It’s 2019, and right now CES 2019 is going on. It’s my first year not going in a while. I miss walking around Vegas, seeing new TV’s, and getting sneak peaks at what gadgets in 2019 will look like. It got me thinking about what smart home gadgets I would add this year. I have a few ideas on what I will add from more Google Homes to Roku speakers.
I’ve complied a list below on the tech I am using and the reason why!
I started out with the Nest Thermostat as my first smart home gadget, and since added dozens of Nest products within my house. The design and the apps all appeal to me, and I haven’t had a single problem with any of the tech.
As I mentioned above, I keep adding Nest products in my house. The Nest Indoor Camera started out as a way to monitor my new born but now I use them to watch the dogs while we’re away from home. It’s great to have a camera online that can stream in HD.
Similar to the Indoor Camera, I like to have some cameras outside the house watching the front door and the back of the house. The outdoor camera was easy to install and can stream high quality video 24/7 to Nest servers which store and backup the video.
The Nest doorbell is amazing but overall I bought it to stay within the Nest ecosystem. It was affordable and super easy to install.
The Nest Protect is a fire alarm/carbon monoxide detector. I added it to the house to easily check on what’s going on and have something that will alert me when something is happening at home. When the alarm goes off it’ll tell you the problem room, turn the lights red (which is a color that makes it easier to see in smoke), turn off the A/C, and can alert contacts for you.
The smart lock is a great add on but is also somewhat a pain. It’s great to have the lock on the door and never worry if the doors unlocked or locked, but changing the batteries can be a pain.
The Roku smart TV is a 50-inch Element screen from BestBuy. I plan on adding the Roku wireless speakers instead of buying a sound bar.
The lights are an easy choice! Adds flare to the house plus we are able to turn the lights on and off with our phones and our voice. I picked Hue lights over others because they were some of the best options 3 or 4 years ago.
I have a number of Google Home’s in the house. I have a couple minis and the proper Home. I plan on adding the Home Screen sometime this year to the mix up, but overall I am pretty happy with waiting for Google over buying into Amazon’s ecosystem.
Let me know what you have in your smart home @leonhitchens on Twitter!
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