What's It Like To Stay In A Samsung Smart Home?

Hi Huneybees,

Recently I did a staycation at Orchard Scotts Residences, it was something more than just soaking in the pool and enjoying the day with my hubby. Thanks to Samsung, we got a sense of what living in a Future Smart Home is like.

The spacious apartment was equipped with Samsung's Connect Home system, which comprised of various Samsung's Internet of Things (IoT) devices called SmartThings, that allowed us the convenience to "command" the Samsung home appliances in the apartment from our smartphones.

Being able to control your home used to only happen in sci-fi Steven Spielberg movies, but now in this digital age, Smart Home has now become a reality. The Samsung Connect Home system takes advantage of the advancement of Wi-Fi Mesh Network to realize its consumers' dreams of having a sophisticated and Intelligent Home, just like in the sci-fi movies.

Can you spot the Samsung Connect? It's so small, you almost don't notice it.

Thanks to Connect Home and Connect Home Pro (the latter supports higher Wi-Fi speeds), there was zero Wi-Fi dead zone around the apartment, I could watch my Kdramas without having to pause while I walked from the living room to the room or even toilet. The size of the Connect Home/Connect Home Pro was so small that after the initial setup you would almost not noticing it around your house at all!

The palm-size Samsung Connect Home.

According to Samsung a single unit of the Connect Home and Connect Home Pro could blanket an area of up to 1,500 square feet in Wi-Fi, which should be sufficient for most homes (provided it is positioned in a central location).

But of course, this was just a tip of what the whole integrated Samsung Connect and SmartThings can do. Both the Connect Home and Connect Home Pro supports Bluetooth 4.1, Z-Wave, and Zigbee,  where smart home devices and appliances can be set up and controlled using the Samsung Smart Connect app (available as free download for Android and iOS devices). 

The Smart Connect app also supports Bixby, Samsung's personal voice assistant so you can control your home with verbal commands!

You can now communicate and manage devices such as your refrigerator, lights and even your washing machines and vacuum cleaners! Check out this video of me turning on the Samsung Powerbot Star Wars Special Edition VR7000 robot vacuum cleaner. Even the lighting (via Philips Hue light bulbs) is coordinated to turn red to have the ambiance changed to suit the "Dark Side" Darth Vadar arrival mood.

Samsung has developed a list of SmartThings for the homeowner to choose from and each is designed to address a different situation and security needs. I believe this comes in very helpful for families with kids or elderly at home as there will be occasions where someone forgets to close the door properly or unintentionally leaves water tap running, etc.

For example, placing the Water Leak Sensor would alert you when there's a water leaking from your sink, or there's water flooding in your toilet via the 2 metal leads underneath the sensor. 

You can even set the lighting to change colour to alert you once water leak is detected! This will definitely help you detect water leakage early and help you save the unnecessary waste of water.

Another is the Motion Sensor, as its name suggests, it can detect movement in the home, allowing you to turn on lights when motion is detected or when motion is detected in the bedroom, it will activate the air conditioner to turn on and cool the room. I've also seen on some of the forum threads, consumers also use it to arm/disarm their security systems or activate the heater in colder countries.

The video above shows how almost instantly motion is detected.

The Multipurpose Sensor is my favourite, the ways to use it is endless. It's a 2 part sensor, where it can be used to detect whether doors, windows or cabinets and refrigerator doors are open or closed.

In the apartment, it was used on the kitchen door, when it opens, the light turns on and when closed, the light turns off. It was one of my favourite use coz I'm really scared of touching the light switches. I had a bad experience of electric shock before, switching off the lights with my wet hands and sometimes it's inevitable that hands are wet after doing your chores in the kitchen right? This way, I can stay safe and save electricity too. Best right???

The Outlet SmartThing might seem like your typical electrical plug extension but if you are looking for a solution to help save the electrical bill at home and keep the kids aways from electricity, this is a must have!

Basically, any appliance that requires plugging into electricity can be paired with the Outlet. It can control the flow of electricity, allowing you to turn off or on appliances like kettles, toasters, and lamps, etc, making your home appliances safe for kids. How it works? See the video below...

The last SmartThings I want to show you is the Arrival Sensor. This is just a small little tag where you can hang on your dog's collar, your kids' school bags or even hang it with your keys.

Basically what it does is that it can alert you if pets were to accidentally leave the house, when your kid is home from school or if you tend to forget where you've placed your keys, you can use it as a keychain and it will emit a beeping sound to help you find them in your house.

After staying in the Smart Apartment, I was almost reluctant to go back my "unsmart" home. Life was so much more convenient and even my hubby loves it. He didn't have to get up from the bed to turn off the bedroom lights before sleep and can ensure that the doors are locked just from checking the Samsung Connect app in the comfort of the bed.

The Samsung Connect Home and Connect Home Pro are priced at S$198 and S$298 respectively. For more information, go to http://www.samsung.com/sg/smarthome/. The ways to use the Samsung Connect Home system and SmartThings are infinite, below is a video on how else you can have the systems integrated into your homes.

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