Sorry, I'm too busy planning our smart home to help

I am supposed to pack all the electronics that I will not need until after the move. What does it mean? I need all my electronics all the time. Instead, I pretend to write a review of these intelligent Aukey outlets. I am really surfing Amazon and planning our new smart home.

Aukey makes everything from headphones to keyboards. I now expect a certain level of quality from its products – they are not usually the best, but they are often the best value for money – and these smart outlets are no exception. They feel well done, their appearance is not bad and they work as expected.

Look: they each have a button. You plug it in and press the button to turn it on and off. It works. You can buy the simple plug-in model in a pack of 2 on Amazon for $ 27.99 and the dual-hook model for $ 26.99.

It's over, let's talk about smart homes. My goal is to let Alexa or Google Assistant manage the best of my life. I can not be bothered by switches, pushbuttons or knobs. I need a virtual assistant to do these things for me. Otherwise, I will be forced to face the fact that I overestimated the needs of my family for Amazon Echo Dots and Google Minis.

But a real smart home – like Matt Farley's – is a lot cooler:

Farley is a lot smarter than me. I'm just going to buy gadgets and download apps.

We choose new furniture when we move, so I'm not quite ready to choose smart lights, LED lights or decorative lights that we will buy. I might need a Alexa wall clock, I'm not sure yet. But I know I will need smart points of sale. My TVs do not have Alexa or Google Assistant integration. These are among several other gadgets that I want on my voice command network.

Aukey's are not the only intelligent outlets I've tried. Amazon's smart plug-ins work well (but the ones I bought do not support Google Assistant support) and I've used other less expensive plug-ins. But I opted for these two models Aukey, because they are discreet and respond quickly to orders. When I tell Alexa to turn off the lights, I mean now, not in eight seconds.

In addition, the installation is a child's game:

1. Download the Aukey app.
2. Create an account.
3. Plug in the smart plug.
4. Turn it on (wait for the light to blink).
5. Follow the instructions of the application.

I've set up every point of sale for Alexa and Google Assistant. The whole process takes about 1-2 minutes per assistant, per exit. Once configured, you can manage outlets and connect them to "routines" in your Google Home or Amazon Alexa app.

My plan is to configure routines for all my connected devices, so I can change the mood of any room in my house with just one voice command. "Alexa, it's the rendezvous evening," for example, can trigger a dim light, turn off the TV, and broadcast Teddy Pendergrass Radio on Amazon Prime Music. Meanwhile, "Hey Google, it's movie night", could turn off all luminescence, with the exception of the skewed lighting behind the television.

The sky is the limit when dealing with an empty slate, but I have to reduce my costs. The relatively affordable price of Aukey for these outlets makes it a winner for my budget.

I have a complaint to make about Aukey's intelligent outlets: when you slip a plug into them, you experience a resistance of a few millimeters. I really have to jam the rope to make it flush, and it always seems like I'm going to break something. Each of the Aukey smart outlets I've tested had the same problem. Do not get me wrong, nothing is actually broken – it's more like a "touch sensation" problem than a manufacturing problem. I just wish it was smoother.

I plan to use these Aukey smart outlets to fill the gaps in voice control coverage in my new home. This of course means that I highly recommend them.

But I'm going to need a lot more technology if I want to reach the level of "Wall-E" human laziness. Stay tuned for more recommendations and comments from a guy who is shopping for smart gadgets on the internet instead of helping his family pack for their next international move.

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Posted on 28 February 2019 – 18:03 UTC