Home automation allows you to monitor and control devices and appliances in your home remotely. Connected products like smart lights, thermostats, security cameras, locks, and more can be programmed to turn on/off automatically or controlled manually from anywhere.
Home automation systems communicate through wireless protocols like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee or are hardwired into a home’s electrical system. Cloud services and digital assistants enable voice control.
We test and review the latest smart home and automation products to help build your connected dream home. See our home automation buying guides, news, deals, product comparisons, and advice to add convenience, security, and savings.
Recently, TP-Link launched a new sub-brand called Tapo, offering smart home products at lower price points. I have previously reviewed the Tapo C100 which turned out to be a surprisingly good little indoor camera for around £20. Most recently they launched a range of bulbs, I have been sent the basic White L510E which you…
I have covered smart locks quite a lot in the past, it is an area of smart home technology I have always loved the thought of but it has never seemed to gain much traction in the mainstream market, unlike lighting or home heating. I have already reviewed the Yale Conexis L1 Smart Door Lock…
There is no getting away from the awful PR Ring has had recently, it has been revealed that the company has some serious issues with privacy as well as agreements with law enforcement to share your data. They are trying to improve though; they claim to have locked down the privacy concerns enforcing mandatory 2FA…
Buttons and switches are a superb addition to any smart home system allowing you to carry commands without reaching for your phone or shouting at Alexa. When I started this post, I knew there were a lot of options, but it turns out there are way more products that I realised. I have been looking…
When it comes to automation apps on Android there are various variants on the Google Play Store today, but how to choose the best ones. If you browse the wide array of apps that specialize in this area, you’ll find this to be quite hard. Firstly, let’s explain why you need to automate your smartphone…
I was previously impressed with the performance of the Blurams Outdoor Pro, the affordable camera is one of the few AI facial recognition cameras on the market and it was quite accurate, much better than standard motion detection. Blurams are now taking that tech and shoving it in a smart doorbell and to make things…
Netatmo is the latest company to enter the smart lock market with the innovatively named Smart Door Lock and Keys. While there are a lot of products on the market, the big names such as August are designed for deadlocks only, but in the UK for our uPVC doors, we use multi-point locks with a…
Ring has had a string of bad publicity recently, so their CES product launch is somewhat tarnished. It has recently come to light, that Ring has been working with police to make it easier for them to access footage, and they are facing legal action for poor security and also a data breach. So as…
I am a big fan of floodlight and spotlight cameras, I have both the Ezviz Floodlight and Netatmo Presence. The problem with both of these is that they need to be wired into your mains, because big lights use more power. Arlo thinks they can do better than this and have launched the Arlo Pro…
Smart home alarms have been gaining traction in the UK in the past year and I have reviewed both the Yale Home Sync and Simplisafe systems. Ring recently launched in the UK, and my review of the Somfy indoor camera can be part of a smart home alarm. Minut, formerly Point, is a new contender…
Smart home thermostats have come a long way since they first launched. Originally they were just a thermostat that controlled the on and off functions of your boiler. They promised various levels of savings compared to a traditional thermostat, but in reality, they were still quite inefficient in many areas. Then came zoned heating, Genius…
I have reviewed smart plug options from TP-link Kasa and Energenie MiHome in the past, and if you look on Amazon it has become quite a saturated market with many random Chinese brands flooding the listing, and even Amazon themselves with a smart plug. There are also various Z-Wave smart plugs and other options, but…
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