Kogan’s take on the smart home isn’t stopping at heaters, as the company looks into ways to light up and keep your home cool.
You have a smart phone, a smart TV, and potentially soon, you might have a smart home. It’s been a long, gradual transition to get to this concept, but more and more, year by year, we’re eventually pushing to get to this point.
As more companies develop gadgets that connect to the web and aren’t just a TV, a phone, a computer, or a camera, we’re seeing smart integration into everything, from things you cook with to things that keep you warm.
And this week, Kogan is preparing for the summer with the release of a smart air conditioner that you can control using Google Assistant on a phone, a tablet, or one of those Google Home speakers.
The appliances are part of Kogan’s “SmarterHome” range, which launched recently with two heaters, and includes both app support, as well as connectivity to both Amazon’s Alexa service and that of Google’s, meaning you can control the Kogan $899 14,000 and $999 18,000 BTU portable air conditioners using your voice, setting the temperature once the appliances are connected to your home network.
It’s not all Kogan is releasing, adding in smart light bulbs to its range and competing with the likes of Philips Hue and LiFX, offering both colour and white bulbs, the former available in a four “ambient” bulb pack for $89 while the latter white bulb is found in a four pack for $69, with B22 (bayonet) and E27 (screw) bulbs available.
This announcement also brings about support for Google and Alexa into the Kogan SmarterHome heating products, so if you decided to grab one of those, you’re about to get an app update that will bring support for smart assistants warming your home.
However, what you won’t get is Apple HomeKit integration. Talking with representative for Kogan, the company confirmed to Pickr that “the Kogan range won’t have compatibility with HomeKit”, and at the present, “control is coordinated through the Kogan SmarterHome app”.
Which means any scenes you have for devices that you’ve been controlling through Siri on the iPhone, iPad, or an Apple HomePod won’t be able to touch Kogan’s devices, at least for the near future. We’ll let you know if or when that changes.
Otherwise, Kogan’s smart home additions can be found at the Kogan online store.
