Smart home is still a little cold, mobile devices will become industry catalyst

Whether it is science fiction movies on the screen or the high-tech mansions owned by technology giants such as Bill Gates in reality, smart homes have always been the future living environment that people have longed for and aspired to. With the continuous improvement and popularization of the Internet of Things and smart ecological systems, the realization of smart homes is no longer out of reach for modern people.

But it is undeniable that most of the early smart home products were products of "concept greater than reality". The cumbersome operation and high price made it difficult for people to accept. Some smart home usage scenarios could only be regarded as the imagination of R&D personnel and did not have much practical value.

Intelligence is the future trend of the home furnishing industry, but how to improve the practicality of products and stimulate users' interest until they make consumption choices has always been a difficult problem that manufacturers have worked hard to "solve". As the most familiar category of smart products to users, perhaps the experience of smart mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets is worth learning from for smart home manufacturers, and perhaps these mobile devices in our hands will become the "catalyst" for the rapid development of the smart home industry.

Learn to use mobile devices to be versatile and take advantage of their inherent advantages

Compared with feature phones, smartphones have efficient computing capabilities brought by high-speed processing chips and a wide variety of third-party extension applications, which are the main reasons that stimulate consumers to make consumption choices. As an "all-in-one" device, smartphones can excellently complete the tasks of mobile phones, cameras, video cameras, music players, e-books, voice recorders and even flashlights. Compared with ordinary home products, how smart homes can expand other functions and bring surprises while completing their own work is the key to attracting consumers' attention.

On the other hand, there is no doubt that mobile devices, mainly smartphones, are our only smart devices that are close to us (as for smart watches, let’s wait until they become popular), which means that wherever the mobile phone is, the user is there. If the current smart home products still make users feel distant in the way of interaction and lack user stickiness, then using mobile devices as a bridge will inevitably shorten the distance between home products and users. Many manufacturers are already doing this on current smart TVs and other products.

In addition, the hardware structure of mobile devices can also be a good external supplement for some smart home products. Take smartphones as an example. When such products were first launched, the most eye-catching thing was the large touch screen. However, not all smart home products have an intuitive display like smart TVs. In such scenarios, smartphones can serve as both the display and control end of home products, becoming an external device similar to a "remote control" in a smart home scenario.

Finally, the increasing number of ways to connect and authenticate mobile devices with the Internet or other devices also brings more possibilities to the smart home system. As for the current smart mobile terminal products, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, infrared, NFC and even fingerprint recognition technology are all available. From using smartphones as "access cards" and mobile payments in public places to real-time monitoring of the home environment through mobile devices, mobile devices will make smart home products more quickly used in reality.

The development of smart home still needs the help of mobile device manufacturers

At present, mobile devices have received far more attention than other smart devices and are the most familiar to users. Therefore, if smart home products want to clear the fog in the market, they still need to take advantage of the trend and let smart mobile device manufacturers add fuel to the fire.

In fact, the "fire" has already started. Industry giants have begun to steadily enter the smart home. For example, Apple's new generation operating system iOS8 will become a strong support for HomeKit. The HomeKit platform is Apple's first step in the conception of smart home. With the release of the smart watch Apple Watch, Apple has also become the first manufacturer to link smart home with wearable mobile smart devices. With the addition of voice recognition technology Siri and cloud technology iCloud, Apple's layout in the field of smart home is very interesting.

Another giant, Google, is taking more direct actions: in the future, the system types of different devices will be further subdivided around the Android ecosystem. From the current situation, new strategic product series including smart home products, Android Wear, Android TV, Android Auto, etc. are already on the verge of being launched. What follows is that smart home products built on Android will be more closely connected with mobile devices such as Android phones in the future.

In addition to Apple and Google, which focus on the "system card", Samsung has also entered this field by acquiring SmartThings. Various mobile phone manufacturers have also begun to produce smart routers, TV boxes and other products. At the hardware level, smart home hardware related to mobile device brands is constantly emerging.

Although smart home is still a little unpopular now, with the better integration of mobile devices, smart home products will become easier to use and more popular in the future.

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.