Are smart home appliances really smart? Let’s find out

Smart home appliances are really something to fall in love with, thanks to the convenience they offer. The concept of these products is simple. They should behave smartly, make decisions, offer the best service with minimum or no manual inputs. But there’s a long way to go before we can see such a model home appliance in practice. However, we can still get decent smart home appliances at affordable prices. 

You might be overjoyed after getting a smart home product, a little more than getting a regular product, as they work differently. However, these smart babies, at least in 2021, are overhyped, and the so-called smart home appliances are not smart home appliances in the true sense of the term. Today, most such appliances are half-baked, however, that is quite normal, as I said at the beginning, and the term ‘SMART’ is rather a marketing gimmick. So, today on InkedFreedom, I will talk about, why smart home appliances are not totally smart.

Smart home appliances learn from us

Just like other appliances, smart home appliances are electronic marvels, and they don’t have a brain like us. These appliances learn from us, try to understand our usage patterns, and offer service in return. 

As we all are different beings, and the likes and dislikes vary, there are shortcomings with these appliances, as it is arduous to understand a particular consumer’s specific demands. Moreover, unlike smartphones, smart home appliances are considered luxury these days, and not everybody uses them. 

So, there’s a huge chunk of people who are yet to be understood by these appliances, and so are the usage patterns. As more people will start using these appliances, smart home appliances will turn out to be smarter, at least than they are, today.

Communication standards issues

Machine-to-Machine, aka. M2M is the backbone of IoT devices, and smart home appliances too, fall under this category. Iora, IFTTT, XBee, Z-Wave, Zigbee are some standards, or, for your understanding, languages that these appliances use, to talk to each other. 

So, if every person in a group speaks different languages, communication problems will arise, and so is the problem with different appliances using different communication standards. As there is no one company that manufactures all smart appliances, you are compelled to switch brands while purchasing. That adds one more hindrance to setting up a smart home. 

Due to different communication standards, the setup will not be perfectly smart, as you might expect. Communication errors mess with the decision-making process of these devices, making them behave less smart than we expect. However, the Connected Home over IP standard, an endeavor to make smart home appliances speak one language, might eradicate this limitation.

Internet off! Smartness gone!

Thanks to the first internet, smart home appliances can answer your questions, make decisions really fast. But, these appliances still need the internet to work. As most devices do not have adequate internal memory to store data, there are certain appliances, like smart security cameras that save the recording to the cloud, or at a remote location, and that requires a working internet. 

So, without a working internet connection, a smart home appliance is mundane, and can’t even make the smallest decisions. For example, if the light in your bedroom turns dim after 11 o’clock, that might not work without the internet. So, it’s not the device that is smart, these are made smart by making it count on an external entity. 

These devices act like actuators that respond to an external signal. Google’s TensorFlow project shows some light in this aspect, but the dependence of smart home appliances on the internet is not likely to go away soon.

Require constant support from the manufacturer

Smart home technology is evolving and so, is not perfect. Unlike a smartphone that you can use, only for making just calls, even after years the manufacturer has stopped offering support, the same is not with these expensive appliances. 

As I mentioned, these devices depend too much on the internet, and in most cases, they communicate with the manufacturer’s specific server for its operations. So, if the manufacturer stops offering support to an age-old appliance, that might stop functioning partially, and in some cases, totally, putting the consumers at the manufacturer’s mercy. 

Additionally, these appliances often behave weirdly, if there are certain unfixed bugs at the server end. So, the dependence of these appliances on their manufacturers eventually turns them into dumb pieces of paperweight after the end-of-support period.

Limited features that are not counted as smartness

Talking about the so-called smart appliances, the ability to control some appliances from a smartphone, or Amazon Echo doesn’t make that smart. The ability to control the appliances sitting on the sofa is undoubtedly convenient, but smartness is totally different. 

A smart device should adapt to the surroundings, like a Nest Thermostat that will automatically set the temperature depending upon the climatic condition. It can also understand the user’s usage habits, in the case of other regular smart appliances. 

If you are breaking the bank just for the extra convenience of controlling the appliance with a smartphone, you are not getting something smart. Each appliance is for a specific requirement, and thus, there isn’t any standard definition of ‘SMART’. But these appliances should at least understand users’ habits, and deliver service with minimum or no input from users.

I am not against smart home appliances, and in fact, I want these to improve even more. But, not all appliances that are advertised smart, are actually smart. However, they should offer fair improvements over a regular variant of the same product. That’s for sure. So, if you are paying a little extra for getting those smart appliances to enjoy some sort of convenience on the plate, just go for it. But, don’t have enormous expectations from it. Be a smart consumer, and read the product details properly before checking out. There can be some peripherals that can make your regular appliance a little more convenient to use, if not smart. So, if you just want that extra convenience to your life, spend less and get that peripheral, instead of purchasing a so-called smart new appliance creating a big hole in your pocket.

So, that was all about the topic. Have questions? Feel free to comment on the same below.