SmartThings adds Windows Phone support to its home automation hub

By Drew Prindle October 29, 2014

smart things adds windows phone support home automation hub screen shot 2014 10 29 at 1 56 27 pm

After more than two years on the market, SmartThings – maker of one of the earliest and most widely used smart-home kits in the game – has recently rolled out a new Windows Phone app. This new app joins the company’s existing iOS and Android apps, and will presumably open up the SmartThings platform to new users.

For the uninitiated, SmartThings’ mobile app connects with its $99 network hub to let you control stuff around the home like temperature, locks, lights, and more. The system also includes a number of sensors that allow users to monitor occupancy, movement, and environmental conditions in the house.

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Related: Nest acquires Revolv, adds a slew of new products to its smart home ecosystem

Prior to the announcement of Windows Phone compatibility, many were worried that Samsung’s recent purchase of SmartThings would spell the end of support for different platforms, but luckily that isn’t the case. Samsung has stayed true to SmartThings’ vision to “create a totally open smart home platform that brings together third-party developers, device makers, and consumers.”

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Drew Prindle is an award-winning writer, editor, and storyteller who currently serves as Senior Features Editor for Digital…

Mobile

Samsung and Google partnership finds a shared home for SmartThings

The Google Nest Audio speaker on a table.

Matter — the interoperability protocol that will bring smart devices from different brands under a single umbrella of control — is less than a month away from its official launch. Ahead of the grand reveal, Samsung and Google have announced a partnership that adds a convenient element of interoperability to their respective smart home ecosystems.

Sounds confusing? Well, here’s the easy breakdown. Samsung, in collaboration with partner brands, sells a wide range of smart home devices, from doorbells and switches to lights and garage door openers. However, barely a few of those SmartThings gadgets worked seamlessly with Google’s Home app for controlling smart home gizmos.

Smart Home

Is your smart home child-safe?

Roborock S7 cleaning while kids and pets play.

Smart home devices excel at saving time and taking orders, as well as provide us with a lot more data about how our homes behave. But those capabilities are mostly focused on adults – what happens when you add kids to the mix? While some brands like to tout the ability to track or monitor your kids, it’s not always that simple.

Families quickly learn that their children can become masters at using smart home tech, but that doesn’t mean all home automation is safe for them. That’s especially true for toddlers who may not understand what smart homes can do yet.

Smart Home

Vivint’s new updates make its smart home system even smarter

vivint doorbell outdoor camera pro updates lifestyle 1

I've had a Vivint smart home for about 18 months, ever since reviewing the Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro and the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro. For the most part, I find them to be incredibly smart and useful. Plus, the integration with Google and Philips Hue in particular up the "whole-home smart home" game when I can unlock my front door and have my lights turn on. This week, Vivint announced updates to the Doorbell Pro and Outdoor Camera Pro, and it's great to see that "smart" extends to the company itself. Let's dive in.
On-device recording
Vivint upgraded all of its camera products -- the Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro, Outdoor Camera Pro, and Indoor Camera Pro -- in a pretty significant way. Vivint added on-device recording for 24/7 monitoring for up to 10 days. All that footage is stored on the device, which is significant in one keyway. The previous generation of the cameras streamed footage in real-time from the cameras to a separately purchased smart hard drive. From there, if you wanted to review the footage, it would stream back over Wi-Fi to Vivint's servers, and back to your phone.

Put simply, this can cause a significant hit on your home Wi-Fi's bandwidth. With the new cameras, the footage is stored on a secure SD card locally and only transmitted when it's being streamed or viewed. Meanwhile, onboard AI will continue generating smart clips detailing what happens (people, packages, etc). Plus, aside from freeing up bandwidth on your home network, local recording storage also works even when your Wi-Fi is down. All told, it's enough to get me pretty geeked, so I'll be excited to test these things out. That's the biggest news that covers all the devices, so let's get into each device in particular.
Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro