Get smart with our electric friends
If someone from 1999 spent the last 20 years in cryo-freeze, then woke up and immediately toured the smart home section of IKEA, they would probably think the robots had finally taken over.
Detailed datasheets on household ‘performance’; surveillance cameras and digital locks; artificial intelligence with its own ‘human’ names ruling our appliances with an iron fist.
It almost sounds a little dystopian. But while modern smart devices are just the latest step in the ever-evolving quest for ultimate convenience and efficiency - with constant new developments and an endless stream of jargon, they can still be thoroughly confusing.
Here’s the lowdown on connected domesticity, from £2,000 smart fridges down to the humblest light bulb...
command. To really raise your guests’ eyebrows, accessorise with frills like motion sensors and dimmer switches. Add flexibility with dull-sounding but actually-super-convenient smart plugs. The TP-Link HS100 Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug (£19.99) works with Alexa and Google Assistant, and allows you to remotely control power flow through your sockets with a button press or voice command.
Lights and plugs can operate property-wide, but there’s a smart device (or three) for each of your main rooms. Easily the most appliance-heavy area of most homes, it’s no surprise that the kitchen might now be the smartest too.
The most demanding customers should try Samsung’s Family Hub Multi-Door Fridge Freezer (£2799) - a multimedia entertainment and life-organising system that occasionally moonlights as a refrigerator. The interface contains - a calendar, a speaker system, a touchpad, a television, a grocery list, and a search engine, and can open a video link of your fridge interior from half way around the world.
For well-trodden floors, swap your bog-standard vacuum cleaner for a Roomba (from £249.99) - an automated vacuum robot with sensors that help it detect and avoid walls and furniture. To see your wooden floors similarly spick and span, try the Braava (from £249.99), a self-propelled mini-mop with the same capabilities as its carpet-cleaning cousin.
All in all, there’s precious few household gadgets that can’t now be voice-activated. With all this tech lying around in full view, the smart money bets on smart security. A Nest Hello Video Doorbell (£299) sends a full-length visual to your phone every time it detects a visitor. With excellent night vision and two-way intercom to boot, you can deal with deliverymen and all manner of door-knockers whether you’re home or not.
Round off your bulwark with that simplest of securities - the lock. The Codelocks CL5510SS Electronic Digital Lock (£349.99) can be reprogrammed at will by smartphone with time sensitive code changes. Forgetful souls need not worry - it does also come with two keys.