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Many smart home enthusiasts, myself included, are tired of juggling dozens of apps on their phones to control the smart devices in their homes. While the release of Matter alleviates this hassle, the new smart home connectivity standard has yet to get enough support to eliminate the challenge.
As a result, many of us are left looking for smart displays that can give us quick access to control our devices. Some tech-savvy folks may use a repurposed old tablet mounted to the wall as a smart home control center, while others opt for a smart display like an Echo Show or a Google Nest Hub that can already function as a smart home controller out of the box, among other things.
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These devices always have their drawbacks. Amazon’s Echo Hub
Testing the Echo Hub for the past few months has been a refreshing experience. Its navigation is sorted into categories and widgets. At a glance, the Echo Hub displays your widgets on about two-thirds of the screen, with your routines and rooms on the left side and device categories at the bottom. You can customize the widgets and download more from the widgets store.
The Echo Hub makes it easy to control all of your Alexa-compatible lights.
Maria Diaz/ZDNET
Wait, if Amazon already has the Echo Show, why make the Echo Hub? The Amazon Alexa smart home network is quickly becoming one of the largest and most intuitive smart home automation systems available. The system supports 100 million devices and is the most compatible.
The Alexa app quickly connects new devices you add to your smart home with little effort on your end and lets you control devices from different manufacturers in one place. If a smart home device says it “works with Alexa,” you can trust the technology will be easy to set up and control with the Alexa app, the voice assistant, and now the Echo Hub.
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I currently have four Echo Shows and four other Echo speakers, so there’s a lot of Alexa in my home. As an Apple HomeKit house, I got an Echo speaker to see how Alexa fared against Siri.
I then got my kitchen’s Echo Show to listen to music or watch the news while cooking dinner and to control smart home devices, but also because I thought the display would give me better views into my calendar, which wasn’t the case. The Echo Hub does exactly what it promises to do: give me a clear view into my smart home and a quick way to control it.
While the Echo Hub isn’t a smart speaker, Alexa does respond on the device. You can mute it so it doesn’t listen for the wake word and adjust its volume.
Maria Diaz/ZDNET
During setup, you can choose which Echo device in your home to play music on when you ask Alexa on the Echo Hub to play something, as it’s not a speaker — another differentiator between the Echo Hub and other Echo devices. This approach means you don’t get an Echo Hub instead of an Echo speaker if you still want to play music, especially if you want smart speakers around your home.
Like many smart home users, I am only reluctant to completely give in to Alexa and Amazon due to privacy and security concerns, especially considering that data is not handled locally. While companies can always claim to prioritize consumer privacy, you can only take them at face value regarding your personal information.
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Source : ZDNet