We all need fridges to keep our food cold, but now we can buy fridges that shop for our groceries too. Samsung’s Family Hub refrigerator can create shopping lists and order items when supplies are running low. You can order food in an instant thanks to an Online Shopping App, while internal cameras make it easy to check what you have in the fridge even when you’re out. An in-built LED touchscreen display allows users to post messages and notes to others, share photos and look at shared calendars. The display can also screen shows from your Samsung TV.
A smart thermostat designed to control the central heating remotely makes a lot of sense. The Nest 3.0 [pictured top] monitors when you change the temperature in your house and programmes itself to mirror your preferences. If you normally turn the thermostat off at night, for example, the Nest 3.0 will do it for you. The device comes with a digital display and a rotating dial to control it. It can also be monitored using a smartphone companion app.
The Philips Hue lightbulb system has been around for several years and is still one of the best ways to create ambient lighting. The system allows you to change the colour of the lights using a smartphone app. You can pick from a colour wheel, or select colours from a photo in your phone’s library. Philips offers the lights with several fittings so installing them into existing bulb sockets should be simple.
While many of the devices on the list are controlled using smartphone apps, Amazon’s Echo Show works with voice commands. The device is similar to the company’s Echo smart speaker, but comes with a seven-inch screen for watching shows and films. You can tell Alexa, the onboard virtual assistant, to play an episode of the Grand Tour, order a product from Amazon’s online store or play music.
The Echo Show can be ordered from Amazon for £200.
Dyson 360 Eye
Cleaning the floor is a monotonous and time-consuming business at best. Thankfully, robot hoovers are here to do most of the hard work for you and there’s no better option than the Dyson 360 Eye. The robot vacuum is controlled using a smartphone app, allowing you to schedule when the device cleans and to choose different power modes. The device will also provide you with a map, showing you precisely where the robot cleaned.
The 360 Eye costs £799.99 and can be ordered from Dyson’s website.
Apple HomePod
(Image credit: Apple)
Smart speakers are becoming the new must-have gadget for homeowners and Apple’s new HomePod is one of the best on sale.
The device, which has a stylish cylindrical speaker that’s almost seven inches high, is wrapped in a mesh-like fabric. There are no physical inputs as the speaker is paired to a smartphone or tablet through Apple’s AirPlay wireless connection. This allows you to stream songs from Apple Music to the device over the internet. You can also use the device as an external speaker for an Apple TV.
The HomePod can be controlled using Apple’s voice assistant Siri, which lets you request songs through voice commands and dictate text messages without opening your iPhone.
Closing the blinds at the end of the day is an evening ritual for many of us. Simple as this task is, it can become tedious, especially if we have blinds in more than one room. With this problem in mind, Lutron has developed a system that allows you to close all the blinds in your home at the touch of a button.
The smart blinds, which are called Serena, are paired to your smartphone and controlled using an app. The app lets you close and open the blinds at the push of a button, and you can set them to operate automatically on a timer. There’s also the option of using virtual assistants, such as Apple’s Siri, to control the blinds with voice commands.
