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

Sonos Beam is a living room speaker, smaller than traditional sound bars.

The speaker is one of the first we have seen to smoothly support multiple voice assistants.

Apple’s Siri, Amazon Alexa and Google coming later in the year – sorry Microsoft no mention of Cortana.

At the launch event, in California USA, Sonos demonstrated the voice functionality. Asking Siri to play a song and then asking Alexa what song was playing.

Sonos Beam can also control your TV, allowing you to use your chosen voice assistant to change channel or increase the volume – this is done via the HDMI connection to the TV. If you have an Amazon FireTV it can also connect with Alexa and turn on your favourite program.

This is not Sonos’s first move into TV audio. They released their Playbar in 2013 followed by their flat version, Playbase in 2017. Beam will cost less than half and support Dolby 5.1.

As with the rest of the Sonos range it can be grouped with other speakers creating whole home audio. Alternatively it can work independently playing different music to allow multi-room audio.

Sonos are rumoured to be floating later in the year. This is yet more to show potential investors they can also take a share of the lucrative Smart Home market!

Sonos Bean will be available in black and white and will be released on 17th July, costing £399. Pre-sale orders can be placed today.

The post Sonos releases Beam! appeared first on Smart Home Geeks.

The HomePod was announced in June 2017 with release stated as December 2017. However it was not until January the following year that Homepod was released and 26^th of January available for pre-order. With it hitting retail stores in February, priced at £319.

HomePod comes in two colour options; Space grey or White. Apple claims not only there is high quality audio but that they have ‘revolutionized the way music sounds in a home’.

Powered by the A8 chip, the same one as used in the iPhone, the gadget incorporates Apples assistant Siri, in a very similar way to Amazon Echo range.

Spec wise the HomePod boasts six microphones along with seven tweeters, the sound quality is designed to be ‘environment adaptive’, ensuring it sounds perfect wherever it is placed. This is achieved by the tweeters adjusting the sound by monitoring its surrounding and keeping the microphone clear for voice commands even with loud music.

Support for multi-room audio and stereo pairing was also claimed in the start however these features were not available at the release time and will be added on later through a software update. Something Sonos and Amazon will be pleased about!

Streaming music to the HomePod has various options from Apple music to Beats1 live Radio or podcasts or Airplay – one big omission is Bluetooth.

Android users also take note, an iPhone or ipad is required to set up the HomePod.

The post Apple HomePod Released appeared first on Smart Home Geeks.