One of the fastest growing sectors is the 'smart home' and with so many household items now controllable and trackable through mobile apps, the way we live our lives is rapidly changing.
New data released by YouGov has shown that 66% of people are in agreement that technology changes their life for the better. In light of this statement, online smartphone retailer, e2save, has delved into people’s perceptions on the latest smart home items owned, per person, to uncover which UK locations have adopted smart tech the most.
Based on residents’ ownership of smart tech, the UK’s top five ‘smartest’ tech locations, are:
1. Birmingham (1.45%)
2. Leeds (1.18%)
3. Cornwall (1.15%)
4. Edinburgh (0.93%)
5. Country Durham (0.91%)
So, what do people really think of smart tech?
According to the figures, 17% say smart tech makes their life easier, with 38% agreeing that being able to give verbal commands to a digital assistant is a time saver.
When it comes to using our digital assistants, it’s no surprise that being a country that’s known for its dreary forecast, checking the weather is the most popular command (14%), followed by checking the internet for an answer to a question (12%) and playing music (12%).
Fortuna Burke, founder of It Really Works Vitamins, described how smart tech has transformed her life: “Smart tech almost entirely runs our house, the only thing we don't yet have are smart curtains! As I work mostly from home, our smart tech appliances really make life much easier to the extent that I've completely started relying on smart tech in the house.
I live in a townhouse with quite a few stairs and my home office is in the basement. All the switches in our kitchen are smart switches, so I can ask Alexa to turn on 'the Kettle' and by the time I've arrived upstairs the water is boiled ready for my tea! I can also ask Alexa to turn on certain lights upstairs, which is always useful if carrying my toddler upstairs. I can also turn on the heating, without having to get distracted by using an app, or going upstairs to turn it on myself.”
Nicola Fulstow, MD at SONA, also says: “Smart home tech can impact your life positively in terms of health, well-being, convenience, security and productivity if you identify how it can enhance your current habits and lifestyle at home. What’s more, automated lighting and thermostats have many benefits when it comes to saving money on monthly bills, so what more could you really want?
From my point of view, human-centric automated lighting – for example lights fading slowly on at the same time each morning to resemble sunrise (even in the winter) and coming on automatically for you return home each evening, adds so many benefits. For me, it assists my health through stabilising my family’s circadian rhythms, it makes the house look occupied even when I’m not home, plus the actual light settings are configured for different activities in different rooms. For example, in the evenings, the formal lounge is dimly lit for relaxation, whereas the family room and kitchen are brightly lit!”
So, what does the future have instore for smart tech? Interestingly, over half of people (53%) believe AI is the next step in evolution, and almost three-quarters (71%) are convinced robots will become a part of our lives and help with most of our daily tasks (67%).
Wasim Bux, Product Manager at IGO4, says: “As technology continues to develop, I predict that smart home security will move with the times and offer more complex solutions for protecting your property. Whilst some smart home footage can already be accessed without Wi-Fi, I believe that there will soon be a larger demand for manufacturers to create lines of products that can all work without being connected to the internet.”
Joe Linnington, Mobile Expert at e2save, says “The future of smart tech is very exciting and it’s great to see how many people have already embraced smart devices to make their personal and home life a breeze. We can’t wait to see where smart tech takes us and who knows, maybe soon we’ll all have robots in our homes”
