- 3 days ago
Whether you're looking for new smart home gadgets to add to your existing collection, or want help understanding the smart home for beginners, Paul Antill shares a smart home tour that delivers big on inspiration when working with a small space. Setting up a smart home can power your home with automations, convenience, security and entertainment. There's no shortage of amazing smart home technology, from smart gadgets for home on Amazon like Ring doorbells and Echo speakers to robot window cleaners and immersive smart lights.
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TechTranscript
00:00like tell me that's not the future I've recently moved into this new space but I had to downsize
00:09quite a bit however I've got a number of really cool smart home gadgets that make the most of a
00:14smaller space so whether you're just starting a smart home or you're looking for some really
00:19cool smart home gadgets that are easy to install maybe renter-friendly there's something for
00:23everyone here from setting the mood automated home cleaning and smart home security here's
00:27some of the best picks that you can get today that actually make a difference one of the most
00:31important decisions that went into creating my smart home setup was making sure that everything
00:36works seamlessly together especially in the area that I hang out most my living room so for my
00:41brains I'm using Alexa now as a voice assistant it's not really the best and it doesn't hold a
00:46torch compared to Google Home Alexa turn off all the lights wall lights isn't responding but when
00:52it comes to actually controlling my devices my lights my TV my Xbox it gives me the most
00:57flexibility with those custom prompts for example Alexa let's game okay without one custom command it
01:06turned on my govi strip lights my govi lamp my Xbox and my TV and when it all works well together it
01:12really makes you feel like you're part of the future in the living room I've paired the echo
01:15studio along with the echo sub now the really cool thing about this is you can actually pair up to two
01:21of these along with an echo sub and if you have a fire TV or a fire stick you can actually pair all
01:26three together for a really incredible surround sound system you can mix and match their other
01:31speakers and start even with a basic one and slowly expand into more if you just want to get your feet
01:36wet but there are a few other smaller things that you can do to make your older or more retro products
01:41feel like they're part of your smart home for example we've got these really cool bulbs over here that are
01:47controlled via smart switches hidden behind here turn on the bookshelf lights and then if you're
01:54like me and you're starting to get into records even budget options like this electro home here for a
01:58hundred dollars have Bluetooth built in which allow you to easily connect to your other smart devices
02:04your smart speakers whether those are Alexa's or via Bluetooth to your bookshelf speakers not too far
02:12way across the room I have the echo show 10 and this is probably my favorite smart home device that
02:17I've tried to date it's a display that you can always look at so whether I'm cooking whether I'm
02:22watching dishes I'm just trying to get ingredients it's a display that I can always keep my eyes on
02:27I actually mostly keep this mode set off but when I'm cooking show me recipes for steak tacos I'll read
02:33the directions one step at a time it's actually been pretty cool to be able to have a screen that does a
02:38semi-decent job at following me around so that I can continue watching my favorite show or play live
02:43news live from ABC news or follow along with a recipe without needing to actually touch the display
02:50beyond that these speakers are one of the best ways to get great sounding multi-room audio with very
02:56little effort but actually my favorite part of this entire setup is the lighting specifically syncing it
03:02with the TV and for that we're gonna be installing the govi backlight 3 this is the newest part of my
03:07setup but I saw so many people raving about it online that I just had to try it out myself with
03:12the govi TV backlight 3 anything on my screen can expand into a lighting canvas thanks to the camera
03:17on top coming from more traditional smart lights it's on a whole other level when it's actually
03:22syncing with what's happening on screen in real time it's incredible now this is the Hisense 65 inch
03:28u8k even those last year's model this is still one of the best TVs that you can get for under a
03:33thousand dollars that's 4k and 144 Hertz it gets extremely bright with 1500 nits peak with impressive
03:39blacks and contrast thanks to its mini LED panel making it great for sunny rooms like this a really
03:45nice TV like this brings the smart home together and Hisense makes some of the best value non OLED TVs
03:50that you can get today again don't be afraid to shop for a TV that's a year or two old like this one
03:54since it's a great way to get most of those same smart features and picture quality but at a decent
03:59discount this also comes with Google assistant built in either the mic built into the TV or via
04:04the remote so I can say okay Google open max opening max stream HBO and if you have your smart home
04:12accessories connected with your Google home account you can control them with your TV this could either
04:16make it a great starting point for when you're first creating a smart home or an easy way to expand
04:21it out without needing to buy a dedicated smart hub for that room
04:24ring makes smart doorbells that give me notifications to my phone or my Alexas whenever someone's at my
04:33door or rings traveling a lot this is a great way for me to keep tabs on my deliveries or make sure my
