Every piece of technology you encounter anywhere will one day become smart. At least, that’s what tech firms hope to happen. They bet you’ll want your lights to turn on and your window shades to open on their own to catch the sunrise. There are thermostats that allow you to save money by monitoring your habits, energy prices, and whether you are at home. The smart home category is expanding rapidly. So is the number of people who want smart home products at home.
More than ever, more Americans want the comfort that not having your home can provide. You never have to worry about fixing anything because there is someone who does it for you. The same goes for property taxes, cables, and internet service. While you are buying a lot, you are also trading in some liberties. Your property management company won’t be too thrilled when they find out you’ve replaced their thermostat with a Nest. Replacing the lock on your front door with a smart lock is almost strictly prohibited under the terms of your lease.
To read: Best Smart Home Products
You can’t put a Nest in your apartment, but there are many perfectly acceptable smart home products.
bulbs
The basis of any smart home and any smart apartment is lighting. Lighting is quite mature as it was one of the first victims of the smart tech craze.
Philips Hue lights and wall controller.
Smart lights can be paired with fixtures in your apartment or with different lamps you distribute around the house to provide auxiliary lighting. There are fixtures that also incorporate smart lighting technology. Philips Hue dominates the field of smart lighting, with a wide variety of bulbs for every occasion. It wouldn’t hurt if Hue has a developer program that allows other smart home product manufacturers to integrate seamlessly with it.
To read: Philips Tone Review
With the right smart lighting system, you can wake up with a simulated morning sunrise or relax with a simulated sunset. When used with other smart home products, you can control your lights with voice command only.
It is worth noting that Cree and GE offer their own smart lighting systems. Not all of them offer every feature that Philips Hue has to offer, but each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Compatible with lighting systems from other companies such as Samsung SmartThings, GE and OSRAM.
Television Sets
Smart TVs aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of building a smart home. They should be, though, because their numbers are increasing. In 2017, Amazon Alexa is expected to be on two mid-range television sets. It allows users to voice commands to lighting systems, thermostats and more. Smart home televisions have app stores that allow you to develop their feature sets as well.
To read: Amazon Alexa and Amazon Fire 4K TVs Coming in 2017
Wireless Speaker Systems
Another thing you wouldn’t expect to hear in a smart home setup is the wireless speaker system. They go well with any smart apartment setup.
Sonos’ wireless speaker systems let you stream music wherever you are. Sound quality is better than a Bluetooth speaker system. App integration offers connectivity to iTunes, Spotify and iHeartRadio without an extra device. In a traditional setup, you have to decide which room you want your music to play in. Leaving that room means missing out on moments of everything you’re listening to. You can tell Sonos to play audio in a specific room or your entire apartment. Sonos Connection It starts at $349.99.
Audio pioneer Bose also offers high-quality wireless speaker systems. This Bose SoundTouch Adapter It lets you turn any speaker into a wireless speaker for $149.99.
Personal Assistants
The personal assistant landscape is booming right now. They’ve been on our phones for a while, and any true smart apartment setup needs a personal assistant that isn’t connected to a mobile device.
This is where Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, and Google Home all come into play. Each allows you to control different smart products around your home. In addition, they can answer questions and act as adapters to make your television smart.
Wireless Doorbells
What if your front door was smarter? No, you cannot change the locks in your apartment, but you can use a smart doorbell to let you know who is visiting. The $199 entry-level Ring Video Doorbell has a built-in video camera, plus supports two-way audio and Wireless access. You don’t have to break any rules by adding cables because it has a battery.
The key to adding any smart home product to your apartment is to focus on things that don’t require wiring. Drilling holes in bricks and adding wires is almost strictly prohibited in your lease. You’re going to need to add things to your setup that use wireless technology and are really easy to remove when you move to your next location.
Good luck adding smart home products to your apartment.
