • Events
  • Art
  • Music
  • Film & TV
Most Trending
6 Reasons Why We Are Really Excited About The 2021 Formula 1 Season
Most Recent
8 Modern Companies That Are Using Technology To Deliver New Value To Their Customers
  • Tech
  • Motoring
Most Trending
Sip On These 5 Cocktails That Are Under 200 Calories
Most Recent
Lo Hei and Behold the Year of the Ox
  • Dining
  • Drinks
Most Trending
Detourism: Can The Past Year’s Lessons Teach Us To Become Better Tourists?
Most Recent
See Singapore Through Fresh Eyes With These Unique Tours And Experiences
  • Travel Guides
  • Hotels & Resorts
Most Trending
Razer Has Created A Futuristic Face Mask Equipped With Built-In Microphones And Lighting Effects
Most Recent
Free Workout Apps That Will Help You Smash Your 2021 Weight-Loss Goals
  • Fitness
  • Health
Most Trending
AUGUSTMAN Singapore: Free Digital Issues For The Next 3 Months
Most Recent
Uncover Mindful Living with AUGUSTMAN x LIFESTYLEASIA
  • Men of the Year
  • MVMT
  • A-Listers
  • Hit List
  • sg
    • MY
    • SG
  • Search
Smart Homes: 5 Things You Should Know
Sort & Filter
Close Filter
Sort By
Date
Relevance
Filter By Category
All Categories
All
Style
Culture
Gear
Food & Drink
Travel
Wellness
AM Select
Apply
Filter By Location
singapore
All Countries
Gear
8 Modern Companies That Are Using Technology To Deliver New Value To Their Customers
Gear
6 Reasons Why We Are Really Excited About The 2021 Formula 1 Season
Gear
Review: The Fourth-Generation Apple iPad Air Is The Ultimate Portable Workhorse
Augustman Logo
sg
Smart Homes: 5 Things You Should Know
Back
All  Style
  • Fashion
  • Watches
  • Grooming
Back
All  Culture
  • Design
  • Events
  • Art
  • Music
  • Film & TV
Back
All  Gear
  • Tech
  • Motoring
Back
All  Food & Drink
  • Dining
  • Drinks
Back
All  Travel
  • Travel Guides
  • Hotels & Resorts
Back
All  Wellness
  • Fitness
  • Health
Back
All  AM Select
  • Men of the Year
  • MVMT
  • A-Listers
  • Hit List
E-Magazine
  • Malaysia
  • Singapore
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
Sort & Filter
Close Filter
Sort By
Date
Relevance
Filter By Category
All Categories
All
Style
Culture
Gear
Food & Drink
Travel
Wellness
AM Select
Apply
Filter By Location
singapore
All Countries
Gear

Smart Homes: 5 Things You Should Know

Darren Ho
12 Dec 2017
Article Hero Image
Trending Now
Patek Phillippe Has Decided To Discontinue The Nautilus 5711
StyleRead More
8 Modern Companies That Are Using Technology To Deliver New Value To Their Customers
GearRead More
Lo Hei and Behold the Year of the Ox
Food & DrinkRead More
2021 Blockbuster Movies: The Most Hotly-Anticipated Films To Catch On The Big Screen
CultureRead More
Want the low-down on the latest rides and gadgets? We have it all. Sign up to receive it.

Smart homes sound like a futuristic and intrusive space, which can be terrifying to many people. But there are many benefits to smart homes you may not realise. While the cost of smart devices remain a rather pricey deterrent to some, costs are dropping at a rapid rate, fortunately.

Still enabling the Internet of Things in your home can be intimidating. Here are some things I’ve discovered, in the process of “smartening” my apartment.

Whichever voice assistant you prefer, it really makes everything work much smoother.


1) Get a voice-activated assistant.

No matter which you prefer (Apple’s Homekit, Google Home or Amazon’s Alexa), voice-activated assistants are immensely helpful. Think of them as a personal assistant for smart homes. I use an Echo Dot (US$29.99 now on Amazon) that’s connected to a Bluetooth speaker. It controls my Philips Hue lights, music, robot vacuum and home security for now. Eventually it will control the door as well and the air conditioning. Once those devices arrive. (I don’t have a television. Instead I use a projector that hooks up to a Fire Stick.)

Because it’s so convenient to use, I find myself enjoying music more, listening to podcasts, even learning Klingon. It even reads me the news in the morning while I’m getting ready for work. And most importantly, I never worry about forgetting to switch off the lights or activate the home security. Alexa Routines does all that when I say “Alexa, goodbye”.

