Samsung just launched its SmartThings station at CES, a new smart home technology that takes the form of a large button.
The idea is that the button acts as a multifunctional hub that distills actions in the smart home into a single point of control.
Jaeyeon Jung, Executive Vice President and Head of SmartThings, Device Platform Center at Samsung Electronics, said, “Having a smarter home doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. So we wanted to create SmartThings Station as a simple, reliable and expandable smart home hub.
In case you’re in any doubt that simplification is the name of the game, the SmartThings Station press kit includes photos of people pressing the button and oddly condescending infographics, showing cartoon characters using the various functions. from the station. Enjoy below!
When the station is fully configured, a short, long or double press of the button can trigger up to three routines. So you can turn on the TV and dim the lights in preparation for a movie, or turn on your music, or trigger a bedtime routine that lowers the thermostat and turns everything off.
Samsung
But in a world of smart assistants and hands-free systems, isn’t getting people to add a big button to their smart home setup a step backwards?
Maybe not. According to a 2022 CCS Insight survey, 34% of UK households and 39% of US households use some form of smart home device. The industry wants to see this number increase. One of the challenges for companies looking to encourage more people to adopt smart home technology is getting them to understand exactly what these new products can do for them.
So Samsung has made sure the Station has a number of easy-to-understand features and a real reason to have one in your home. In addition to being a hub, the SmartThings Station can also help you find your nearby devices, using Samsung’s SmartThings Find. Moreover, it is also a 15W wireless QI charger.
Samsung
A charger is useful. A phone locator is useful. A large button is useful. You can see the thought. If people are buying into their smart home ecosystem with such a physical device, then maybe other purchases will follow.
Smart home devices in people’s homes also have an exclusivity problem. Without smartphone access, guests may be stranded and less tech-savvy members of the family may find they don’t know how to turn things on and off.
A large button also solves this problem.
And then there’s the matter of making it easier to buy and set up a smart home. Manufacturers want smart home devices to feel more accessible. But it feels like getting the products to work will be time consuming, frustrating or confusing.
It’s also unclear how the devices interact. Will you need to use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth? Why do you need a hub? What products work together?
The SmartThings station also aims to solve this problem. Plug in the Station and, if you have a Galaxy phone, a series of pop-ups will appear to guide you through the startup process. You can then integrate new smart home technology into your system by scanning a QR code with your phone’s camera.
Once Matter-based smart home systems become the norm, perhaps all smart home systems will be simpler, but we’ll need to familiarize ourselves with new terms first, such as Thread and border routers. (Want to know more? Read our explanation of the material.)
So what should businesses do in the meantime? In Samsung’s case, that’s a heck of a big button. And some cartoons to show people how to use it.
Samsung didn’t give a price for the SmartThings station but it will launch in the US and Korea, with its first US availability in early February 2023.
