“Unlock Your Home’s Potential”
Currently being funded on Kickstarter, Nyrius Smart Outlet is a simple yet highly effective device that aims to turn your ordinary electronics and appliances into smart devices connected to your phone or tablet. It’s affordable at only $30, it’s easy to set up, and in many ways makes more sense than individual smart home devices, such as Hue and other “smart lights”. But does it work?
Within no time at all, I was able to plug Nyrius into a wall outlet and get started. The way it works is you plug any electronic into Nyrius, and with the Nyrius app installed on your Android or iPhone, you can toggle the electronic on and off with your phone (or tablet). For example, I plugged in a string of my living room ceiling lights into Nyrius, and was then able to toggle them on and off with the easy to use Nyrius app. While the app could definitely look a lot better, as it’s about as basic and ugly as an Android app could get, it gets the job done and will hopefully get a makeover in the future (the product is still in Kickstarter, anyway).
Nyrius claims that this device will save home owners money on their electric bill. While that’s debatable, I can absolutely see why they say that. The Smart Outlet has a couple nifty features besides simply being able to turn it on and off with the app. Near-field proximity control allows the Smart Outlet to automatically turn off if the owner is out of range. The actual range will vary from device to device, as it will turn off simply when you lose Bluetooth connection. This feature will surely be loved by those using Nyrius for lights and maybe music for parties and don’t have to worry about turning them off when they leave the house.
Another feature is the ability to set schedules for your Smart Outlets to activate and deactivate. Don’t have a super smart coffee maker that brews coffee when you wake up? Nyrius makes this possible, assuming you already have water and coffee grounds ready to go. This feature worked perfectly when I set my trusty desk lamp to turn off late at night after I fell asleep.
Nyrius is onto something with the Smart Outlet. Right now, this is the best option for those looking for smart home devices, but don’t want to fork over hundreds of dollars. I am happy with the fact that the Nyrius app supports control of 7 devices in your home, as I will definitely buy a couple more of these in the future.
