When it comes to smart appliances, it seems there are two kinds of consumers. Those that are tech minded and get excited about new innovations, and those who feel intimidated and want to avoid any appliances that involve wi-fi altogether. For the latter I say, just about every new model when launched has wi-fi so we cannot avoid them. It won’t be much longer before we will see all of them have connectivity.
Of course if you really do not want it – you don’t have to connect your new appliance to wi-fi at all, but read on and see if maybe you can see the value of a smart appliance for you.
Service Benefits
A smart appliance connected to their app on your phone or tablet allows you to troubleshoot directly with the appliance. The appliance can tell you what is wrong in many cases, and provide you with the info on the fix. A much better solution than old-school troubleshooting from the manual, and this just might even save you money on an unnecessary service call. If a service call is needed, this can also save you time and cost because you are able to tell at the time of booking an appointment what the error code is. This often means a technician arrives with necessary parts on hand and can do everything in one visit. A lot less of the traditional first call to diagnose, go away and order parts to come back another day and complete the fix.
Status Alerts
Maybe your laundry is on another floor and you can’t hear the buzzer. Get an alert on your phone telling you the washer is ready to be switched over, or the clothes in your dryer on the sensor drying cycle you chose are now dry. You can get to it right away and not end up with a half wrinkled load to iron or “refresh”. Maybe dinner is in the oven, and you’re working from home in another room or outside with the kids or dog. Get the alert on your phone or just check on it without leaving what you are doing. Status alerts allow you to multitask life without constantly checking.
Convenience
Let’s say, on your way home from work you stopped off at a market and got something for dinner. You can preheat your oven when you’re on your way home so it’s ready for you when you get in the door, and you can get dinner on the table faster. How about a washer and dryer that talk to each other so you only set the washer, and transfer the clothes over but don’t have to bother with the dryer settings? Or a fridge, that allows you to check it’s contents when you are at the grocery store so you don’t have that “oh darn, we needed milk” moment when you get home. Hoods that turn themselves on when you start up your cooktop.
Smart appliances are not new, they are just getting smarter. We have been seeing the introduction of these features for several years, so it’s not so new that you can’t trust it. If you’re still not convinced any of the conveniences and time savers are for you, I think we can all agree that at the very least we can all benefit from an appliance that has the potential to save us money and time.