Smart homes are increasingly popular, and there are a wide range of smart home devices on the consumer market these days. These devices can give you greater control over your home, and can protect you from fires, water damage, and break-ins. They may even help you save money and live more comfortably over the long run. With that said, not every smart home device is a winner.
While a lot of smart devices earn points for the “neat” factor, some just won’t see that much use once you get over the novelty of them. In other cases, the items themselves will be used, but the added “smart” features will be completely ignored. While your mileage may vary, here are some of the smart home devices that you’re most likely going to consider overrated once the novelty wears off.
There are many smart appliances making their way into modern homes, and each brings something of a unique take on how to implement smart home connectivity. Unfortunately, most smart microwaves just don’t seem to have a compelling argument for use. On paper the ability to customize cooking for different ingredients and tie in voice controls for the microwave seems interesting. But since most people rely almost exclusively on timed cooking in the microwave, the custom options probably fall outside of what most people use their microwaves for. Voice control is also unlikely to be a major selling point since a lot of microwave use involves single-touch preprogrammed times anyway.
Maintaining a garden using automated watering solutions sounds like a great idea. The problem is that there are already mechanical timers and other solutions that can handle this without adding another connected device. There are undoubtedly some people who will find some of the more advanced automated features in these watering solutions useful. But most won’t get much use out of these features, so these products don’t offer enough of an advantage over non-smart alternatives to justify the cost or hassle of installation.
There are a number of useful appliances that add Bluetooth connectivity and dedicated apps as something of a tacked-on function that adds a little bit to the cost. These washers, cookers, and other appliances work largely the same with or without the smart features, and in the end, there simply isn’t that much in the way of added functionality provided by the Bluetooth connection. Most of the time you’ll be better off saving the little bit of extra money and sticking with the non-smart version of these devices.
Before you complain, hear us out; this isn’t talking about smart speakers that act as hubs or similar devices that performs a unique function (like providing access to a digital assistant) while also controlling multiple devices around your home. This is specifically referring to devices in your home that only act as smart hubs, often requiring a dedicated app to program and interact with them. While some of these hubs may have nice interfaces in their apps, you can usually get more out of a multifunction device like Google Home or Amazon Echo than from a dedicated single-purpose smart hub.
Remote controls for smart home devices range from basic items such as IR remotes and key fobs to more unique pieces that could be considered works of art in their own right. Unfortunately, the more complex of these remotes are often a bit lacking when it comes to overall functionality. Typically designed with specific devices in mind, you’ll usually be better off with more general-purpose remotes, assuming that you don’t rely on voice control or smartphone apps instead.
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