Welcome to our Smart Home and Automation category page—the hub for all things smart and convenient that can revolutionise your daily living. Here, you’ll find comprehensive guides, reviews, and the latest news on devices and ecosystems that promise to make your home safer, more efficient, and undeniably more enjoyable.
Smart Home and Automation refers to the network of intelligent devices and systems that connect to the internet and to each other, offering remote control, monitoring, and data collection. From voice-activated lighting to intelligent cooking appliances, this category spans a wide array of products designed to bring ease and automation into your home life.
Whether you’re a tech-savvy early adopter or a homeowner seeking practical solutions for everyday tasks, smart home tech offers a wide range of applications that can genuinely improve your living standards.
Whether you’re just starting your smart home journey or looking to expand your existing setup, our Smart Home and Automation category is rich with expert advice, detailed reviews, and the latest updates to help you make informed decisions. Dive in and discover how smart your home can truly be!
Back in October, SwitchBot announced a range of new lighting products, including the SwitchBot Candle Warmer Lamp, which was a bit of an unusual smart lighting product, but I love it. The RGBICWW Floor Lamp is a bit more mainstream for smart lighting. This is a floor lamp designed for ambient lighting where the light…
The Connectivity Standards Alliance has released Matter 1.5, the latest version of the smart home interoperability standard that finally adds support for security cameras alongside new device categories and energy management features. This update arrives after two maintenance releases earlier this year that focused on testing and certification improvements. Camera Support Finally Arrives After being…
I previously reviewed the Aqara Smart Radiator Thermostat E1 and thought it was an excellent, relatively affordable radiator valve for anyone invested in the Aqara ecosystem. Aqara has now launched the W600 thermostat, with the main selling point being that it supports both Zigbee for native Aqara integration and Matter over Thread, allowing you to…
I have reviewed several digital photo frames over the past few years. I was initially sceptical of them as I always found cheaper options clearly looked like LCD displays and always felt they looked a bit cheap. But some brands like Aura produce some excellent options with matte displays, which do a half-decent job of…
Recently, SwitchBot launched several new Matter-enabled lighting products, including an RGBICWW floor lamp, strip light, and neon wire rope light, which are all fairly standard products in the world of smart lighting. The one product that stood out was the Candle Warmer Lamp. Yes, that’s a lamp that warms candles instead of lighting them, which then…
The eufyCam series has been my favourite option for wireless cameras ever since I first reviewed them with the eufyCam 2C. The main selling points have been that they do not require an ongoing subscription, unlike Arlo or Ring, and I have found that the battery life is superior to most competing brands, including Reolink…
Today, Eufy has announced the new eufyCam S4, described as the industry’s first do-it-yourself solar-powered hybrid camera. This new device combines a 4K fixed bullet lens with dual 2K pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) lenses. This tri-cam design is intended to deliver 360-degree coverage and non-stop solar-powered security. The camera system is also stated to provide detailed facial…
After nearly a decade of waiting, Philips Hue has finally delivered what many smart lighting enthusiasts have been begging for – a bridge that can handle the demands of a modern smart home. The Hue Bridge Pro represents the first major hardware upgrade to the Hue ecosystem’s backbone since 2015, when the version 2 bridge…
I have reviewed a lot of SwitchBot products in the past couple of years and have generally loved all of them. I like how they try to do things a bit differently from other brands, and the SwitchBot Lock Ultra Vision Combo is one of the best smart locks on the market, with advanced features…
My first experience of smart blinds was the premium-priced Luxaflex PowerView, which I reviewed back in 2021. They are great blinds, but I unfortunately have a lot of sleep problems and need a completely dark room, which they did not provide. I then went in the other direction when reviewing the affordable Aqara Roller Shade…
Philips Hue launched the Play Wall Washer back in June and is apparently designed to replace the Play Lightbar. This is a multi-purpose ambient light, but it will likely be popular with those wanting to create ambient lighting effects for TVs, and this would be a perfect addition for the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync…
Following my SwitchBot S20 review, I have also been looking at the new K11+ mini robot vacuum. This is the successor to the SwitchBot K10+, and I reviewed the K10+ Pro a year ago. The new SwitchBot K11+ is an incremental improvement from the previous models. The main change is the significantly smaller base station,…
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