The smart homes of the now. Six high-spec tech every property needs
Updated: Jun 20, 2022
“I’ll huff, and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down”. We all remember the nursey rhyme where the house built from bricks survived the wolf’s fury. And yes, once upon a time, brick and mortar was all that was needed to build a house, so the people who lived there could make it a home; but in the 21st century, we would be amiss if we didn’t recognise that a house isn’t fully a home unless it contains the fuel to fire our digital lifestyle needs.
The merging of technology with everyday life means that high-quality broadband is now a key consideration for today’s home buyers, so much so that homes with poor internet speeds sell for an average of £38,902 less than the market value*. To put it into another stark statistic, 39% of buyers simply won’t consider a property with sluggish broadband service.
All this leads us to believe that powerful connectivity comes before we start picking out the seating, soft furnishings and flooring options.
In this blog, we pick out some of the top smart home technologies prospective customers of every property developer will be considering when hunting for their ‘home smart home'.
1. Ring my Bell
You know when a technology has hit the zeitgeist when it’s grabbed the attention of none other than light-entertainment duo Ant and Dec. Having turned Amazon’s Ring ‘video doorbell’ into a regular Saturday night feature with genuinely heart-warming results, millions of homes are taking smart home security serious to some level of extent right now.
Ring’s app-enabled video doorbell allows homeowners to see, hear and speak to visitors from anywhere in the world. While many of us are using this smart bit of kit to screen visitors while at home, it provides added peace of mind while away from home, for relatively small charge when compared to security solutions of old.
This dinky doorbell isn’t the only thing to be creating a buzz in Ring’s portfolio of products, it is complemented with a range of smart security cameras, lighting, alarm systems and assorted accessories. Ring even offer an ‘Assisted Monitoring’ subscription service that will contact up to three named contacts in the case of an alarm event.
Find out more: https://en-uk.ring.com/
2. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fittest of them all?
VAHA is positioned as an ‘interactive home mirror’ that provides access to ‘fully personalised, immersive sessions for body, mind and nutrition at home’. Quite possibly the ultimate ‘black mirror’ on the market today, this cheval floor mirror gives users access to personal training (PT) classes, 1:1 PT support, smart tracking and guided training.
Unlike other connected fitness devices, such as Peloton, the VAHA’s sensors capture your movements as you work out, giving you instant AI-assisted feedback to help you improve.
It looks like the magic mirror is finally with us, offering a window into a new world of virtual personal training available in the home right now.
Find out more: https://uk.vaha.com/
3. Television Revolution - Part III
Sky has been changing how we consume TV in the UK since the introduction of it’s satellite TV service in eighties. Arguably its greatest innovation, however, came in the form of its Sky+ system at the start of this century. Launched 21 years ago this year, the satellite operator’s Sky+ system revolutionised home recording, quickly helping consign the VHS recorder and countless cabinets of grainy home video-tape libraries to the annals of history. We could be at the very start of another revolutionary wave with the launch of Sky Glass in late-2021.
If you’re desperate to be free of countless cables, inlets, set-top box and that pesky satellite dish blotting your home’s façade, then Sky Glass could be right up your street. The all-in-one TV offers households the first Sky service that’s completely free of a satellite, paving the way to make it easier to decouple from their broadband service.
We suspect the Glass product set will evolve significantly over the coming years, alongside Connected TV (or internet-enabled) access. The growing presence of Full Fibre broadband providers like Swish Fibre will make the transition a lot quicker and painless where, subject to coverage and availability in your area of course.
Find out more: https://www.sky.com/glass
4 & 5. Cooking up a feast of smarts
The kitchen has long been home to some of the greatest technological advancements of all, but one of the slowest areas to serve up its own menu of recipes for the ‘smart’ era. Things are heating up quite nicely with increasing flair in 2022 though.
Every conceivable appliance can now be controlled via supporting internet-enabled applications. Blenders, ovens, faucets, coffee machines, microwaves, oven hoods, scales… you name it, there’s probably a smart version to suit your tastes.
Samsung’s Family Hub – that’s a refrigerator to you and us – currently boasts five screens to serve up a digital pinboard, photo display, calendar, recipe screen and TV. For those that spend a lot of time in the kitchen, it’s a true delight to behold.
But our absolute favourite sounding appliance right now (it’s currently only available in the US) has to be the fabulously specced June Oven. Firstly, this counter-top oven is a convection oven, air fryer, dehydrator, slow cooker, broiler, toaster and – excuse us while we draw a breath – warming draw, all rolled into one Tardis-like device! With a HD camera so you can keep an eye on your food anywhere in the house, it also uses AI to identify around 50 common food types and suggest a pre-programmed routine to automatically cook it for you.
We’ll let you know the second it’s available for pre-order in the UK!
Find out more: Samsung, June Oven
6. The appliance of science
Smart appliances allow you to control, monitor, secure and generally make things easier around the home via internet-enabled smart apps. To round things off, we’ve gathered together some of the best reviewed app-enabled appliances for use around the home and garden in 2022.
While some are a little on the pricey side – that’s your cleaning and lawncare products – we opted for those that are proven to do a comparable job to their good old-fashioned counterparts.
Heating – Nest Learning Thermostat
Lighting – Philips Hue
Security – August Home Smart Lock Pro
Cleaning – Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid
Lawncare – Husqvarna Automower 315X
You can find out more about how Swish Fibre is helping to transform property developments with Full Fibre broadband, or get in touch with us directly, via the following links.