Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
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The idea of the complete smart home has never practically appealed to me. The sheer amount of planning, purchasing, and polishing that building a flawless smart home system demands gives me pause. I could overcome this hesitation by going with products from a single company. Most of my smart devices are from Google, so that would be a viable route. However, like many of our readers, I can’t trust a firm with such a spotty software and hardware record.
Ultimately, I look at the smart home ideal and think: “I could spend thousands of dollars and hours building my perfect system, but it could be knocked down with a single software update. Why should I bother?” I’m always talking myself out of building a smart home.
Notably, I am somewhat of an outlier. Many of my Android Authority colleagues fully believe in the smart home vision, and some of their builds are spectacular, leveraging open-source and self-hosted products.
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I’m not entirely against buying devices that add value to my home, though. My apartment has a few smart home products, including two smart lights, both used to accent my desk and are treated like traditional lights, a Nest Mini, which is the cornerstone of my cooking routine, and a Chromecast for Google TV, which is pretty self-explanatory.
However, that’s largely where my smart home begins and ends. I’ve never felt the need to build out a full network of smart products, a fridge that buys milk on my behalf, a washing machine that tells my TV when it’s done, or a set of appliances constantly connected to the internet and controllable with my voice.
Despite my feelings, many of you have meticulously built smart homes pieced together over the years, so I want to know your thoughts. Please explain why smart homes are worth investing in, how you choose the products and platforms to fit within your home, and how your smart home has changed your life. Or, if you feel the way I do, explain your smart home holdups.
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