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Does investing in smart tech make our lives easier?

Q1 2018

From booking holidays on the go, to personal banking from the palm of our hands, it’s safe to say smart technology has transformed our day-to-day lives. We highlight some of the top smart tech trends, in and out of the home, and investigate whether they’re worth the investment…

Despite a slow start to sales of connected devices, Deloitte reports that two-thirds of consumers (66%) agree they have the potential to make their lives easier. This figure rises to 91% among 18-to-24-year olds.

It’s inescapable. Interest in the automated home is growing…

Smart central heating

A pillar of an automated, connected home is smart central heating. Nowadays via a smartphone app, you can switch the heating on from anywhere. As well as promising to save you money (Hive claims to slash up to £130 a year off your heating bill) it’s a convenient, greener option for the home.

Smart central heating also uses insight to get to know your habits, when you’re in and when you’re out, and adjusts the temperature accordingly so you’ll never walk into a cold house again. It also helps reduce energy waste when heating up an unoccupied house (say, if you’re working late unexpectedly or forget to turn off the heating when you leave).

Wireless lighting

Your heating isn’t the only thing you can control at the tap of a screen. Wireless lighting is operable from your phone and enables you to not just turn the lights on and off from your sofa, but create your perfect ambiance in different rooms.

Phillips Hue is a popular choice when it comes to smart lighting – its wireless system allows you to recreate colours from a picture and play around with the brightness. There’s also Osram's Lightify, probably the closest to the Hue in terms of bulb type availability, although it doesn’t have quite as many features.

If lighting doesn’t necessarily get you going, consider the safety factor – you can programme the lights to come on when you’re out, which could help deter potential burglars.

Video Doorbells

The video doorbell is gaining traction in the UK due to its security and safety-enhancing features. Installing a video intercom system means you can see who’s at the door without them knowing, respond to the visitor without opening the door and activate your security system remotely.

Despite impressive capabilities, it’s still early days for this technology and advisable it’s only added as an additional layer of security, rather than a standalone system.

Amazon Dash Buttons

Amazon is diverting customer attention away from phones and supermarket shelves, with the opportunity to re-order household goods at the push of their Dash Buttons. The Button is a stick-on plastic device that’s connected to WiFi and your amazon account.

The most popular Button is toilet paper, with 300,000 units ordered this way last year. Customers who like to shop around for the best price might not find it economical to buy products from the same retailer, but with over 100 brands now available on the service – including Pampers, Purina Gourmet and Flash – there’s no denying it could take the hassle out of remembering to re-order.

The Buttons are stick-on and display the brand label, something to think about when considering implementing these in your kitchen.

Electric car charging ports

The demand for electric plug-in cars soared from 3,500 in 2013 to more than 130,000 cars on the road by December 2017. And it’s easy to see why - according to Public Health England, air quality is the largest environmental risk to public health.

So buying one is doing your part for both the environment and your own health. But if you do buy one, is it worth investing in a home charging port? According to Zap-Map there are currently around 4,800 locations providing almost 7,500 individual chargers, with 700 new locations added in the past year alone.

With growth at this rate, it won’t be long before charging stations outnumber the UK’s 8,500 petrol and diesel stations. But if you decide you want the convenience of home charging, the Government offers OLEV grants up to £400 towards the cost.

Once installed, you pay for the electricity you use to charge. Typical overnight electricity rate in the UK is 10p per kWh.

iKettle

Smart technology has reached even the most basic of appliances – including the kettle. The iKettle promises you a satisfying wake-up call and even welcomes you home with the offer of a hot drink.

You don’t have to move to put the iKettle on, it works via WiFi and is operated from your phone, handy on a lazy Sunday morning. But with our smartphones fast becoming the remote control to our lives, is smart technology in a kettle necessary or a nice-to-have?

If you like gadgets and regular hot drinks, the iKettle certainly promises to make your life easier. If you’re more of a traditionalist, maybe sit this one out.

Alexa

The electronic home PA is now in its second generation and continues to expand its music, smart-home, and digital-assistant capabilities.

Using your voice, you can ask Alexa to search the web, add to your shopping list, get recipe ideas and even control other smart devices in your home, all without even looking at your phone.

Because of the nature of voice-activation, both the always-listening and data-collection tendencies do raise concerns over privacy. But everything you say can be deleted at any time, so you’re not risking any more than with other connected services.