Smart Home Reflections

Not a stranger any more

Smart Home is a solution for monitoring, controlling and automating functions at home with a smartphone app or a web portal. A distinction is made between point solutions, such as smart speakers, and whole home systems or classic home automation systems. Another typological distinction can be made between software, such as KNX, and hardware, such as tablet wall mounts.

According to Berg Insights, there will be 147 million smart homes in Europe and North America by 2022, compared to 42 million in 2017.In Europe, which is considered to be less advanced in smart home technology, only around 10% of all homes were in 2017 automated. Forecasts promise a tripling of sales in 5 years. This means that by 2022 almost a third of all houses in Europe should be equipped with smart home systems. The data quoted promise great change in our homes.

How is the future going to look like?

We live in interesting times in which we are experiencing rapid development in living. For example, in the US state of Alabama, Alabama Power developed a neighborhood of 62 smart homes to showcase a vision of what homes will look like in 2040.

From my perspective, as a smart home adopter, I appreciate that I can control the heating and operate the blinds via the app on my tablet, which is hanging in a tablet wall bracket in my kitchen. And yet, as a "slow adopter", I have not yet automated all functions in the house. However, things are changing quickly. I wonder if my kids will be nostalgic about how it felt to open the door with a key or manually raise or lower the temperature in the radiator.

Voice assistant or tablet wall mount?

It is noteworthy that home automation is not just about more comfortable and energy efficient (30% average) living. For many, it's also about the thrill of tactile or voice control that makes their home smarter. Technophiles use refrigerators already equipped with cameras and connected via WiFi, which make it possible to check what is inside, voice-controlled window blinds and mattresses that track sleep behavior and measure heart rate.

For me as a non-technophile, smart home is an element of interior design, aside from making my home smarter. While voice-controlled devices such as Alexa or Google Home give the house an exciting hi-tech makeover, for me this role is played by my smart home hub - a tablet in a tablet wall bracket. In my apartment, with small children, a tablet-based home automation app in a tablet wall bracket on the kitchen wall makes the most sense. The device is secured and always charged, and the tablet wall mount is fingerprint and scratch resistant. Today, high-quality wall brackets are made of aluminum - they are available in a noble anodized or elegant powder coating. In addition, the manufacturers, for example Displine, offer interesting colors for the brackets, such as anthracite or olive-gold. In order to satisfy my longing for aesthetics, I chose a tablet wall mount in champagne pink to match the lighting in the kitchen and dining room.

Thanks to the high availability and the wide range of smart home solutions, everyone can make their home smarter in a unique way. The next ten years will be interesting for anyone who wants to watch the evolution of home automation. How smart will our houses be by then?