Craig Lloyd
Every year, CES is chock full of smarthome tech. So much so that there’s even an entire dedicated space on the show floor to just smarthome companies. Here are the best new smarthome devices we saw at CES this year.
Voice Assistant Smart Switches
Many new products we saw on the show floor weren’t necessarily “new” or revolutionary, but rather many companies have come out with their own versions from young product categories, and that includes smart switches with built-in voice assistants.
The Ecobee Switch+ has been around for a little while now, but at CES this year we saw a few smarthome companies unveil their own versions, including Leviton’s Decora Voice with Alexa and TP-Link’s Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Light Switch with Voice Assistant. Although, with the latter, there’s no official word on which voice assistant it will come with.
Lenovo Smart Clock
As you may already know as a Review Geek reader, Google’s Home Hub is our favorite product for 2018, but it’s a bit too big for the bedside night stand. Enter the Lenovo Smart Clock.
The Smart Clock is essentially a much smaller version of the Home Hub, rocking a 4″ display instead of a 7″. It can show you the time (obviously), display upcoming calendar events, and it makes it easy to set alarms and timers. You can even slap it when the alarm goes off to either snooze or dismiss the alarm, just like the good ‘ole days.
The Lenovo Smart Clock will retail for $79 and be available at some point in the spring this year.
Video Doorbells
An extremely popular product over the last year or so has been the video doorbell, and both Nest and Ring have done a really great job with their own versions. But after CES, we now have even more models to choose from.
Maximus unveiled a video doorbell with two cameras (something we haven’t seen before)—the main camera points outward like any other video doorbell, but the second camera points directly down onto your front door’s step in the hopes that it will capture any packages left at the door and keep them in the frame.
TP-Link also announced their own video doorbell as well, as a part of their Kasa brand. And Ring showed off a new take on the video doorbell called the Door View Cam, which is essentially a digital peephole that’s meant to replace an existing peephole on your front door.
Lutron Caseta Fan Control Smart Switch
One specific product that many Lutron Caseta users have been begging is a smart switch aimed at ceiling fans. Lutron delivered during CES with just that.
The switch will allow users to control their ceiling fans from their phones and even adjust the speed of the fan. And if you don’t feel like using your phone, but don’t want to get up off the couch, the new switch will come with its own Pico remote as well.
It will be available starting in March for $80, with the matching Pico remote priced at $42.
Wi-Fi Smart Locks
There are already plenty of smart locks on the market, but Wi-Fi models have been few and far between. At CES, though, we saw a few new smart locks unveiled that come with Wi-Fi capabilities built in.
Most smart locks can be Wi-Fi compatible, but they usually require a separate gateway or hub that you have to buy. At CES, both Schlage and Kwikset introduced their own Wi-Fi smart locks, known as the Encode and the Halo, respectively.
Both models can connect directly to your home’s Wi-Fi network and be controlled from your phone remotely. The Schlage Encode is also a part of the Amazon Key program, where you can have Amazon delivery drivers place packages inside of your house if you’re away from home.
