smart home

Upgrade your house with the best tech for monitoring security, saving energy and controlling everything from one place

Voice Assistant

Amazon Echo

Alexa is everywhere these days, but nowhere is Amazon’s AI more at home than in its Echo. It couples an awesome array microphone with pleasing design for the perfect assistant experience. £90, amazon.co.uk

Smart doorbell

Ring Video Doorbell 2

Part motion-detecting security camera, part ring-anywhere doorbell, the Video Doorbell 2 alerts you via your smartphone when you have a visitor – and you can two-way talk even if you’re not home. £179, ring.com

Lifestyle Wi- Fi camera

Logitech Circle 2 Wired

No smart home cam is as fun to use as this – instead of CCTV, it’s more like a Fitbit of home monitoring. It provides a sped-up ‘brief’ of the day, two-way communication, has a 180° camera and Alexa control. £149, logitech.com

Door & Window Sensors

Hive Window or Door sensor Super-simple to install, reasonably priced, and highly inconspicuous once they’re up, Hive’s sensors are a great addition to an existing Hive set-up and there’s even one in the Hive starter pack.

£29 each, hivehome.com

Smart plug

Belkin Wemo Insight This isn’t just a way to switch your devices on and off (though it does do that); the WeMo also keeps close tabs on your energy usage, so you can see just how much that tumble dryer is costing you. £29, belkin.com/uk

Thermostat

Nest Learning Thermostat This is a crowded market, but Nest’s quality app, clever preference-learning tech and automatic energy-saving options push it to the top for us. Plus the 3rd-gen Nest looks amazing on the wall. £200, nest.com

Smart lighting system

Philips Hue

Philips is the big name in smart lighting, thanks to a flexible, expandable system. Great app control, clever lighting options and integrations with other smart home devices make it the brightest of the bunch. From £50 (starter kit), philips.co.uk

Smart security

Y-Cam Protect

Y-Cam’s smart networked alarm supports up to 32 sensors and alerts your phone if it detects motion, or doors or windows are breached – and the built-in battery and phone SIM means it works in a blackout. £149, y-cam.com

Smart security camera

Netgear Arlo Pro

With a battery lasting months inside each camera, the Arlo system does away with the painful process of wiring your security cameras, and you get seven-day cloud storage of motion-detected recordings. £470 (two cameras), netgear.co.uk

Smart lock

Yale Conexis L1 Unlock your front door with a key fob, a phone tag or using Yale’s cool Bluetooth Twist and Go tech – just turn your phone 90 degrees and you’re in. PA24-certified for security, and tamper-proof, too. £230, yale.co.uk

Weather station

Netatmo Weather Station Netatmo’s outdoor sensor pulls in metrics about temperature, humidity and more, but it’s the indoor sensor, which keeps tabs on the air quality and CO2 levels in your home, completes the package. £120, netatmo.com/en-GB

Smart hub

Amazon Echo Plus The Echo Plus isn’t just Alexa – its built-in hub can discover and control tech from Philips Hue, Samsung SmartThings, Hive and others directly, so you don’t need a hub for every different home tech brand. £139, amazon.co.uk