Let’s face it: we’ve all been hit with decision fatigue before. Whether it’s coming up with what tomake for dinneror trying to decidewhat to wear, sometimes we just want help with our decisions. It can be increasingly frustrating where it feels like you are making decisions for everyone in your family. It may be part of the reason you’re so interested in converting your home to asmart home.
The fewer responsibilities you have, the more you can enjoy the home you live in. Setting up a smart home platform and ecosystem in your home is meant to make your home run more efficiently and give you more peace of mind that things will get done quicker. Making an announcement to everyone that dinner is ready no longer requires having to scream upstairs. You can just tell your smart speaker to announce to all the other smart speaker in the home. You can have your coffee pot ready to be brewed in the morning if it’s plugged into a smart plug. The possibilities for integrations are endless.
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But how do you choose which smart home ecosystem is the best for your home? It can be daunting, as there are so many different options and devices on the market. For all intents and purposes, there are four main smart home platforms that are the most mainstream: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and Apple Home. Here is how we would rank them if you’re someone that is coming into the situation having no previous smart home devices.
4Samsung SmartThings
Missing accessories
Back in 2014, Samsungpurchased the open source platformSmartThings, which held leading software in the internet of things space. Since then, Samsung has rebranded its smart home platform as Samsung SmartThings, utilizing the technology from the acquisition. SmartThings works with many different kinds of devices, including air conditioners, door locks, smart plugs, air purifiers, doorbells, and more.
The lack of a speaker to easily work with all of the Samsung devices limits how much the voice controls actually work.
SmartThings even works with other smart home ecosystems, allowing you to sync up a Samsung device with, say, an Amazon Echo Show. Where Samsung is faltering is its lack of smart home speaker. It currently offers the Samsung SmartThings Hub, pictured above, which can serve as a hub for all of your SmartThings devices. Utilizing the SmartThings app with the hub allows you to control all of your devices, across multiple different manufacturers. Samsung SmartThings has integrated with manyMatter-baseddevices, meaning that it can help the devices communicate with one another.
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But Samsung has yet to release a smart speaker in the US. The company announced the Galaxy Home back in 2018, but ithas yet to hit the market. It teased the device for years and there have been multiple prototypes, including a Mini option that made it to Korea as Galaxy S20 preorder bonus. The lack of a speaker to easily work with all of the Samsung devices limits how much the voice controls actually work. Samsung utilizes Bixby as its virtual assistant and Bixby voice control is included in some of its devices.
While you’re able to find plenty of devices that work with Samsung SmartThings, it does a better job of being integrated into other ecosystems than being one that you can use as a stand alone.
3Apple Home
Doesn’t work as unilaterally as others
Apple makes so many devices that have become true cornerstones of their respective markets.iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, AirPods. The list goes on and on. However, the HomePod isn’t one of the best smart speakers on the market. As you can imagine, it delivers in the sound category but it severely lacks in other areas.
Lot of “Home” names to remember, right? If you don’t own an Apple TV+, an Apple HomePod, or an iPad, you won’t be able to set up Apple Home.
The fact that it doesn’t have a screen also limits its capabilities when it comes to a smart home hub. Apple HomeKit is the software that enables voice commands and integrations with the devices and the app that you can control all of your Apple HomeKit-enabled devices is called Apple Home.
Lot of “Home” names to remember, right? If you don’t own an Apple TV+, an Apple HomePod, or an iPad, you won’t be able to set up Apple Home. If you happen to have an older iPad, it may not work. If you happen to have an older HomePod, it may not work. As Apple tends to do, it makes their newer products more user-friendly and phases out the older (and more affordable) devices by limiting their capabilities.
There are plenty of devices that areApple HomeKit-enabled. Companies like Aqara, Wemo, Kasa, Philips, and Logitech are just some of the manufacturers that have products that can be integrated into system. But many of these, including the Wemo Smart Plug, only work with Apple HomeKit. The unilateral support for the devices isn’t as vast for Apple devices as it is for other home ecosystems.
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Apple churns out a lot of fantastic devices, but doesn’t manufacture its own smart plug, smart light bulb, and other items. Rightfully so, Apple seems more focused on the big name items that make it billions of dollars. But its smart home platform is still lacking.
2Google Home
A Nest for collecting devices
Do you want the smartest database to pull from for your smart home? Google Home is that smart home platform then. Any time you’re using a voice command with a Google Home device to call Google Assistant, you are saying “Hey Google.” That should give you all you need to know about the breadth of information the device is pulling from. Google Home is better at handling multiple requests at once and offers a better and more human-like response if you ask it a question.
What’s also great about the Google Home ecosystem is how many products work with it. There are specific smart home devices that Google manufactures rather than relies on third-party partnerships to sync up into its ecosystem. Google Nest Thermostat is one of the best smart home thermostats on the market and it seemlessly integrates into the ecosystem.
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Google Nest is the overarching name for all ofGoogle’s smart home devices. There are Google Nest Hubs,Google Nest Thermostats,Google Nest Video Doorbells, Google Nest speakers, Google Nest Cams, and more. But Google also works with many third-party devices, making the Google Home ecosystem a wide and expansive one.
Google Home does only work with the voice command of “Hey Google,” while others allow you to change how you wake up the system. The interface for the Google Home app has been redesigned in recent times, providing you with an easy way to see all of your Google devices in one spot. you may also send notifications to yourGoogle Pixel Watchor Google Pixel smartphone from the Google Home app.
Many Google Home-enabled devices offer Matter orThreadtechnology, so they are able to talk with one another. One day, you may not even need the Google Home app if Matter is adopted across all of its devices. There is a lot to like when it comes to Google Home and if you are a Google-loyal consumer, it makes a lot of sense.
1Amazon Alexa
Control your smart home more easily
Amazon Alexa has more or less become synonymous with smart home devices. The smart home ecosystem can integrate with many products, including many that are manufactured by Alexa. FromAmazon Echo speakers and hubsto Amazon smart plugs toRing doorbellsto Blink cameras to eero routers, Amazon has put itself ahead of other smart home platforms by the amount of products it has. Amazon has gone out of its way to acquire brands like Blink and Ring to expand its reach.
The Amazon Alexa app is arguably the easiest of the smart home apps to utilize. It takes almost no time to sync up a device, whether it’s an Amazon device or a third-party device. The step-by-step guides make it easy and you’re able to create integrations more easily than other platforms. While theGoogle Nest Hubsoffer a lot of great features, the Amazon Echo Show hubs deliver more in terms of video calling, Alexa calling, larger displays, and more.
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Amazon Alexa is arguably the most popular smart home system, which helps because you’re able to find so many devices that work with it. Sometimes, it’s actually harder to find smart home devices that don’t work with Alexa. You can use your Amazon devices across different platforms as well, so you can even sync up your Echo speaker to your Apple TV with the help of a bridge.
While the voice response by Alexa may not be as good as Google’s, you can change its wake word to whatever you want by adjusting it in the Alexa app. You’re also able to open up the feed from your Blink or Ring cameras on your Alexa speakers, making all of your devices work together. If you prefer Google products, Apple products, or Samsung products, you can choose those ecosystems and be fine. But if you are starting from scratch, you’ll find that the Amazon Alexa smart home system offers you the best ways to make your home smarter.
