The idea and implementation of the smart home project has been around for many years, but if 3-4 years ago, the definition itself presupposed a certain set of solutions for remote control of various systems in the house, today it has become much broader. I mean, smart sockets, lamps, scales and a host of other things are now also among the items that fall under the category of smart home devices. In this small note, I want to recall what kind of accessories we have with remote control or the ability to collect data into a program on a smartphone (most often based on android), and I suggest you join in the comments.
I'll start with a very useful and daily use by each of us – an ordinary light bulb. I don't know for sure, but it seems that the foundation of 'smart lamps' was laid at Philips, presenting the Hue lamp. The name, which is funny for a Russian person, hides a cool idea: the lamp does not just turn on and off, but is naturally controlled by an application from a smartphone. You can customize presets in the program, that is, choose a color, its brightness (the color temperature ranges from 2000 to 6500 K), you can set an alarm for a specific time, then the lighting lamps will turn on gradually and wake you up. There are also 'light recipes', these are four types of lighting that differ in intensity.
We do not have a detailed article about this lamp.
By the way, today Chinese companies also have smart lamps. For Xiaomi this is a proprietary Yeelight Smart, for Meizu – X-Light Plus from a partner company, offered at a reduced price if you buy it with a smartphone. The bottom line is that the idea of 'smart lamps' has clearly found application and is now evolving.
Another accessory that fits the definition of 'smart' is a dedicated socket. I know – Xiaomi Mi Smart Power Plug. In addition to the standard connector for connecting a standard plug, there is a USB connector, and a special application gives it a “mind”. Having installed it on a smartphone, you can choose the time to turn on and off the outlet, in addition, the program displays the status of connecting devices to the accessory.
Of course, one of the very important smart accessories today is the scale. Special scales are able to measure and show not only weight, like the classic ones, but also calculate the ratio of muscle to fat mass in the body and your heart rate. The more expensive the scales are, the more functional they are. Some of these devices display information on the built-in screen, while others – on a special application installed in a smartphone or in the cloud.
Either way, a 'smart' scale can obviously give you more information about weight and related parameters than a classic one. We also have an article about some of these devices, I advise you to read it if this topic is interesting to you.
This small list is the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about various 'smart' things for the home. What kind of devices of this type can you remember?