7 Best Smart Home Devices to Upgrade Your Home
Smart home devices are becoming increasingly popular and offer tons of convenience, enhanced security, and automation to your home. Some of the best-rated devices include smart thermostats, lighting systems, door locks, cameras, voice assistants, and more. With these devices, you AI: can control your home from anywhere with an internet connection and automate mundane tasks like turning off the lights, locking doors, and setting the temperature. With the use of smart home devices, you can create a customized experience that fits your lifestyle.
Smart home devices can help make your life easier by automating tasks. From controlling your lights, thermostats, and door locks to setting up personalized scenes and using voice control, you can create a customized experience that combines convenience with security. With smart home devices, you can also keep track of energy use and receive notifications when something unexpected happens. Finally, they are an affordable way to start building a smart home.
Google and Amazon have paved the way with smart home gadgets with their respective virtual assistants—Google Home and Alexa—whether it’s a smart speaker, smart alarm clock, robot vacuum, or AI-learning thermostat.The booming presence of smart home appliances proves that we as a species have succumbed to the machines; they cede us control via an app or our own voice,save us energy or money, and undertake menial tasks at home without rebelling against us.For that, we willingly give away our data to them.Below are 7 of the best smart home devices, from security-minded gadgets to better-living-minded appliances, that’ll really change our life for the better.
1-Loftie Smart Alarm Clock
Call it the Roger Federer of getting your ass out of bed on time, or the Serena Williams of putting you to sleep. Loftie’s smart alarm clock plus sleep assistant will get you banish unhealthy sleep habits, like checking your phone before closing your eyes, with white noise, medication guide, music player, and soothing wake-up tones. It’s the sleep-focused alarm clock if we’ve ever known one. And even though there is a snooze button, we doubt you’d need to use it often.
| Smart Assistant | N/A |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | Bluetooth |
| Installation | None |
| App | Loftie |
Pros:
- Simple setup
- Promotes healthier sleeping
- A speaker alarm clock sleep assistant, basically
Cons:
- Not the best speaker quality
2-Indoor Wireless HD Security Camera
Discreetly erect one (or three, or five) of these wireless security cams to keep the bad guys from Us or The Strangers on their damn toes. They’re powered by batteries, so those bad guys can’t disable them by cutting off the main power. If the bad guys in this case just happen to be your pets, then it can record video clips and let you monitor your paw-y roommates. You can even get creative and customize what kind of movements deserve alerting—moonwalks, taps, renegade dance from TikTok, etc. (Simply speak through the connected device to make the last one stop for good, please.)
| Smart Assistant | Alexa |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi |
| Installation | None |
| App | Blink Home Monitor |
Pros:
- Wireless and battery-powered
- Customizable motion alerts
- See, hear, and speak through it
Cons:
- Not for outdoor
- Not compatible with Google Assistant
3-August Home Wi-Fi Smart Lock
At its best, smart home technology is all about simplifying your life. The August Wi-Fi Smart Lock is a prime example. Installation is a cinch, with the cylindrical device attaching to your existing deadbolt on the inside of your door. Downloading the app is seamless and intuitive — no separate hub needed. From there, you’ll be able to control the lock from anywhere, share access with other users, and program the lock to open and close automatically as you approach your home and enter inside.
The August Wi-Fi Smart Lock pairs with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit to enable voice control — maybe to check that the front door is locked from bed. If you add in the August Doorbell Cam Pro, you’ll also be able to communicate with visitors and let them inside, all through the same August app.
| Smart assistant | Alexa, Google, Apple HomeKit |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi |
| Installation | DIY |
Pros:
- Auto lock and unlock
- Voice control
Cons:
- Somewhat chunky design
4-Purifier Cool Formaldehyde TP09
Breathing in unsullied oxygen—or, you know, cooling yourself off with it once in a while—while getting a live report of your home’s air quality? That sure as hell beats getting prescribed an inhaler. So quit sniffing and coughing and get yourself Dyson’s purifier-humidifier-cooling-fan that can draw in even the smallest particles and pollutants from afar, then circulate and project cleaner air throughout the room. It’s so smart that it does the sensing and adjusting on its own. But even if you have no idea what in the hell formaldehyde is, you can control the purifier via your app or voice to cleanse some more particles.