04:40packages are safe one of the key things for me since I didn't want to drill through my door for wiring
04:45was a long-lasting built-in battery in this case the ring gives me about 6 to 12 months depending on how
04:51frequently I get notifications and check in on things when I first bought into the system I thought
04:56it was the perfect pair especially with my Alexas and for the most part it still is but they're pushing
05:02really hard to get people to buy their monthly ring protect plan which starts at five dollars to get
05:07video history and enhanced notifications so just keep that in mind I'm not the biggest fan of having
05:12security cameras in the home but I do like having them to monitor entrances like this one here to my
05:18balcony just because you never know so this is the GE sync smart camera and it's cool for a couple
05:26of reasons one it's pretty affordable it also has a physical shutter so I can pull it up and I know for
05:31sure it's not able to record anything it also has this really nice swivel here so I can get the perfect
05:36angle and you'll also notice that it has a micro SD card on the side here so it can actually record and
05:41save footage locally without the need for cloud storage so that actually saves you a little bit of
05:46money in the long run because you don't need to have a subscription service which is one of the
05:50main things for me I'm tired of having subscription services for everything and again it's only about
05:54thirty dollars so it was perfect for what I needed and because it's compatible with Alexa I can say Alexa
06:00show me the porch camera okay so that all goes back to finding one ecosystem and a bunch of products
06:06that all work perfectly together I've been testing and reviewing robot vacuum cleaners for over four
06:13years now and as weird as it is to get excited by a vacuum it's also really cool to see how far
06:19these have come over the past few years not just in terms of how well they clean but also with their
06:25design this is the ecovacs x2 omni and new for this year it has a lot of cool tricks up its sleeve
06:30so carried over from its previous models we see the auto lifting mopping pads which when first introduced
06:36was a huge game changer for me because it allowed you to clean your carpets and your hardwood floors
06:42during the same cleaning cycle but they've taken things even further new for this year the x2 omni
06:47has managed to move all of its navigation and obstacle avoidance sensors into the main part of
06:52its body instead of the submarine like sail that smart vacuums usually have this allows the vacuum to
06:57clean under lower clearance obstacles that were once out of reach that said you'll still probably find a
07:02few crannies and corners that the vacuum still can't reach and for that you now have the new handheld
07:07stick vac which is attached to the station's right hand side on top of doing a really great job at
07:11replacing a traditional vacuum even better when you're done cleaning it auto empties and charges
07:16using that same station because of all this i think this combo is one of the best all-in-one smart
07:21vacuum systems that you can get today the thing is you don't need to spend a thousand dollars like
07:26on this combo here you can get a model that's a couple years old maybe one that's used if you're just
07:31trying it out for the first time and you're actually going to be really impressed especially if it's
07:35from one of those bigger brands and again the idea with these is that you're going to be able to trust
07:39them to do your automated home cleaning without much of your own input you're not going to need
07:44to bust out that traditional vacuum as often but we've all seen robot vacuum cleaners what about a
07:50robot cleaner for your windows this is the windbot w2 omni within a few clicks it attaches to your
07:56windows it begins suctioning cleaning and in just a few minutes it's done so it's got actually enough
08:01water to do a couple of these place it at one corner turn it on you'll hear it we're up
08:11and hands off it's got little nozzles on its front and back it's actually going to start spurting in
08:16each direction as it moves now one thing that's really great is again this is an all-in-one unit
08:21with a battery built in so even though i do have an outdoor outlet i don't need to worry about staying
08:25tethered because it has enough charge to clean all of my windows exterior and interior on a single charge
08:30is this something that i thought i'd ever need let alone ever get to try no but now that i have
08:36it really has me excited to see what the future of home automation holds so not only is this easier
08:40and quicker than using a bucket and squeegee it's doing a better job there's no streaks and you know
08:46i can sit inside and not have to worry about it to me that is part of the house of the future
08:52and all this is kept safe with my yale smart lock this is one of the cheapest smart locks that
08:56he can buy today from a reputable brand and as someone who hates to take their keys with them
09:01this is a great choice it doesn't have wi-fi so i can't control this remotely when i'm not home but
09:06at the same time maybe this actually makes this less of a security risk as it's not on an actual
09:12network you still have the convenience of bluetooth if you don't want to use the keypad
09:16but it's actually its auto lock feature that i like most even if i forget to lock the door
09:21after a few moments it'll just lock itself but what purchase would you make to start your smart
09:27home journey today let me know in the comments you can also follow us everywhere at tom's guide
09:32to see more cool tech and you can follow me to see what i'm reviewing next until the next one i'll catch you
09:37later
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