I got an Echo Dot because I already have a good speaker at home to connect it with.

The reason why I chose Alexa over the other two was simply the wake word. Saying ‘Alexa’ or ‘Amazon’ is much more convenient than ‘Hey, Siri’ or ‘Ok Google’. Plus, its mics are a lot better. Just remember to enunciate the ‘t’s in your words. Otherwise it gets ‘master bedroom’ easily confused with something else. However, if you need it to work in Singapore, you need to configure it a little. Once you’ve done this, you can even call an Uber with it.

(There’s another reason why I choose Alexa. That’s because Google uses your info to push advertising in other forms to their clients. Apple’s HomeKit is relatively closed off. Alexa just wants to encourage you to buy stuff on Amazon. But you can ignore that.)

Figure out the smart devices you need and will use, not just what you want.


2) Figure out what you need, not what you want.
Most people want everything smart for smart homes. But let’s face the honest truth. I don’t need a smart washer or fridge, or oven. Or a smart kettle or coffee machine. These are extravagances, not needs. And having too many IoT devices can choke up the Wi-Fi bandwidth in the apartment since they either connect with a hub or directly to the home Wi-Fi. That means more potential security issues as well. Decide what you want convenienced, and choose the devices you really do need. You can always add more later.

A smart hub controls all your devices and increases security in your home network.


3) Get smart hub connected devices. And a good router.

IoT devices depend on the network connection in your smart home. A lousy router can affect the traffic in your system and thus affect how your devices perform as well as the Internet connection to your computer or smart phone. But more importantly, hubbed devices are connected to your router directly (I suggest a wired connection) and utilise narrow-band secured connections to your individual devices. That makes hubbed smart homes more secure.

Try to avoid direct Bluetooth connections or devices that are easy to connect with directly. These expose the network to external users and reduces security. You can always hide the wires. If you are looking for a good hub, consider the Moon by 1-Ring. It’s been highly rated, looks good and includes an IR blaster so you can add legacy controls to it. As a general rule, Wi-Fi, Zigbee and Z-Wave offer good security.

I bought the Philips Hue system of bulbs and lightstrips because of brand reliability and security. And they can create 16 million colours. (Image by Eugene Lim/TGP).


4) Go for reliable brands.

When I first started considering smart lighting, I balked slightly at the pricing of the Philips Hue lights. $89 for a bulb? That’s cray. (The Philips Hue Lightstrips are better value for money ($129 for a 2m strip, $39 for a 1m extension. Especially during its twice-yearly sales.) But it’s a home network, and security is essential. So consider reliable brands rather than just price. Some other great examples are the Nuki smart lock, August smart lock, WyzeCam, iRobot vacuums, or Samsung’s SmartThings. (The August smart lock has no affliation with AUGUSTMAN.) That doesn’t mean that all reliable smart devices are expensive. WyzeCam costs US$19.90 a piece and is brilliant. And the Echo Dot is only US$29.99 at the moment.

5) Consider amalgamated products.
One thing I’m definitely looking forward to getting (or at least, testing) is the Sonos ONE ($329 at Tat Chuan Acoustic). Integrated products such as the Sonos with Alexa are getting more common, and will become key to the success of IoT. After all, why get 5 different products when 2 can do them all? The Sonos ONE offers the crisp sound qualities of a Sonos speaker with integrated voice control. That’s a perfect combination for me.

Connected homes offer unexpected benefits. (Image from Amyx+)


But most importantly, connected devices across apartments means you can check in on family and friends across the world effortlessly. You can drop in on a call to a landline or keep track of an elderly relative without intruding on their life and making that technology seamless for them. And most importantly, they can call you in an emergency or set a program in case a mishap occurs. To me, that’s a nice bonus of giving up some information to my smart device providers.

Technology
smart homes
IoT
Darren Ho
Talk to Me About:

Up Next For You

Automotive Technologies That Will Help Drive The Cars Of The Future
Richard Augustin
Gear
Samsung Galaxy S21: The Details On The New Flagship Smartphone
AFP Relaxnews
Gear
WhatsApp Has Updated Its Terms And Its Rivals Are Reaping The Benefits
AFP Relaxnews
Gear
The New, Unusually Restrained Rolls-Royce Ghost Is A Masterclass In Elegance
Jon Wall
Gear
Want the low-down on the latest rides and gadgets? We have it all. Sign up to receive it.
×
Where are you?
Tell us so we can display what you want to see.
  • Malaysia
  • Singapore
Malaysia Singapore
Advertise About Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions
© 2021 Copyright Augustman