5 Occasions When Smart Speakers Come in Handy

Smart speakers aren't just a fad; 42% of smart speaker owners now say they're essential to daily life, so it seems that the likes of Amazon Echo and Google Nest are settling into homes across Australia quite comfortably. If you're wondering whether to add more connectivity and convenience to your life through voice-controlled systems, you'll be glad to know that smart speakers go beyond just playing music in a fancy way.

We've gathered some common situations where a smart speaker would benefit your household.

1. Getting ready for work in the morning

If getting the kids ready for school while you get ready for work tends to be chaotic, you might want to streamline your mornings with a smart speaker - imagine an extra few minutes in bed or time to actually enjoy your coffee!

Amazon's Alexa has features to help you achieve exactly that. Users can set an alarm (or as many as they want) to eliminate the need for a smartphone in the bedroom. Not only that, but Alexa can be programmed to go through your morning routine exactly how you want it. With the simple phrase, "Alexa, good morning" the technology is prompted to play your favourite playlist, tell you the news or deliver the weather.

When leaving home, gone are the days where you had to walk around the whole house to turn off the lights and open or close the blinds. With TaHoma switch and voice control integration, simply program your smart speaker to do the work for you. It's as simple as saying "Ok Google, leaving home."

2. Having a family movie night

Smart speakers can enhance connectivity not just in the home, but amongst the family too. Preparing for movie night is easy when popular food ordering apps like UberEats can be integrated with your smart speaker. Order your favourites and settle down with the family for movie time.

Devices like Google Nest enable you to stream movies to your TV. They can be connected to your Netflix account, for example, and you can simply tell your voice-assisted device which movie to play.

You can create the perfect ambiance for movie night using TaHoma switch. Set a scenario that will close your blinds and dim the lights, then simply ask your third-party assistant to trigger that scenario. Lights, blinds, action.

3. Making conference calls

Most smart speakers can easily connect to your phone for a wireless way to make personal calls and conference calls - and upgrade your home office with better connectivity. Google Nest and Amazon Echo devices are likely to have an even better speaker than that on your smartphone and may have multiple microphones to pick up speech from around the room.

4. Getting help with homework

When the kids are doing homework or learning from home, smart speakers can come in handy (especially when there are a handful of math questions too complicated for you to help with). Smart speakers can be used as a tool - rather than as homework cheat - to help children understand how to solve math equations or define certain words.

Home assistants are connected to the internet and will head to search engines to find the right answer to your questions when you fire it up.

5. Hands-free help

You've just had a long day at work, you come home after doing the grocery shopping with your hands full, only to find all your blinds and curtains are open so everyone can see in. Sound familiar?

Smart speakers are the perfect hands-free helper. Whether reading out a recipe or adding an ingredient to your shopping list while cooking, closing your blinds and curtains when your hands are full, or turning off the lights when you're already cosy in bed.

Get in touch with your local Somfy Expert to find out more

If you need more advice on getting the most out of your smart speaker, or choosing the right device for your home, get in touch with your local Somfy Expert.