What does the Retrotouch IOTTY Smart Switch do?

The switch replaces your existing switch and makes it smart by connecting to your home WiFi. It connects directly to your WiFi without the need for a hub or controller.

Note: To install it you need a neutral wire in your switch.

Once installed you can control the switch via the app (Androdi and iOS). The app is packed with features:

• Energy monitoring – to keep an eye on consumption
• Geolocation – turn on or off the device when you leave or arrive home
• Sunrise and sunset – control the device based on the sunset and sunrise
• Rooms – controlling multiple switches in one room
• Scenes – set scenes with one button press
• Weather – control the device according to the local weather
• Notifications – receive alerts when used
• Sharing – share with members of your household
• Away mode – fake your presence but turning on and off randomly

How easy is it to setup?

Installation was easy, the only thing to be aware of is this is quite a deep switch due to the tech inside it. This means if you have a lot of wires in your switch or a shallow back box it can be tight!

It is also worth noting you require a neutral wire for the switch to work. If unsure check before you buy.

What’s the connectivity?

The Retrotouch IOTTY smart switch connects to Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Siri allowing voice control:

“Alexa turn on living room light”

As well as IFTTT with 6 pre-made applets as well as being able to make you own and connect iotty to your smart home.

How much does it cost?

The switches start from £69.99 for a single gang switch.  It is also available in white or black finish.

What is it like living with it?

Simple and stylish! It’s great to be able to control the actual light switch not just the bulb like standard smart lighting. This means you can always control it, unlike smart bulbs where one flick of the switch and the bulb is dumb.

The other great main selling point is it works with all bulbs, even if not dimmable. This is why you need the neutral wire.

The switch itself really stands out due to the back lit glass, the only thing we found frustrating was the size of the switch as this prevented us putting it in a few rooms without changing the back box.  

Being able to control the brightness of the backlight is a nice touch especially if installed in the bedroom.

What are our final thoughts?

This is a stylish, feature packed switch!

A different approach to making your home lighting smart. The only one big consideration is the required wiring, neutral at switch, although we appreciate this is a limitation of the tech not this actual switch.

For more information and to buy the switch, visit their website:
https://www.retrotouch.co.uk/smart-wifi-light-switch.html

Tado, the smart climate control company, has come along way in a short space of time. In this review, we are going to be looking at the latest model of their Smart Radiator thermostat and starter kit – v3+.

What does the Tado’s Smart Radiator Thermostat do?

Tado’s Smart radiator thermostats are different to most smart home
thermostats, they do not work on a house level but individual rooms. This means you can control each room as you wish, for example if you want the nursery to be warm but your bedroom room cool this can easily be achieved. Assuming you have Tado installed in those rooms.

It is also a lot smarter than competitors, offering simple yet effective features – for example open window detection. As who wants to heat a room when the window is open?!

At the heart of Tado is the principle of energy and money saving. This is because Tado offers such detailed control of heating your home they claim you save energy and money. In the app there is a dashboard to track approximately how much energy you have saved and how each feature has helped towards the saving.

Other features include:

Weather Detection – Tado checks local weather reports to adapt to how it heats your home.

Geofencing – Both when you are leaving and returning home, interestingly this is not only done via your phone location. It also detects when your phone connects to your home Wifi to signal you are home – smart!

Comfort Control – Each thermostat detects humidity as well as temperature. Creating a simple visualisation of humidity and temperature to show air comfort.

Smart Schedule – Allowing scheduling temperatures for when you are home and away.

Stats & Analytics – Giving insight into what’s been going on in each room, plotted on a graph. Sadly there is no way to export the data though.

Repair Service – Through a national partnership with Help-link, as well aa thousands of local installers you can even find a local plumber.

How easy is Tado to set up?

We know what you are thinking, surely this requires professional installation as its plumbing?! Wrong, install is DIY and easy.

First, you install the app and create a home, once created you add the thermostat and bridge.

