It’s a fact that you can largely choose how to populate your space. Those choices define how you’ll react to the spaces around you, but that relationship needn’t be one-sided. Xiaomi’s smart home technology can react to you. It’s far more fun exploring a home that does what you want it to rather than the other way around.
The entire purpose of technology has always been to make life simpler or more convenient. That’s the guiding philosophy behind Xiaomi’s smart home tech: finding smarter ways to handle your day, perform tasks, and improve how your home functions. Basic appliances like smart speakers, clocks, and lights, are a decent start in the direction of home automation but there are more options to explore. Here are just a few ways to upskill your home’s technological intelligence.
A new personal best
Sure, you get up at 4 AM every day to pound the pavement while swinging a couple of 16kg kettlebells. Well done on your commitment. But eventually, you’ve got to come home and make the nutritious smoothie/protein sludge that’ll carry you through traffic and the first meeting of the day. Xiaomi’s Smart Blender (BHR5960EU – R2,499) can help by letting you automate the process. Preload the insulated glass jar with ingredients, set it to mulch everything just before you walk through the door, and the 9-speed motor and eight stainless steel blades will have your concoction ready for you to slug just before you hit a cold shower and head out to work.
Get vocal about cooking
Xiaomi’s air fryers (4l Pro – BHR6943EU – R2,899 and 3.5l – BHR4849EU – R2,399) are versatile enough to assist with large-scale meal prep. Temperatures range from 40° (for drying fruit and making yoghurt) to 200° (for crispy goodness) and there are also eleven pre-programmed meal settings via the OLED dial. But those are just appliance features, no matter how cool they happen to be. Handily, these products are smarter than the average air fryer.
App-based scheduling, allowing you to load up ingredients and have a piping hot meal ready at a time of your choosing, is a sensible feature. Voice-based control is, arguably, an even better one. It’s possible to prep the next lot of snacks from a distance while watching the Bokke, simply by having a word with a connected Google Home device. One of Google’s (or Xiaomi’s) smart speakers will do nicely.
Breathe easier
The average home is a wonderful place to encounter all manner of air pollutants and that’s before you factor in actual air pollution. Dust, pet dander, smoke, and fumes are an everyday part of life that you don’t have to experience any more. Provided, that is, you’re packing one of Xiaomi’s smart air purifiers.
The roster of features is extensive. Xiaomi has its own filters which lend themselves to lower fan noise, activated carbon helps to eliminate odours, one-touch activation, and negative ionization are all functions of the trio of air purifiers available on the South African market but, as ever, it’s the smart features that take front and centre.
Whether you’re using the Xiaomi Smart Air Purifier 4 (BHR5096GL – R4,899) or the Lite (BHR5274GL – R3,599) or Compact (BHR5860EU – R1,999) version, you can expect a range of smart functions. Real-time air quality measurement, custom coverage by dialling the active zone up or down, and on/off timers are a few of these but filter maintenance is also automatic. Just keep an eye on the app and swap out the filters when it tells you to. It’s enough to make you breathe a sigh of relief.
That’s pretty cool
There are at least two more ways to tweak the air in your personal space. The first is with a Xiaomi Smart Humidifier 2 (BHR6026EU – R1,299), which will fill your dry and dusty home with just the right amount of water vapour to make breathing as comfortable as it should be. The other is the Xiaomi Smart Standing Fan 2 (BHR4828GL – R1,899) which does exactly what it says on the tin. It stands. And it’s a fan. But both products are smarter than the average bear, otherwise, what would be the point?
The smart humidifier includes UV-C sterilisation, smart humidity control, and the ability to remotely control functions via the app, If, that is, you even need to adjust anything beyond topping the tank up with water every so often. The automatic functions and up to 32 hours of continuous use on a tank make daily maintenance an every-second-day sort of occurrence. Finally, this is the only product of its type rated for the inclusion of essential oils without causing any trouble with the warranty folks. Best of all, this addition can be done without opening up the unit.
The smart fan, on the other hand, is designed to keep rooms cool with as little fuss (and noise) as possible. There are app-based functions like child lock and settings tweaks but the winner here is voice control. Rather than leave your bed because the evening has turned out hotter than expected, it’s a breeze to simply tell Xiaomi’s smart fan to do its making-cold thing a little faster.
Some like it hot
The best time to think about winter tech is when it’s summer (because usually prices are a little more competitive. If that’s you then the Xiaomi Smart Tower Heater Lite (BHR6101EU – R2,499) or the Xiaomi Smart Space Heater S (BHR4037GL – R3,199) should be on your shopping list in the next month or two. Both offer speedy heating in two distinct form factors. The Tower Heater Lite features oscillation and voice control, letting you up the temperature without slipping out from under your blankets, while smart temperature control in the Space Heater S is designed to keep your power bill down while still keeping your space warm.
The Xiaomi ecosystem
All of Xiaomi’s smart home tech is capable of functioning with other brands of smart home tech. It’ll talk nicely with Google’s Nest variety of products but it’s to your benefit to make Xiaomi’s app and devices your main port of call. A single app makes setup and management a simpler task, broader compatibility ensures that other branded products are able to slot into the existing ecosystem with little bother, and Xiaomi’s control setup is second to none.
There’s plenty of reason to want a smarter home but it all comes down to convenience and a space that adjusts to you instead of the other way around. Xiaomi’s smart home tech provides the perfect level of useful technological functionality to ease your life while also being nice to your bank account. Grab the newest crop of smart home gear from various retailers or directly from Takealot, YuppieChef, or Tafelberg.