Are you looking for ways to transform your home into a smart home, but not sure where to start? We have a great smart home guide that turns your house into an automated home is incredibly easy to do so without costing that much money.
Basically, a smart home is the definition of a device or appliance connected to the internet which you can control using your smartphone, tablet or any type of function that you can automate.
There’s plenty of devices and services that already make the home “smart” on various levels for each individual. No matter whether you are aware of it or not, there’s a high chance you have some form of smart home device.
Do you have portable speakers that can be adjusted via your smartphone? Guess what, you have a smart home. Have you recently installed a security camera at the front door of your home? Well, my friend you do have a smart home. What about the lock that automatically notified whenever someone unlocks or fails to enter the code? Yep, that’s a smart home right there.
If you are a new homeowner or looking for ways to automate your home, perhaps to save more money on energy and utilities bills. Then this guide to transform your home into a smart home will be incredibly useful and essential to making life simpler and easier.
Here, we have assembled a list of components that constitute a smart home, what they do and we included our favorite pick for each category.
Smart Speakers
What is a Smart Speaker: For starters, a smart speaker automatically adjusts its noise level based on the environment so that the sound is much more in tune with the audience. It also can be controlled via your smartphone or via voice command with built-in Alexa Assistant.
Our top pick: For most of the homeowners, we recommend Ultimate Ears Hyperboom. It is a great portable speaker to start with since it features an adaptive equalizer that maintains a smooth and tuned audio quality. Plus they can be connected with multiple speakers including Alexa-enabled devices.
Our budget pick: The JBL Pulse 4 is a high-quality portable speaker that lets you see the sound. It doesn’t cost that much money and remains one of the smart entry-level portable speakers. You can connect it with multiple speakers and adjust with a tap from your smartphone.
Ultimate Ears Hyperboom
The Ultimate Ears Hyperboom is a simple, yet innovative portable bluetooth speaker that's packed with several powerful woofers, tweeters and amplifier. With built-in adaptive equalizer, it's design to deliver rich sound quality for an ultimate listening experience that will keep your audience happy. Furthermore, the Ultimate Ears Hyperboom makes it easy to connect with other portable speakers. Just only two Hyperboom and you will have one of the most powerful portable speaker network that will definitely reach noise-violation level.
Smart Cameras
What is a Smart Camera: A smart camera comes with built-in motion detection and is designed to alert you whenever someone encroaches on your property. They can stream videos to your smartphone and store videos via clouding. High-end security cameras typically have built-in 2 ways to communicate and can be automated to set off alarm during night at your own discretion.
Our top pick: Any avid homeowners will definitely want to check out the Arlo Ultra. It is one of the most expensive security cameras but it has built-in 4K video streaming capabilities and color night vision. Most budget-friendly security cameras do not have this type of capabilities, so if you are looking for a high-end security camera that packs serious firepower, the Arlo Ultra is our top pick.
Our budget pick: If you prefer to stay on the budget, I recommend VAVA Cam Pro. It is cost-effective and affordable with an incredible flexible installation option. This smart home device can be placed anywhere around your home or outside in the front yard. It uses Wi-Fi connection to stream video, so it is ideal to keep it close to your router.
Arlo Ultra
The Arlo Ultra is lightweight and compact home security camera that encompasses smart functions such as built-in color night vision and 4K video streaming capabilities. This security camera accomplishes what others can't do and delivers true high-definition footages that enhances your home security.
Smart Watches
What is a Smart Watch: Believe it or not, a smart watch is considered as a smart home device since it has built-in capabilities that lets you turn on any compatible devices hooked to your smartwatch. If you want to open your garage before arriving, simply utter this phrase, “Alexa, open sesame” and the garage door will open for you. With a smart watch on your wrist, you can do almost everything from turning on your light to getting in touch with your family members on the go.
Our top pick: The smart watches are getting more and more expensive over the time. But we have one great smartwatch that we think you will absolutely love and it is not that expensive either. The Apple Series 3 is a smart watch that still goes strong. It does have built-in voice capabilities that lets you communicate with your family members and adjust the settings with Siri-enabled devices.
Our budget pick: One of the best budget-friendly smart watches that we recommend is Fitbit Versa 2. It features built-in Alexa functionality that sends you updates on weather, calendar and even controls your smart home devices. The Fitbit Versa 2 is also a fitness tracker that analyzes and measures your health wellness. All of this just for a smart watch under $200.
Apple Watch Series 3
The Apple Watch Series 3 dramatically enhances the strengths of its predecessors to deliver lighting fast speed, integrating health and fitness features. As far as the user experiences goes, this smartwatch is much streamlined compared to their competitors.
Smart Home Guide: Security Concerns
As exciting as turning your house into a smart home. You should be aware that for every device that you bring into your home, you run the risk of potential hackers hijacking your smart home devices and running them against you.
To protect yourself and family against these risks, you need to encrypt your Wi-Fi signals. According to an informative article by Encryo, they recommend encrypting your Wi-Fi signals using WPA2 as the standard encryption method,
If you are not sure how to do that, then hiring a tech professional from your internet service provider might be able to do that for a small fee or free of charge. We hope you found our smart home guide informative and helpful. Let us know if you have any questions about these smart home devices in this article.
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