To add the bridge you plug it into your router or network switch with an ethernet cable. You then scan the QR code on the thermostat and pair it with the bridge.

Next comes the fun part – you need to remove your existing radiator head. This is much easier than we expected, on our radiator, we basically twisted the metal ring on the existing thermostat. If unsure they have a helpful how to guide on their website.

Top tip – if water starts coming out you are twisting the wrong part. Removing the head does not make any water leak and just exposes the pin on the radiator valve.

Once the head is removed, you can use the supplied adapters to fit the Tado thermostat. We didn’t need any and it fitted directly to the radiator.

The install guide has obviously been written for horizontal installs. If like us you install vertically the label saying top should face the front.

Once installed the thermostat calibrates and it’s done!

What is the connectivity?

Where this smart home tech is different is it does not connect to your home WiFi, as it does not need to. The hub or bridge as they call it connects to your house via ethernet to the bridge. The smart radiator thermostats connect to the bridge using radio (868 Mhz to be precise).

This means you do not have any of the issues surrounding WiFi bands – for example if you only have 5GHz and it only works on 2.4GHz. It also means there is no issue with connectivity or poor signal. We tested in a large house with the bridge downstairs and the radiator upstairs and had a full strength connection.

In terms of third-party connectivity Tado packs a punch offering the most popular voice assistants:

• Siri / Apple HomeKit
• Amazon Alexa
• Google Assistant

As well as IFTTT, allowing you to connect it to any other supported tech on IFTTT. For example, if the bedroom temperature is too hot turn on the Wemo plug connected to a fan. If the bedroom is x temperature turn my Philips Hue lights red, and many more possibilities.

The Tado app is available on iOS 10 or above and Android 5 or above.

Tado Smart Radiator Thermostat

How much do Tado Smart Radiator Thermostats cost?

To get started with Tado you need the starter kit as this contains the bridge. This cost: £119.99 and comes with all you need as well as one radiator valve.

However, once you have the bridge you can buy additional smart valves at £69.99.

This is slightly expensive but if bought directly from Tado they offer a ‘12 month, Save money or your money back’ guarantee!

In addition, there is an optional subscription feature called ‘Auto-Assist’ for £2.99 a month or £24.99 a year. Auto-assist ‘joins up’ the features and automatically controls them, so for example rather than alerting you the window is open and the heating is on, it turns it off for you.

What is it like living with it?

Impressive! However, there are a lot of features and notifications but this is where the optional subscription can take the strain.

We did find we needed to adjust the temperature reported by the thermostat. As it was giving a very high temperature when compared with two other thermometers in the room. This will be due to the design, as with our install the thermostat was very near the radiator, where as if fitted horizontally it will be less near so picking up a lower temperature. Not an issue as this was easily changed in the app, by adding an offset value.

It is brilliant being able to control the exact temperature of a room. Comfort plotting is a great feature and clearly allows you to see how ‘comfortable’ each room is.

Alexa integration is seamless once you have set up the skill allowing you to ask;

“Alexa what’s the temperature in the bedroom”

What are our final thoughts?

This is a very well thought out bit of kit!

The only thing stopping us giving this 5 stars is the price is on the high side. We have over 10 radiators in our Smart test home if each had a smart thermostat it would quickly add up. However, this is offset by the 12-month energy saving guarantee, although you would need to save a lot of energy to fully offset the full cost.

That said the same could be said about any smart home tech, it’s not the cheapest solution you often want but the smartest. In terms of smart thermostats, we think we have found the smartest – meet Tado!

What does the Lightwave rf Lighting Starter Kit do?!

This starter kit contains everything you need to start automating your homes lights. The great thing about this solution is it retrofits your existing light switch and works with most existing lights and fittings.

Due to the way Lightwave works it has an impressive range, meaning the hub can be 15m away from the switch. Unlike ZWave, Zigbee or WiFi with shorter ranges.

How easy is it to setup?

Setup requires basic DIY, as you need to replace your existing switch – if you are unsure please seek professional help. The switch is installed like any ‘normal’ light switch – we did it easily.

