![]() I was able to control my Philips Hue Play Light Bar in the app, no problem, and view my Arlo Pro 2 camera's live feed.Īdding devices manually worked fine for me.Īll that said, the app - even with the latest app version - crashed inexplicably at least four to six times during my testing. Instead, I opted for the manual route (since the auto-sensing didn't work) and that performed much better. I set up a Philips Hue Play Light Bar and an Arlo Pro 2 security camera, but the app never successfully identified them as new devices. There are two ways to do it - ask the app to "automatically sense" any new devices in the area or add them in manually. It's sort of straightforward, but didn't entirely work. I added a couple new devices to the iOS version of the SmartThings app on my iPhone 8 Plus. The updated app is my preferred way to interact with SmartThings - although it's still glitchy and tough to navigate. Let's move on to the specifics of testing out SmartThings on the app, the fridge and on the TV. There are also a variety of devices installed at the CNET Smart Home that are compatible with the SmartThings platform and already paired to it on the app. The third-gen model ditched the battery backup, but added the ability to connect over Wi-Fi rather than Ethernet. The second-gen model we used has a larger design and offers battery backup. Note: The $90 second-gen SmartThings hub is still sold today and costs more than the $70 third-gen SmartThings hub. Unfortunately, SmartThings was as temperamental as ever, just on a larger scale.Īt the CNET Smart Home where we test many of our connected home gadgets, there's a Family Hub refrigerator, a Samsung Q6 Series TV and a second-gen SmartThings hub. SmartThings gave me a lot of trouble in 2015 when I tested the second-generation hub, along with tons of SmartThings sensors and third-party devices.īut knowing how much SmartThings has grown over the years, it felt only fair to see if it had also matured into the platform I've always wanted it to be. It was almost as if no time had passed, and I don't mean that in a good way. The Galaxy Home is also supposed to have its own SmartThings hub. Bixby, Samsung's voice assistant, is also part of the mix now too, since it's built into Family Hub fridges and some Samsung TVs.Ī Samsung smart speaker called the Galaxy Home is "coming soon," too, which will put Bixby in a standalone smart speaker like those featuring Alexa, the Google Assistant or Siri, the latter via the HomePod. You can also access the SmartThings app and your SmartThings devices from Samsung's Family Hub fridges and select Samsung Smart TVs. A couple key examples include the $120 (roughly £90, AU$170) SmartThings WiFi, a SmartThings router with a built-in SmartThings hub and the $70 third-gen SmartThings hub (this one isn't a router - just a hub). It also sells even more SmartThings-brand devices. And SmartThings still has an open platform with tons of compatible third-party partners There's still a SmartThings hub (now third-gen) and an updated app. Some of us at CNET question if hubs should even still be a thing. Then Amazon announced its first Echo speaker and hubs instantly became voice control's much less popular predecessor. (I know because mine are staring to glaze over right now.) Going into detail on the merits of multi-protocol hubs - AKA hubs that speak ZigBee, Z-Wave and other languages - will make anyone's eyes glaze over. There was also general reluctance among many consumers because hubs are, well, boring. Hub competitors like Wink and the now-defunct Revolv emerged too, with similar results.
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