Latest smart home reviews
Google has a difficult task: it needs to steal your attention - or rather, your ears and voice - from the competition, as the world of smart home and voice-controlled tech products continues to hot up. These days it's not just Amazon with its Echo line... Read more
A competitor to the Ring video doorbell is finally available in the UK. Say hello to the Nest Hello.Nest claims Hello is the first video doorbell able to both detect people and offer facial recognition, but its features aren't limited to just letting... Read more
Love them or loathe them, robot vacuum cleaners are a mixed bag (if you'll excuse the pun). Some are packed with every possible feature you could ever want and some you don't, while others are built to do a simple job with as little fuss as possible.... Read more
Shelling out £300 along with a big, fat subscription on smart home security is not everyone's idea of money well spent and, indeed, why should it be? Let's face it: there's a very good chance you'll never actually use the thing to catch a burglar in... Read more
The majority of modern robot vacuum cleaners are streamlined and packed full of functionality such as compatible apps and pairing with smart voice assistants.Not so with Makita - a brand better known for making power tools - which has built the DRC200Z... Read more
With smart speakers taking many of the tech headlines in 2017, it's no surprise to find that LG wants a slice of this pie in 2018. Say hello to the LG WK7, or the ThinQ speaker as it was first announced at the turn of the year.Making its debut at CES... Read more
The Nest Cam IQ Outdoor is a version of the company's Nest Cam IQ smart home camera designed for the outside world, ideal to help keep a secure eye on your property. It's also the update for the original Nest Cam Outdoor. Nest Cam Outdoor review: Secure... Read more
Hive is back with a second smart home camera. The original Hive Camera was a rebranded white label camera with a separate app, not integrated into the rest of the Hive system, which made it not worth buying.The Hive View is an entirely different thing.... Read more
Think of a leading smart home device and most will mention the connected thermostat. For us, however, the smart home security camera has become just as successful – and as if to prove it there are at least 10 or 20 decent models out there, each worthy... Read more
The Apple HomePod is a £319 speaker with Siri built-in. It plans to take on not only the much-cheaper Amazon Echo and Google Home but systems like Sonos too.Apple wants to deliver not only a connected smart speaker but wants to address one of the... Read more
The beauty about Google allowing its voice-controlled Assistant to be added to third-party speakers and headphones is great for multiple reasons: it widens the market with more than just one choice; meaning you'll be able to get the sound and design you're... Read more
The Amazon Echo and its Amazon Alexa voice-control system has been a break-away hit for smart home speakers over the past few years.When it launched - way back in 2014 in the US - the at-home voice-assistant forged a whole new category, leaving rivals... Read more
When it comes to protecting your home and your family, there are plenty of smart home security camera options to choose from. So many, that it might be hard to decide which one is right for you. Which is why manufacturers are working hard to deliver powerful smart... Read more
Let's be honest, none of us like cleaning. So when robot vacuum cleaners started appearing on the scene a number of years ago, the idea that we would never have to do any vacuuming again got a lot of people excited.The problem is most robo-vacs don't... Read more
The iRobot Roomba range of robot vacuum cleaners are probably the most well-known, thanks in part to the "shark cat riding a Roomba" YouTube video that went viral a few years back, but also because of the superb cleaning abilities these robots offer.These... Read more
We've all been there: you've decided to vacuum your house, so you start in one room, then quickly find yourself in another, only to realise that the cord just won't let you get the vacuum cleaner to the far reaches of the house. You stop, follow the cable... Read more
The world of robot vacuum cleaners is a mixed bag of similar-looking devices with a varying appeal and abilities. Choosing the right one can be tough - as not only are they expensive luxury items, their cleaning potential often isn't ample to negate the... Read more
If there's one thing Google is good at, it's search.Its 20 years of experience has helped it to become the No. 1 site we all go to when we want to look up stuff. Heck, most people just say "Google it". Beyond search, we use Google brands for a range of... Read more
As much as we love the original canister-shaped Echo speaker, adding a display to the Echo seems like a natural evolution for Amazon's smart assistant, which now sits in a line with a growing number of other Amazon-made Alexa devices (Spot, Echo, Dot,... Read more
Ring is perhaps best known for its video doorbells that not only let you speak to anyone at your front door when you're not around, but can even be used to help catch any unwanted visitors to your home.It makes perfect sense that the company has carried... Read more
The human race might well fear being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) and being put out of work by the rise of the machines, but there are some jobs we don't mind losing out to robots on - and cleaning is one of them. If you're considering adding... Read more
By now, we're sure you've realised that anything that almost can be made smart and therefore internet-connected has been. That includes coffee machines. Yup, the Smarter Coffee Machine 2.0 is, as the name suggests, the second-generation coffee machine... Read more
Alexa has liberally thrust itself into the lives of just about everyone. Amazon's omnipotent AI appeals not only to the technically minded, but to everyone.Amazon's voice-controlled virtual assistant, Alexa, has become the complete smart home influencer:... Read more
It was only a matter of time before Google answered Amazon's call in the screen-based smart home market. The Lenovo Smart Display is exactly that: the first Google Assistant device to directly take on the Amazon Echo Show.We highly doubt that Lenovo will... Read more
Robot vacuums are still a bit of a luxury item, but with the continued rise in smart home products, especially ones that work together, there's the possibility of an enhanced experience.When we learnt that the Ecovacs Deebot R95 MKII robot vacuum cleaner... Read more
