Gadgetory

ah the good old days two years ago a number of home automation hubs were entering the market and we tested them all some are good others not so much we had high hopes for this category of smart products but here we are two years later and not much has changed home automation hubs are still far from perfect that's because no single hub can do everything it's also a challenge to make an app that works with so many third-party devices that's also easy to navigate so we've got some tough choices to make if we're going to turn this house into a cena if you were to ask me today is a home automation hub really necessary for a smart home I'd have to answer honestly no probably not in fact most of you would be fine picking a single thing you'd like to automate like lighting or door logs and buying a product specifically for that purpose but this isn't an ordinary house in fact it's more of a lab for us than a home to bring you reviews of what works in a home environment and what doesn't for that reason a hub makes sense and while none of the options out there are flawless we're gonna start with the second generation smartthings hub because of its sheer number of Integrative will devise if channel and alert options but as you're about to see interacting with it isn't as simple as we'd like it to be basically everything in the app is either hard to find or hard to set up or both for instance the apps home screen is kind of confusing what am I looking at exactly and setting up new configuration rules forget it I have such a tough time even finding where I can make those adjustments that I spend more time searching through the app than I do actually making substantive changes but after you've managed to set your automation rules and custom alerts the hub really does work well I can turn lights on and off remotely receive alerts from the motion sensor get a message when someone opens the front door and because it has such a wide range of compatible devices we should be able to test out tons of sensors and automated switches without the need to install a new hub every time but the smart home landscape is changing fast and we're keeping a close eye on competing models like Insteon hub pro which is compatible with Apple's Siri based home kit platform and we're still hoping for that ideal automation hub one that can turn this house into the smartest home possible be sure to check back over the coming weeks and months to see all of the plans we have for the cnet smart home we'll see you next time you