As we enter the final leg of 2018, it’s a race to the finish in the smart home world, with a host of manufacturers all revealing some shiny new products just in time to round out the year.
From wearables that interact with smart homes to Facebook’s big reveal and 5G connectivity, here’s the latest smart home news hitting the tech headlines.
Smart watches
The smart watch market is tipped to be a big one over the coming months as manufacturers like Apple and Samsung roll out their latest devices just in time for the Christmas rush.
Fitness is a focus of both these latest offerings, but from Samsung there was a particularly interesting angle that incorporated a smart home theme.
They tout their new Samsung Watch as being able to control the smart home and it raises some interesting scenarios for our wearable future.
Not only does their smart watch control connected home devices from your wrist, it can feed information about your health habits into this routine.
Feasibly, this means the smart watch can tell your smart lights to dim, depending on your recorded sleep routine, or your smart vacuum cleaner might resist the urge to kick in when your watch tells it you’re asleep.
In the interim, the new watch also features access to Samsung Pay, and allows you to get the details of a security camera alert from the built-in SmartThings app.
Facebook Portal
After months of speculation, Facebook has released its first smart home device – Facebook Portal.
Essentially a new way of video chatting with friends, the product is a digital photo frame, music player and video communication device all rolled into one, allowing users to chat with and view people online.
With the Amazon voice assistant Alexa built in, you can ask it questions while it also enables hands-free calling courtesy of a smart camera and microphones that follow all the action as you chat and go about your daily tasks.
At great pains to reassure people about their privacy, Facebook notes the device only reactivates when the user says, “Hey Portal”, while users can easily disable the microphone and camera at a single tap.
Facebook Portal will be available in Australian from November with pre-orders open now and two screen sizes available.
5G internet
The latest generation of internet capability is almost upon us, with 5G set to roll out in Australia next year. Basically, 5G is a faster mobile internet service, offering more data and higher speeds.
So, what does that mean, and how does it impact NBN? In the case of 5G, we’re talking about the type of internet accessed through your smart phone as opposed to the fixed internet offered in your home which tends to be NBN reliant.
In practice, the two will work together, so now you should have better internet at home courtesy of the NBN and better internet on the go, due to 5G
The upshot is, your mobile internet will be faster and more efficient, so there’ll be more bandwidth available for things like video streaming on-the-go.
Meanwhile, when the NBN goes down, you’ll be able to access the 5G network via hotspots and smartphones and do more using this connection.
And yes, 5G is fast, very fast. 5G networks will theoretically be able to reach speeds as fast as 20Gbps.
Telstra recently trialled 5G on the Gold Coast, where it achieved network speeds of around 3Gbps using mmWave bands. That’s roughly 3,000Mbps, or 30 times as a fast as the maximum speed of an NBN 100 connection.
5G will roll out in metropolitan areas from early next year.
And what does it mean to the smart home? Well, it means you’ll be able to communicate with your home from mobile devices more effectively.
So, if you’re accessing your smart home app remotely, like from work or the shopping centre, the response is set to be a whole lot faster.
Google Home…with screen
As Facebook enters the market, Google looks set to hone its smart hub offering with a new device that controls the home courtesy of a smart speaker complete with inbuilt screen.
Technically described a smart display, the seven-inch touch screen allows users to access all the features of a smart speaker in addition to visual extras.
It’s powered by Google Assistant and harnesses the Google operating system to provide weather, maps directions, calendar, shopping, photos, music, TV control, and other applications.
In English, that means you can use voice or touchscreen to see and hear your schedule, search for things and view the results.
One of features is the ability to link it to compatible Wi-Fi cameras to be able to see who is at the door or in any part of your home. Another will be to play videos when you ask Google for help.
Google Home Hub launches in Australia this month, with stock expected by October 23.
Other news
In other news, a collection of digital health companies and one of Australia’s largest healthcare providers have joined forces to build a trailblazing high-tech house for people with intellectual disabilities.
Health Care IT reports the project is under construction in Melbourne, and will trial the use of wearables, mobile device apps, voice assistants, sensors, artificial intelligence and more fit-for-purpose innovations for five residents with cognitive issues and secondary conditions such as epilepsy, cerebral palsy and blindness.
Meanwhile, the simple act of baking is set to get a whole lot easier, courtesy of precision bakeware that monitors the internal temperature of what your cooking and relays the “inside” information directly to your phone.
This feat is made possible by a temperature probe that fits through the side of the pan and communicates via Bluetooth with a “FirstBuild app” so you can see the temperature of your dish in real time.
About Lera
Lera Smart Home Solutions is a leading installer of smart home technology in the greater Sydney region. Our team boasts over 20 years’ experience in IT networking, programming and the electrical industry.
We have sourced the most reliable and cost efficient solutions from around the world to provide the very best in smart home solutions, and work with our clients to understand their needs.
You can learn more about transforming your house into a smart home here, or contact us directly for further advice.
