Haier SmartCare smart socket experience: even if you forget to turn off your appliances, you can go out with peace of mind

If the concept of smart home is not as hot as it was in the past two years, the main reason is that various small-scale products have difficulty gaining popularity, and technology giants rarely make any big moves. If we take stock of the domestic home appliance industry, Haier is definitely the most proactive one in the field of smart home.

Along with the home appliance craze brought by Shanghai AWE2016, Haier's smart home package SmartCare has officially arrived recently. It is no longer a large appliance like refrigerators, color TVs, washing machines, etc. SmartCare's smart home concept focuses on starting from small things.

SmartCare also makes sockets smart

The SmartCare package includes a wide variety of products, but considering that housing prices in big cities today can easily reach tens of millions, smart door and window sensors seem to be some distance away from today's young user base. Fortunately, the package includes smart sockets that everyone will use all the time.

Similar to other smart socket products, the SmartCare smart socket is also larger than ordinary single-pin sockets, and a three-pin socket is compatible with a two-pin plug.

As a smart socket, the buttons on the SmartCare smart socket include the switch on the top and the reset socket on the side. The bottom plug is protected by a plastic cover in the package, which looks relatively safe.

Smart sockets alone are not smart enough

It should be noted that making the SmartCare socket smart is not something that can be accomplished by the socket alone. It needs to be coordinated with the inclined table-top gateway hub in the SmartCare set, which needs to be connected to the power and network cable separately and is also the largest component in the set.

During the device connection process, the SmartCare APP on the mobile phone has a detailed graphic guide. Unfortunately, when adding devices, it is necessary to ensure that the distance between other devices and the gateway is less than 2 meters, which may be difficult to use in a rich man’s big house.

Although various sensors require pulling out paper strips before use, the SmartCare smart socket connects to the gateway in seconds after being powered on. There are no annoying steps such as pairing and entering passwords, and the experience is still very good.

What can a smart socket do?

Like most mainstream smart hardware, SmartCare smart socket is also a product centered around hardware with an APP. Its main function is naturally to use a mobile phone to control the switch of the socket, including timing control.

It is worth mentioning here that the SmartCare smart socket has the function of detecting whether the socket is opened or closed and sending reminders. This means that you can actively control the socket remotely, and you can also passively understand the status of the socket through notifications on your mobile phone.

In addition, the SmartCare smart suite can also be linked with Jilu Router, but perhaps due to the version and model, the smart socket we have cannot be successfully identified with the recorder SOHO in the office. Judging from the built-in demonstration of the Jilu Router APP, the functions implemented in the software are not much different from those of the separate SmartCare APP. For most users, the role of this linkage is just to install one less mobile phone APP.

Do smart sockets consume a lot of electricity?

The smart socket product itself is undoubtedly much more complicated than the traditional socket. After adding the network control function, whether it will consume more electricity than the traditional socket has become a concern for many users and is also the key to whether the elderly at home can be persuaded to use smart sockets.

Taking the SmartCare smart socket as an example, after actual measurement, the power of the socket is about 0.5w when it is turned off, and about 1w when it is turned on. After connecting a desk lamp with an initial power of about 5.5w, the total power of the socket and the desk lamp is about 6.6w. This power consumption is completely within an acceptable range.

Therefore, in general, whether it is SmartCare or other smart sockets, the purpose of the intelligent sockets has not gone beyond the thinking scope of achieving remote control for users. With people's increasingly fast pace of life and the deep popularization of mobile networks, this goal is indeed becoming more and more meaningful and easy to achieve.

As for the SmartCare smart socket, it can only realize the most basic functions of the smart socket. However, it needs to be connected to the gateway, so it cannot appear in the home as an independent identity. Only with the support of the SmartCare smart package can it perhaps present a larger smart home blueprint.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.