Smart robot vacuum cleaners are a saving grace for the lazy modern home-owner, helping to keep the house clean and reducing your battles with the upright vacuum. Some of these robot cleaners offer a lot more functionality than others, so choosing the... Read more
The Amazon Echo is undoubtedly one of the most significant gadgets to launch in the past few years. Amazon's smart speaker has created and dominated a new category of devices, wrong-footing rivals, leaving speaker manufacturers scratching their disconnected... Read more
If want a broad, resillient home Wi-Fi network then in 2017 it's all about the mesh network. While mesh has undoubtedly become more prominent thanks to Google Wifi, there are plenty of alternatives out thereThe AmpliFi HD system comes with a slightly... Read more
The home smart speaker war is on. Some might say Amazon has already won it, with its Alexa voice-assistant Echo range and third-party support in other respected brand speakers. Amazon has competition though, predominantly from Google.The original Google... Read more
Ring is the trend-setter and market leader in smart, connected video doorbells. Not only do such devices provide the ability to communicate with delivery drivers when you're not at home, they're relatively affordable motion-sensing security cameras. The... Read more
In 2012 Philips launched Hue, one of the earliest examples of smart lighting, allowing for colour and brightness control from a smartphone or tablet. At the time it perhaps wasn't realised how significant this system would become: many have followed,... Read more
Nest announced a range of new devices at its big event in September, including the Hello video doorbell and a new alarm system called Secure.The Nest Secure alarm system is made up of three main devices that work in tandem together, comprising the Nest... Read more
Amazon looks set to take over the world with its Alexa voice assistant, which continues to pop-up in a multitude of third-party products. The Amazon Echo Show - which combines the Alexa voice assistant with a touchscreen for additional presentation and... Read more
We were so impressed with the first Logitech Circle camera - which is included in our list of best indoor smart home cameras - that we were intrigued to see how Logitech would take on community feedback to improve its successor.The Logitech Circle 2... Read more
Hive, the smart home solution, has been expanding its system's offerings to cover the whole home - stepping beyond the core of smart heating, by recently adding sensors and lights.And now there's Hive Camera, the company's rival to devices like Nest Cam,... Read more
There's been a step change in handling Wi-Fi recently. Having attempted to deal with Wi-Fi problems from the router, and with various third-party extenders to spread that into places that Wi-Fi otherwise doesn't reach, the rise of the mesh network solution... Read more
The personal home security market is on the up, thanks to reduced costs and size of components required to make it all work. Now, we no longer need a dedicated room to setup recorders and monitors, all we need is a small camera and an internet connection.That's... Read more
The inevitable deluge of smart home devices has covered three main categories: lighting, heating and home cameras. Whether you're looking for a security system, or just a way to keep an eye on what's going on at home, connected cameras are available... Read more
Canary's second entry into the cloud-based home security camera arena comes in the form of the Canary Flex. This new camera is designed to be versatile and easy-to-use. Place it anywhere in your home for peace of mind when you're away, or to capture footage... Read more
A few years ago, Amazon quietly announced a new gadget, the Dash Wand, but it's taken until now to give it a wider, official launch.It’s basically giving the Dash Wand away for free. Prime members who spend $20 on the Dash Wand get a $20 Amazon credit... Read more
Having spent some time over the pond in the US market, Google's smart home networking system has now landed in the UK.It's not the only Wi-Fi-extending product of its kind available (and there are lesser alternatives, like powerline extenders), but it's... Read more
Robot vacuum cleaners are becoming more popular with several big players now in the market, including Dyson. Some are great, others not so much, but all of them are pricey, typically costing upwards of £600.Neato brought the cost down a little with the... Read more
Smart heating systems are on the up. And having moved into a new home recently it made a lot of sense to test Honeywell's latest smart home thermostat system, the Lyric T6.We had the Lyric T6R fitted, which is the same as the standard T6 but comes with... Read more
The Logitech Circle camera (or Logi Circle if you're on board with the new branding) is a powerful little home security cam with plenty of strings to its bow.This smart home camera is meant for more than simple security: it's a cloud-based Wi-Fi camera... Read more
Nest has made the move from indoor security, to offering all-seeing protection for the outside of your home. Say hello to the Nest Cam Outdoor.Boasting some of the same features as its indoor Nest Cam sibling, the outdoor version is touted as offering... Read more
Samsung revealed its new Family Hub refrigerator line-up immediately prior to CES but we got to see one of them in the flesh at the company's main press conference.The concept is similar if not identical to last year's CES sensation, but there are a few... Read more
Alongside the new version of the Nvidia Shield TV, an Android Nougat-powered media streamer, the company will be launching the Nvidia Spot.It's a tiny sphere that you plug into an available power socket which works with the Shield TV box and basically... Read more
Here's something we didn't expect: an Amazon Echo that's, well, not an Amazon Echo at all. It's a Lenovo Smart Assistant.But the Lenovo uses Amazon's Alexa voice assistant and, for all intensive purposes, is functionally identical to Echo. So you can... Read more
The Echo Dot is Amazon's small and affordable route into Alexa, its voice-controlled personal assistant for your home, which can playback music, add to your Amazon shopping list, control third-party apps and much more.Available for £50, it's essentially... Read more
It is customary for televisions or home entertainment tech to come out tops during the CES trade show in Las Vegas at the start of each year, but in January 2016, Samsung was talk of the town for its latest fridge freezer rather than its TVs.The company... Read more