| Smart Assistant | Alexa, Apple Siri, Google Assistant |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
| Installation | None |
| App | Dyson Link |
Pros:
- Purifies the whole room—yes, whole
- Auto sensing, reporting, and trapping
- Cooling mode available
Cons:
- High maintenance
5-Ring Video Doorbell
For a doorbell, if you’re just looking for something compact yet crated with features to see who’s ding-donging or monitor deliveries, Ring’s video doorbell does just that and far more—with cool feats like motion detection and night vision. Once installed—which requires some brains and muscles—you’ll be able to see, hear, speak to anyone from your connected devices. It’s your home, after all. Gotta know what’s happening to protect it.
| Smart Assistant | Alexa, Google Assistant |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi |
| Installation | DIY |
| App | Ring |
Pros:
- 1080P HD video quality
- Improved motion sensing
- Remote control
Cons:
- DIY installation required
6-Google Nest Learning Thermostat
Maybe we should listen to SCOTUS and touch the thermostat less often. Google’s smart thermostat gives you the reason. It learns from your habit to regulate the on-and-off schedules at the temperature you like. It can even sense and program which rooms should be at which climate, and knows to turn off the AC when you’re away from home. Once properly installed—some efforts, of course—you likely will never need to touch it again, as the SCOTUS demands.
| Smart Assistant | Google Assistant, Alexa |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, Wi-Fi |
| Installation | Professional |
| App | Nest |
Pros:
- Programmable and easy to use
- Remote control
- Automatically adjusts itself
Cons:
- Requires professional installation
7-Amazon Echo Studio
For a one-stop-shop of smart home owners’ delight, look no further than Echo Studio, the ultimate version of Echo Dot. It’s likely the only speaker that sounds as good as it is smart, merging high-fidelity Dolby Atmos sound quality with, ta-da, Alexa. On one hand, its auto acoustic sensor ensures a playback that’s fine-tuned to the room. On the other, it can connect to over one thousand smart home gadgets. Really, Echo Studio is as smart-home-living as smart-home-living gets.
| Smart Assistant | Alexa |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
| Installation | None |
| App | Amazon Alexa |
Pros:
- Comes with Dolby Atmos and 3D audio
- Adapts to any room’s acoustics
- Seamless Alexa experience
Cons:
- No clock display
- Larger than Echo Dots
What to Consider in Smart Home Devices?
- Assistant software: Are you a simp for Google or Amazon? Or are you too above them and only able to tolerate Apple? Decide on which voice or virtual assistant you’d like as your home steward—Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple’s HomeKit, Samsung’s Bixby, and so on. Some smart home gadgets here are compatible with more than one or two assistants, but many don’t. Once you get the right one, voice control or hands-free control shall prevail.
- Connectivity: Thankfully, most smart home appliances operate via a wireless connection, which is good. And ultimately, it boils down to Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity. Thus, here’s a takeaway you should know for all wireless devices from now on: Wi-Fi is faster than Bluetooth, and provides steadier connection.
- Installation: Do you want to break a sweat or not? And how much sweat are you willing to break? Most smart home devices require zero to little—as in just read the manual and get the device set up—installation. But for some, especially if you need to mount them, get your tool kit handy. Or call for help.
How We Pick Smart Home Devices?
These 7different smart home gadgets are all valedictorians within their respective classes. And below are the factors that we consider as we evaluate their GPAs.
- Look: If it doesn’t look good, it won’t cut it. Better to be smart and pretty than smarter but ugly. Hence, all of our picks will blend in with your home.
- Ease of setup: Most of our picks require little to zero effort in setting up. However, for thermostats and doorbells, installation is inevitable.
- Control: The best smart home devices offer both app and voice control in addition to buttons or screen displays. Remote control when you’re away from home is also taken into consideration.
- What they are: Obviously, the categories they belong to matter. Our picks of smart devices will be the main course of your home, instead of appetizers like smart plugs, smart bulbs, or smart locks. And yes, you’ll need them, even Samsung’s AirDresser smart closet.
And no, we don’t consider price much. Not that we’re snobby, but because we firmly believe that if it’s good, you should buy it. And if it’s good and expensive, then consider the purchase as an investment with huge returns, which it likely is.