From Air Fryers To Air Conditioners, These Are The New Smart Home Products That You Can Use Even If You’re Not Tech Savvy

Put a finger down if you’ve ever left the house in a hurry, only to realise later in the day that you may have left the air conditioner on or may have forgotten to feed your dog. Or did you? You’re unsure, and you’re starting to feel anxious, wondering if you should head back to check.

Thanks to the growing number of smart home devices now available, you can check if you’ve accidentally left appliances on at home from wherever you are, or get things done at home even when you’re out.

The best part: You don’t have to be a tech geek to transform your abode into a smart home, as evidenced by these newly launched foolproof smart home products.

#1: An air fryer to consider if you don’t like being in the kitchen.

Most folks love air fryers for the promise of healthier, fuss-free cooking, whether they’re a master chef or a kitchen klutz. Now, what about levelling up with a smart air fryer that doesn’t even require you to be in the kitchen to keep track of your cooking?

The Mi Smart Air Fryer lets you start or stop cooking or check remaining cooking time via the Mi Home app, which makes it compatible with Google Assistant so you can holler voice commands too. The app also has over 100 recipes that you can turn to when you run out of dinner ideas (don’t we all).

Cooking noobs will appreciate functions like its ability to automatically set a cook time and temperature with the help of straightforward cooking modes. A 24-hour timer lets you schedule when to start your cooking, a feature that comes in handy for more time-consuming tasks like fermenting yoghurt or dehydrating pet treats, rather than cooking regular meals (we’d rather not leave food in the air fryer basket at room temperature for long periods of time). With a capacity of 3.5 litres, it cooks enough to feed one to two people, or part of a meal for a bigger group.

Mi Smart Air Fryer 3.5L, $98.13 on Amazon. Also available at Xiaomi Authorised Stores.

#2: A smart aircon to help you keep your cool in more ways than one.

This latest launch by homegrown brand Prism+ will help you chill out, literally. The new Prism+ Zero Series air conditioner is integrated with Google Assistant so you can use voice control.

But more than that, what we’re really drawn to are the possibilities available via the smart home app that it’s connected to. It allows you to control temperatures from wherever you are, even when you’re not at home — no need to worry about accidentally leaving your aircon on when you go out. You can also create various cooling settings and routines and get them going beforehand so your home is nice and cool by the time you step in. Keeping track of aircon usage can be done via the app as well, which also gives you maintenance reminders, and lets you book aircon servicing with the homegrown brand’s in-house servicing team.

Prism+ Zero Series, from $2,199 for a system 2. Available on Amazon. More info

#3: A smart air purifier and fan that saves time and space.

If you don’t have the luxury of space at home, then multi-tasking appliances are the way to go. It’s a bonus if it’s a smart home device that you can control from the comfort of your phone. One such appliance that space-strapped homeowners might find useful: an air purifier and a fan combined.

The LG PuriCare AeroTower Air Purifying Fan is touted to improve air quality with three types of filtration — a pre-filter, HEPA filter and deodorization filter — and traps large dust particles, captures 99.97 per cent of particulates as small as 0.3 microns and removes odour. It comes with three specialised modes with adjustable air flow. On the smart home front, this device that pulls double duty has filter change alerts, and alerts you on indoor air quality. 

LG PuriCare AeroTower Air Purifying Fan, $899 on Amazon. Also available at LG official brand stores.

#4: Feed your furkids even when you’re not home.

The Xiaomi Smart Pet Feeder lets pet owners feed their furry pals remotely via the Xiaomi Home/Mi Home app from wherever they are. They can also choose to set a fixed time and quantity for automatic feeding from the device, which holds up to 1.8kg of dry food. Meanwhile, the Xiaomi Smart Pet Fountain, which holds up to two litres of water, keeps water moving so that it remains oxygenated and fresh, while filtering out fine particles, hair and residual chlorine to supply water that’s best for your pets. Reminders to add water, clean the fountain or replace the filter are pushed to pet owners via the app, so your furkid never gets parched.

Xiaomi Smart Pet Feeder, $118 on Amazon. Xiaomi Smart Pet Fountain, $89. Available at Xiaomi Authorised Stores.

#5: A smart security camera that lets you do more than just keep an eye on your home.

Now that most of us are back in the office, separation anxiety is real — whether it befalls your kid, pet or you (we’re not judging). Enter an indoor security camera that lets you peek at what the kids and/or furkids are up to all day at home from wherever you are.

Integrated with smart home apps, the Arlo Essential Indoor Security Camera wants to make home monitoring not just convenient, but fancier too. Besides offering 1080p HD video with enhanced night vision, a 130-degree field-of-view, there’s also motion and audio detection, a built-in siren that you can operate remotely, and an audio function for two-way conversations (you know, in case you really miss the little munchkins).

Arlo Essential Indoor Security Camera, $125.50 on Amazon. More info