Tips on How to Revamp House into a Smart Home

Revamping your house into a smart home can be mind-boggling sometimes, as well. There’s an endless list of electronic home gadgets these days. How-to-start is always the first question, followed by which-product-is-great-for-me.

You can try getting a fresh start with a smart lighting system, virtual assistant, and security system first. And because we’re concerned about you, here, we’ve gathered curated tips that can you sort through the jumble!

 

Rig your House with Smart Lights

Smart lighting is usually one of the entry points when it comes to changing your home into a smart one. Most smart lighting systems are revolutionizing how homeowners could manage their lighting, conserve energy, and tighten security. All are done with simple voice commands and home connectivity.

 

How to pick the right one?

You need to know what you have and need. If you just want to start with lighting management, you don’t need a hub. A smart home hub connects IoT devices via cloud or locally, usually on a home automation network. This allows communication among connected gadgets.

A basic Philips Hue set up is a common recommendation for those people who don’t have hubs and are not planning to get one. But when you decide to finally get a hub because you want to add a smart thermostat or better security to your home, you can still add Philips hue to it. It works fine with Echo, Google Home, SmartThings Hub, Wink Hub, to name a few.

 

Opt for the Right Assistant

Smart home gadgets are now easily controlled just by speaking simple commands, thanks to voice-controlled assistants. Amazons’ Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google’s Assistant are the most popular ones.

However, each has its strengths and weaknesses.  Again, it’s necessary to opt for an assistant that can work best for what you have and need. We’ve rounded up the most important advantages and disadvantages of these three assistants here.

 

Advantages

1. Amazon’s Alexa

• Amazon’s Echo Dot is among the cheapest smart home controllers
• Other Amazon’s Echo products are easy to set up
• The most broadly supported smart home hub, with more than 10,000 third-party capabilities
• Its associated apps can work for iOs- or Android-operating smart gadgets

2. Apple’s Siri

• Prioritizes privacy more than others
• Ensures that the data transferred between Apple devices and other home smart devices are encrypted and secured
• Setting up Siri with other smart home devices is easier, thanks to Apple’s HomeKit’s integration on smartphones

3. Google’s Assistant

• Google Home is less expensive than the standard Amazon’s Echo It costs around $130, which is $50 less than the standard Echo
• Powered by Google search, so expect that it has better artificial intelligence than Alexa and Siri

 

Disadvantages

1. Amazon’s Alexa

• You have to talk to Alexa through the speaker itself, and not through your phone
• Echo speakers have average quality
• Has unsecured privacy with third-party home devices, which means you should find out yourself what these third-party products’ companies do with the gathered data from you
• Alexa has a hard time responding sometimes

2. Apple’s Siri

• Exclusive to Apple products
• Like Alexa, Siri has troubles understanding you sometimes

3. Google’s Assistant

• Saying, ‘Okay Google’ every time you have to command can be pretty much annoying
• Like Google Echo audio quality, Google Home’s speakers are average
• Like Siri and Alexa, Google assistant still have troubles responding, despite being smarter than other virtual assistants
• Has vague privacy policy

Determining the right assistant for your home will more likely require some costs to play a factor. But then again, choosing the right virtual assistant helps you to make your home way smarter.

 

Enjoy Better Protection with Home Security System

The secret to feeling safe alone at home or secured that your house is protected 24/7 while you’re away is by picking the right home security system. Know that there are two kinds of it: a landline and a wireless one, which can be either professionally installed or you can do it yourself (DIY).

Either way, your security system is the best if it has features like home automation, professional monitoring, mobile app, usability, expandability, and superb design. Take a look at this Lorex 4K Camera Security System review, for example.

In regards to the equipment, the main conventional and fundamental essentials include outdoor and indoor security cameras, door and window sensors, glass break sensors, motion-detector sensors, and video doorbells.

 

Takeaway

Your home entertainment facilities, kitchen equipment, lights, air conditioners, doors, and almost everything in your abode can now be remotely managed with any smart gadget. For starters, it can be very costly, but still, people started dabbling and gave it a go anyway. You should try it, too!

Author Bio

Tyler Pack is a real estate consultant and content marketer for smart home technology. His clients and target readers include property realtors, sellers, and buyers. He spends most of his free time with his family and various social gatherings.