You also need to setup the hub and app. Setting up the hub was easy and the app guides you through the setup in a few steps.

What’s the connectivity?

Lightwave rf works with an impressive list of integrations, including:

• Amazon Alexa
• Apple HomeKit
• Google Assistant

These then connect into the scenes and features allowing you to control via voice or the control app, for example Apple Home.

We tested it with Alexa and the command was instantly completed with zero lag.

Lightwave Lighting & Power Starter Kit (Smart Series)

How much does this the Lightwave starter kit cost?

£185 – the good thing is once you have the hub in the starter kit you can buy additional switches from only £59.99. This is reasonable when compared to other smart light solutions, for example Philips Hue.

The switch comes in stainless steel or white, it also includes a handy spacer for switches with a shallow back box.

What’s it like living with it?

Great – the app is full of features including:

• Automation – If you have additional lightwave products like sensors they can be used to automate. As well as a rules and timers.
• Scenes – Allowing you to easily set your favourite scene for TV or reading.
• Schedules – Great for security if you are away on holiday and want to simulate occupancy and make people think you are home.
• Wake Up – Creating gentle wake up routines

One slight frustration was checking if the switch is compatible with existing light fittings, they do have a feature on their website however its not very extensive.

The range is as impressive as advertised, with no issues having the hub quite a distance from the switch.

What are our final thoughts?

This is a different approach to smart lighting and prevents the problem most smart lights have, that when the switch is off the bulb becomes dumb.

Where this solution really comes into its own is it connects to the rest of the Lightwave range, allowing heating, power and presence automation.

Alexa, call Smart Home Geeks on Skype

This feature has been rolled out globally and is available now in the UK.

To enable Skype calling on your Amazon Echo, open at the communication settings within the Alexa app.

This is an exciting integration and shows a closer relationship between tech giants Amazon and Microsoft.

The post Alexa can now Skype! appeared first on Smart Home Geeks.

Introducing Lightwave’s latest Lighting Starter Kit. Their smart kit comes with everything required to mimic occupancy and control lights via their app.

Thanks to an integration with IFTTT the system can also be connected to a vast range of smart home tech with automation rules.

The post Home Alone…in the tech era! appeared first on Smart Home Geeks.

Many of us today are seeking a solution to home security, here I’ll be reviewing a camera from EzViz, parent-owned by Hikvision who are a major player within the global security market and have been since 2001.

The China based company manufacture a number of security devices such as cameras, alarms and sensors and my review is based on one of their cameras, the C2C Mini O.

What does the C2C Mini O do?

The Mini O is a very small, very nice looking Wi-Fi enabled camera with the ability to record footage that can be both cloud-based (subscription required) and/or via SD Card storage (purchased separately and installed within each individual camera).

Like most of the cameras available in today’s market it boasts the following features:

• wide-angle 720p lens
• infrared for night-vision recording
• auto-switching between day and night-vision
• live streaming and alerts
• two-way audio

EZVIZ Mini O C2C Indoor Camera with WiFi

I feel EzViz have built the Mini O around simplicity, the camera is very small in size and very unobtrusive but packs a powerful punch when compared to the bigger players within the market such as Nest. While the body of this camera is plastic, the build feels very good.

Packaged within the box is the Camera, Mains Adapter with accompanied Micro USB Cable and Metal Plates for magnetic use should you wish to install it onto a metal area.

Within the smartphone app there is the ability to create a ‘Motion Detection Area’ and pick exactly where in the cameras view you wish to be alerted of an intruder. This particular setting is ok, I feel it requires some tweaking as I was still sent alerts in areas I had not selected but I like the feature and with improvement can be a very useful tool.

You can also change the sensitivity of the motion detection to the level you are happy with, as well as change the notification sound from Intensive to Soft or Mute.

How easy are they to setup?

Very easy!

After downloading the app (I am using an iPhone, EzViz have their own designated iOS app) I was prompted to create a login, after which I was then prompted to install my first device.

