Everything’s smarter in Europe

A year ago, at the IFA tech fair in Berlin (think European CES), Edge Journalist Jon Porter witnessed a Google Nest Hub control an Apple HomeKit smart plug. This “smart home lighting moment” was Matter’s first public demonstration. The new smart home standard is designed to fix the biggest problem facing technology in our homes: interoperability, and it was exciting to see two fierce competitors in the space working together. Twelve months later, on the eve of IFA 2023we’re still waiting for that light bulb to go on across the industry.

The smart home remains fragmented. Despite being developed by the biggest names in the industry (Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung, and more), Matter has yet to deliver on its main promise. You still can’t just buy a smart bulb, bolt it on, and have it work with every other smart light you have (no matter who made it) and whatever ecosystem you want.

Today, if you want to reap the full benefits of home automation, you should still choose a smart home platform and stay largely within your walled gardens, unless you want to experiment with more advanced DIY options involving Raspberry Pis. .

But trade shows like IFA, which starts this week, are for tomorrow. And I expect the future on display at this year’s show to be more connected and less fragmented than what we’ve seen in the smart home thus far.

That’s not to say I’m not excited about a new generation of smart home technology that, from the list of companies that will hold press conferences at the fairIt could include all kinds of security cameras, video doorbells, smart speakers, robot vacuums, and smart lighting products.

South Korean tech giants Samsung and LG will attend; the latter has already pre-announced many of his presentations at IFA. We look forward to hearing from robot vacuum giants Ecovacs and Roborock, and smaller smart home players such as Eve, Nanoleaf, SwitchBot, Aqara, Aeotec and Yeelight who will be on the show floor. Honor also plans keep a keynote focused on its Honor Magic V2 foldable phone, which was recently launched in China.

There are certainly exciting smart home announcements on the way. But what’s more important is the long, tedious task of getting them to work seamlessly together to create a home that’s truly smart, not just a collection of disparate devices that solve specific problems. A video doorbell that shows me who’s at my front door no matter where I am comes in handy. But what if my doorbell was smart enough to recognize that person and tell the smart lock to let them in or the security system to call the police?

Take for example the rumored new Philips Hue security system, which is likely to launch this week. By adding cameras and new sensors to its smart lighting lineup (presumably by flashing all the lights to alert you to danger), the company is leveraging its ecosystem to make it more functional. Saving electricity by turning lights on and off automatically is one thing, but if that same ecosystem can also protect your home, then it becomes a much easier sell.

Or what about SwitchBot’s new robot vacuum and mop, which will not only refill with water directly from your water lines, but can also take that water to a humidifier to fill it up, taking another boring chore off your to-do list. earrings? The company also tells me that it plans to use the robot’s battery as a roaming charger for different household products.

If this works, it could become a device where tasks can be delegated entirely, rather than supervised, and it’s not hard to imagine a future where this charging functionality could even take over tasks related to other devices. such as charging smartphones or wireless devices. air purifiers.

Speaking of smart air, Ecovacs will show its Airbot T2 at IFA next week. An air purifying robot that roams your house looking for stale air may seem like a Dalekbut it’s a look at a “rosie” future. Throw in some suction power and a pair of robotic arms, and you’ve got the multifunctional home robot that helped the Jetson family manage daily life 40 years from now.

I’m not suggesting that any of these innovations we hope to see at IFA are on the level of smart home nirvana, but they do point to the kind of symbiosis we need. And it is a necessity that the current energy crisis has highlighted.

Just as the Nest Learning Thermostat kicked off the most recent moment of home automation in 2011 with its promise to save energy and money, energy bills are a wake-up call for how we live in our homes in 2023. Technology has the potential to be part of the solution, but the greatest benefits will be felt when all of these sensor-equipped devices can work together.

To feel comfortable allowing access to those things, we need privacy and security. For all this, Matter is important (forgive me). It’s a smart home reset. The smart home standard introduces a basic and secure communication layer that enables interoperability and local control. It takes us away from proprietary protocols, dubious security standards, and reliance on the cloud to the point where, if properly implemented, we can feel comfortable allowing technology intimate access into our homes.

The issue still has a long way to go, partly because some companies are still holding back, waiting to see what’s really in it for them (Philips Hue has yet to pull the trigger despite initial enthusiasm), partly because the technology hasn’t yet you have achieved the dream, and mainly because the regular consumer is still not convinced that all this is worth their time and expense. The industry needs to offer a more compelling reason for people to bring smart technology into their homes, beyond “it’s cool.”

The smart home has to be essential and today it is not. Robots and flip phones will never stop being cool, but a part of me hopes for an IFA that is more down to earth and boring.