Technology is fast becoming the beating heart of the modern home. The smart home has finally become accessible and friendly enough for anyone to install and operate. Many of these home tech products make home life easier, safer, and more fun.
Hottest Trends and Products in Home Tech for 2020
First, Meet the New Wi-Fi
Now that more of us are spending a lot more time at home, our Wi-Fi networks have been stretched to the gills. In April, the FCC opened up a new frequency band for Wi-Fi that will ease the traffic and increase speeds for home tech. Look for products using the new 6GHz “lane” by this summer.
Smart Speakers
When most people think of smart speakers, they think of voice controllers like Alexa. Sonos thinks of smart speakers as Hi-Fi. Their latest-generation wireless models can tune their response to the room they’re installed in and stream both master-quality high-resolution music and Dolby Atmos for movies.
Security Monitoring
In 2013, Ring disrupted the home security business with a DIY-friendly video doorbell and cheap monthly monitoring fees. Now the next disruption has come from Eufy, which does away with the monitoring fees altogether, making home video security and ongoing video storage a one-time purchase.
Biometrics Come Home
For a while, facial detection was assumed to be the next hot technology for smart locks, but for residential settings, biometric access control has become state-of-the-art. Products like Kwikset’s new Halo Touch use a thumbprint scanner instead of a keypad or smartphone for entry. It remembers 100 fingerprints and can define 50 user profiles.