One smart hub to rule all your connected devices
Summary
More than 400 million smart home devices were produced in 2017.
By using smart home hubs, users can control and sync multiple connected devices from different producers.
Dedicated smart home hubs such as Samsung’s SmartThings and the Wink Hub 2 can control most smart devices.
Smart speakers can also serve as smart hubs, but mostly for WiFi-connected devices.
Smart displays – a merger of smart speaker tech and displays – are the latest products that offer hub-like functionalities.
More than 400 million smart home devices were produced last year, and according to IDC, that figure will grow to almost a billion in 2022. Products like smart thermostats and smart door locks can indeed make your life easier, but owning many devices from different producers comes with challenges. You could potentially end up combing through a number of apps to control devices that can’t talk to each other because they use different communication protocols. In a situation like this, having a central location from which you could control connected devices from multiple producers would be a life-saver, and that’s where the smart home hub comes in.
It’s essentially a piece of hardware or software that controls devices from a single place. More importantly, it helps devices to work with each other, ensuring that, for instance, smart doors unlock the moment the smoke sensors are activated. And depending on your preferences and budget, there are several options on the market. Though dedicated smart hubs from companies such as Samsung or Wink are compatible with most connected devices, some users find them obsolete as smart speakers from Amazon or Google offer somewhat similar functions. And the latest trend in the market is smart displays – smart speakers mounted with a display and smart home control options.
Smart home hubs with superior connectivity
One of the best dedicated smart hubs on the market is Samsung’s SmartThings hub, which supports special wireless protocols such as Z-Wave and Zigbee, as well as good-old Bluetooth. It’s compatible with more than 200 devices, works with both the Google Assistant and Alexa, and integrates with third-party services such as IFTTT. One potential drawback, however, is that there are two apps, SmartThings and Connect, through which users control connected devices. This adds a layer of complexity, but nevertheless, Samsung’s smart hub remains one of the most expansive on the market.
Less known, but equally capable, is the Wink Hub 2 smart hub that supports the same communication protocols as SmartThings. But unlike Samsung’s hub, it doesn’t have to be hardwired into the router as it’s equipped with 5GHz WiFi connectivity. Another difference is that the Wink Hub 2 doesn’t depend on the cloud to communicate with devices, relying on your home network, instead. Other notable smart hubs on the market include Almond 3 that’s actually a router mashed together with a smart home hub. It’s Zigbee compatible only, and you have to additionally pay to get Z-Wave compatibility. But if your home’s connected devices run on WiFi only, you might not even need a dedicated smart home hub.
Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri can do the job
Smart speakers like the Amazon Echo, Google Home, and the Apple HomePod can serve as a smart hub through their apps and voice interfaces. And since voice is increasingly used to control smart home devices, smart speakers powered by Alexa, the Google Assistant, or Siri have an edge over traditional hubs that don’t do that natively. Besides this, you can also control your WiFi-connected devices through apps such as Yonomi, Stringify, or EVE. They act as a software-based smart home hub, providing control over different devices in a single app.
Winning customers with sound, a display, and a (lack of) camera
The latest addition to the family of products that provide hub-like functionalities is the smart display. At its most basic, it’s a smart speaker mounted with a display and run by virtual assistants like Alexa. Smart displays answer your questions, find recipes on the internet, play music, and control other smart home devices. Companies see great potential in these products and are racing to dominate the market. Whether you prefer Amazon’s Echo Show, the Facebook Portal, or the Google Assistant-powered Lenovo Smart Display and the JBL Link View, there’s something to suit everyone’s taste.
But unlike these smart displays, Google’s own Home Hub that’s last to hit the market comes with one unique distinction – it doesn’t have a camera. Mark Spates, Google's product lead for smart speakers, explains this decision by saying they “wanted to make sure that you could use this anywhere in the home”. Privacy concerns are an important factor for many people, but other producers have their own advantages, too. For example, the JBL Link View is equipped with two 10-watt speakers that produce fantastic sound, while Lenovo’s 10-inch crisp and colourful display is hard to beat. And as Amazon’s Echo Show smart display was the first to hit the market, Bezos’ engineers had ample time to perfect this product.
Consumers are the ultimate winners
As consumers add more and more devices to their smart home systems, they'll be faced with a dilemma. How to control and sync multiple devices seamlessly and from a single place? Luckily, smart home hubs offer a solution whether through dedicated routers, apps, smart speakers, or smart displays. Consumers are blessed with a myriad of choices and they can find products that suit their budget and needs. And as a growing number of tech giants enter this race, smart home users are poised to be the ultimate winners.
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Meaning of trend
Smart home devices make our life easier, but owning too many of them and from different producers comes with a challenge. Enabling people to control all devices from a single hub will be an important factor in the market, and it represents both an opportunity for forward-looking companies and a threat for producers that don’t catch up.
Expert Opinion
Marcus Fry, the brand activation director of JBL at Harman, says that “Research shows voice activated speakers are no mere novelty. Sixty percent of owners now consider them a necessity.”
"For us, in general, it's not about one product or another, just the word camera -- hey, put a camera in your bedroom. It's a comfort thing. For us, we wanted to make sure that you could use this anywhere in the home," explains Mark Spates, Google's product lead for smart speakers.
This article was originally published in 2018 on Diynxt.com.