Is Smart Home tech a fad or the future?

TELLIT01

Some of it is certainly a solution for a problem which doesn't exist but some is useful.  The useless will die naturally and the useful will continue.

Sandtree

Frank99 said:
i find most of this tech for lazy folk, i also know that when the doorbell cameras video people stealing cars in the local area they wear hoodies so they never get caught.

It looks like my other half is going to insist so can anyone tell me how much this is going to cost where to start?

Do you have a vacuumed cleaner or still use a brush? Do you build a fire each time to cook or are you lazy and use a hob? Using a wrangler to help dry clothes in winter or a tumble drier?

I think in part it somewhat depends on exactly what you consider "smart".

Personally dont think its "lazy" that we come home from holiday in winter and can set our heating on from our phone just as we leave the airport so its not freezing when we get in. Its helpful to be able to delay the oven's timer if you go out to do some shopping but bump into friends and decide to grab a drink with them. 

I do some of the lazy stuff too... its great that I can hit "watch Movie" on the remote or phone and it turns on the projector, drops the screen, closes the blinds, turns off the lounge lights all in one click. 

Then there is inbetween stuff, our warming draw you have to open to see what its doing and then decode the LED lights but our Oven has a display and as both are on wifi the oven shows what the draw is doing (and if an error it gives a code not just weird flashing light patterns).

Lights (ceiling, wall, table, floor etc) can all be controlled from the wall switch, no need to rewire if you want to add a new lamp to the switch.

another_casualty

As a child  , I always wanted to live in a Bruce Wayne type of home where you have hidden nooks and crannies behind bookshelves and escapism etc . Unfortunately life disn't plan out that way and I'm living in a small flat ..

Looking at my surroundings , I'm wondeing what would work to catch up with everything hi -tech etc . 

At the back of my mind , I do have a random nagging in the back of my head to ditch turntable / stereo seperates / Tv and dvd  combi and CDs  and just settle for a pair of smart speakers and have an annual subscription to Apple / Spotify / tidal etc
Thing is , my 10 year old tv / dvd combo works great 🤞, I can't see an affordable soundbar or smart speaker that would be equal or better than my stereo. Plus ( could be wrong here ) , smart tv apps may not work in the future . All those gadgets including Apple TV are all plugged in unison and work well so far . The Apple TV box has to be restarted a lot these days due to you tube bugs .

As for the dishwasher, no need as no space in flat for one person . I have a basic fridge freezer. No need for anything else . Replacing the gas cooker and fan oven may be handy if there is a not too expensive alternative . 

I do think rightly or wrongly that within the next 5-7 years desktops will no longer be in peoples homes and iPads and Mac mini's or equivalent will be more powerful to do it all.

I had a robot vacuum cleaner which was good when it wasn't stopping too many times with the slightest thing to irritate it . 

Regarding speech recognition devices ; even before I developed a speech impediment the remote for Apple TV ( Siri ) is useless . 

I do have an electric reclining armchair . Wish I got the vibrating option now

I do think that maybe a hive or some sort of camera outside the communal front door may be  handy to watch anti social tenants from other flats if they're up to no good , Ditto for outside my front room window . Trouble is , that could lead to anxiety and paranoia 

There was a documentary about the family who time travelled from the 50's until the present day and a glimpse of the future . It's amazing the amount of stuff that got chucked out which was cutting edge at the time . The living room in the future looked too bare and bland imho .

That Dave Allen clip was brilliant ! My fave comedian of all time . I was lucky to see him back in the very early '80s at the haymarket . I feel so old .
I'll leave it there ..

MaryNB

Smart alarm
Had to get a new burglar alarm anyway when I moved in so wasn't too much effort to go smart.

Can turn it on remotely if I forget it when leaving the house. If it goes off I get a text, email and notification so I can then check the camera. Handy when my parents were staying and kept setting off the alarm when I was at work - I could disable it remotely.
The camera caught a man trying to burgle me over the summer. Gave the footage to the police and he's due in crown court next week 

Smart doorbell

House didn't have a doorbell and there are no wires near the front door so needed a battery one anyway. Super handy for deliveries. Also managed to catch the aforementioned burglar on it.  Unfortunately I missed the guy who flytipped outside my house because it was on low power mode. 

Smart thermostat
House had a pretty rubbish one when I moved in. I don't like a schedule because I come home at various times. With my smart thermostat I can turn the heating on when I'm on my way home so it's warm when I arrive but I'm not heating an empty house for hours before I get home. 

Smart bulbs
I have three of them. Great for chaging the temp of the light in the living room when I go from WFH to just lounging in front of the TV. 
My bedroom one is set to come on gradually in the morning to wake me up (I'm not a morning person). It's also set to come on at sunset as a security measure so the house doesn't look empty in the evening if I'm working in the office late. 

Ant555

Bought a smart plug one black Friday and it spent about a year in a cupboard as I couldnt think of anything that needed automating - then the following year I decided to turn on/off the christmas tree lights using voice and it works great as I didnt have to get down on my hands and dodgy knees to turn them on/off.

My cameras have been installed in very obvious locations with the thinking that it 'might' send opportunist criminals somewhere else.

[Deleted User]

Phillips Hue lights are useful when away. Just mess with the light times turning them on and off remotely. Usually keep the hue bulbs on  lower light level and soft orange in the evenings of bump them up a temperature to read. Indoor sensors useful as well. Lights come on and ons as required at the light levels and timings meaning nothing left on accidentally.

Ring door bell. Don't like it, don't like the privacy issues around it but useful till I find something less invasive but will not have anything google or Amazon (apart from Ring which is going in the bin as soon as I figure out what to replace it with).

Martin_the_Unjust

Half empty, have you had a look at the Eufy doorbell? All the recordings are stored on site not online, though there are still privacy issues.

Ant555

PS - My current use for my 'christmas tree' smart plug is to have it connected to my floor lamp.

When im collecting a takeaway, I use the app on my phone to flash the lights when im sat in the car to let everyone in the house know im on my way back and to get to the table and get the plates out! 

[Deleted User]

Martin_the_Unjust said:

Half empty, have you had a look at the Eufy doorbell? All the recordings are stored on site not online, though there are still privacy issues.

Yeah, on my list to check out. Far more around now that when I first got the Ring and during that time they were bought out by Amazon. Security with these devices is tricky. Ring were passing around videos to contractors at one point did I read?

TELLIT01

Internet connected fridge and kettle - why??????