Master your domain with these gadgets
The gadgets that bring light, heat and order
Amazon Echo Dot £49.99 amazon.co.uk
Apple’s HomePod is a great speaker, but at £319, it’s an expensive option to gain voice control of your home. Amazon’s Echo Dot isn’t a speaker at all – it’s a microphone that you plug in to an existing speaker in order to use the Alexa voice assistant through it – at a fraction of HomePod’s cost.
Belkin WeMo Switch £39.99 belkin.com/uk
Belkin’s Switch plug and companion app let you schedule activity for dumb home appliances. You might use it to turn on a lamp when you’re away or a fan when it’s hot, or turn off a clothes airer that has no timer. It works with Alexa – and HomeKit using the upcoming WeMo Bridge.
Elgato Eve Thermo £59.95 elgato.com
Eve Thermo is an affordable alternative to an expensive smart radiator valve. It can be used to control just one radiator, perhaps in your bedroom for cold winter mornings, and HomeKit support means that it can be linked with other devices, such as lights or motion sensors.
Philips Hue White Starter Kit £59.95 meethue.com
It was Philips that really got the smart lighting market going, and it has now released the most affordable lighting kit we’ve seen. This starter kit gives you two smart bulbs, and a bridge that adds HomeKit compatibility. It works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Samsung SmartThings Starter Kit £199 smartthings.com
Shop around and you can find this for a much lower price. It includes three different security sensors, a hub and a smart plug. The hub can also control some other manufacturers’ devices too, allowing for easy extension of your smart home system later.