First you scan the QR code, the app detects your device and then you are prompted to connect it to your Wi-Fi network. Within a matter of minutes your camera shows within the app with a live view.

What’s the connectivity?

EzViz have IFTTT capability and I tested this using the designated IFTTT app, I was able to trigger a Philips Hue light to turn on if motion was detected.

Connectivity like this provides the user with many more features to be enabled such as

‘Turn on Sleep Mode when I arrive home’ and ‘Turn your camera off when you leave home’.

These applets were presented when I logged into IFTTT as it recognised I had the EzViz app installed.

The Mini O is also Alexa enabled.

How much does it cost?

The Mini O retails on Amazon for £39.55.

When you consider this price it’s extremely affordable and on the lower end in comparison to it’s competitors.

What’s it like living with it?

It’s a very good camera, it does exactly what it’s expected to do. The app is good, has the required settings and more.

However I feel the UI could do with updating and simplifying as people who may not be tech savvy may struggle with the settings. That said you do get a very solid package for the price.

Footage can be downloaded to your phones picture folder and takes just a couple of minutes to process and you can also view footage via their desktop application for anyone who prefers a laptop or PC view.

For cloud storage, there are four options; two for 7-days and two for 30-days, billed monthly or annually. The costs are:

• 7-days, monthly: £4.99
• 7-days, annually: £49.99
• 30-days, monthly: £9.99
• 30-days, annually: £99.99

One thing I like about the camera setting is the date and time are visible on screen so when footage is stored it’s automatically written into the image. Some market competitors do not have this feature and EzViz have included this which, in my opinion, is a very good decision on their part.

What are our final thoughts?

This is a great camera, especially for the low price!

Anyone looking for security that is simple to set up, has many features available to tailor the experience and does not want to break their wallet I would recommend the Mini O. If you require a camera that has the ability to connect to other third-party apps, this could be the one for you.

As you can expect from Smart Home Geeks this article will be updated when more features become available.

For more information visit: https://www.ezvizlife.com/uk

Review by David Camilleri for Smart Home Geeks.

( Read the Story here: Amazon Alexa Hotel trial)

Now Alexa is being added to University rooms!

Saint Louis University ,in America, has added Alexa to every residence hall room and apartment. The installations being done completed by a new Amazon initiative called ‘Alexa for Business‘.

The university will deploy 2,300 Amazon Echo Dots and with it a specially developed skill to allow students to ask questions about University life.

The program is being rolled out after a success pilot, done in collaboration with Amazon.

Despite hardware costs of in excess of £91,000 (based on the UK retail price), all this is being done at no costs to the students.

“Amazon Web Services is proud to work with SLU to provide students with quick access to important information. Making them feel more comfortable and confident around campus and in the classroom”

Said Andrew Ko, director of education at AWS.

“We applaud SLU’s commitment to using technology like Amazon Alexa to enhance campus life for its students”

This is a big step for both Amazon and education, joining forces to make university life a little easier for students. Something we can only applaud!

The post Amazon Echo installed in University rooms appeared first on Smart Home Geeks.

This allows you to make subtle tweaks to bass, treble and midrange depending what you are listening to for optimal sound.

We have tested the feature out and as a simple as it sounds it does make a difference, especially increasing the bass!

If you are based in the UK you can access the new equaliser via the smart phone app.

• • Open the Alexa app.
  • Click the menu, top left
  • Tap Alexa Devices
  • Tap the device you want to change adapt the sound
  • Tap Sounds
  • Open equaliser

If you are based in the USA you can use Alexa to adjust the sound, using the commands:

“Alexa… turn up the (treble / bass / midrange)”

“Alexa…. set (treble / bass / midrange) to (plus / minus) (number 1 – 6)”
“Alexa…. reset equaliser ”

These commands only effect the Echo you are talking too, each has their own settings.

The post Amazon release Alexa equaliser feature appeared first on Smart Home Geeks.