Photo Credit: Sebastian Scholz (Nuki)
The Consumer Electronics Show is an annual showcase of the latest consumer technology. Since 1967, companies have gathered in Las Vegas to reveal products designed to make our home lives better. One of the earliest shows included the first-ever VCR.
Over 30 years later, devices have become far more complex. And as this year’s CES demonstrates, the hottest devices on the market are particularly relevant for homeowners: Iterations and new additions of smart home technology.
Here are the smart home devices we’re most excited to see hit the market.
Igloohome Smart Locks
Smart locks—locks that allow you to open and secure your door locks remotely from your smart devices—are nothing new. However, Igloohome has introduced a new concept that makes smart locks even safer.
One of the biggest concerns some homeowners have about smart locks is that they are susceptible to hacking, as they must connect to a home Wi-Fi or Bluetooth system.
Igloohome smart locks don’t have to connect to Wi-Fi to function. Instead, they use one-time pin codes generated at random to open and close locks. This means that no one can get access to your locks via hacking into your Wi-Fi system.
Samsung BESPOKE Refrigerator
Samsung introduced a new series of refrigerators, called the BESPOKE series, that take their smart fridge offerings and translate them into stylish options for the design-conscious homeowner.
The fridges are designed in a modular system. You can choose the sizes and shapes for a fridge and freezer system, and then piece the different sections together to form the fridge that’s exact for your space and needs.
Choose from different finishes and colors, and even opt for a special “Flex” option that can be used as a refrigerator or freezer.
Kohler Moxie Showerhead + Smart Speaker
Have you ever wanted to listen to music or a podcast in the shower? The Kohler Moxie Showerhead is designed to finally allow you to do just that.
The showerhead comes with a space in the middle for the smart speaker to attached via magnets (wire-free!). The speaker can then connect your smart home system or Alexa, Echo, or Google Nest to play music or podcasts, or read aloud the weather, the news, and more.
Photo Credit: Kevin Baquerizo
The Sero TV by Samsung
The Sero TV by Samsung is meant to replicate the experience of a handheld device, like a smartphone, on a larger screen. Namely, it can support both vertical and horizontal orientations.
Connecting to your smartphone, the TV will rotate as you rotate your phone, allowing you to experience websites, apps like Instagram, or streaming sites in the same way you do on your phone.
The Sero is set to release later this year.
Apple’s new smart home system
While these CES innovations are exciting, there’s one piece of news that would change the way smart homes operate entirely: Apple filed a patent in February of this year for a smart home system that would configure itself.
Currently, smart home systems and all the smart devices that connect to them have to be configured manually by a trained technician. Every time you purchase a smart home device like the ones in this article, a professional has to come to your home to configure it before it can function within your system.
Apple’s new patent would eliminate this friction and allow a smart homeowner to take charge of their own system, adding or swapping devices seamlessly as their needs change.
We hope you enjoyed this roundup of the latest smart home technology! We’re eager to see what developments arise throughout the remainder of 2020.
