Your smart home is about to get smarter now that Andy Rubin has entered the scene. Well, Rubin hasn’t really left the industry. He left Google a few years ago to help a startup which this week unveiled the new Essential Phone. Aside from the new smartphone, the company has also announced the Essential Home. It’s a new device that promises more beyond automation. We’re assuming this will rival what the Google Home and the Amazon Echo are currently offering.
For the Essential team, they want something that feels more natural to use. Usually, you have to ask a smart device a question to get information. With Essential Home, it won’t feel stressful that you can’t remember the correct command or format. It will be natural and more helpful, providing the “essentials” that you need to go about in each day.
Design-wise, the Essential Home is something you will want to show off. It’s not a bulky tower but a nice round device with a display. At first glance, it will remind you of a Nest Thermostat in an Echo Dot form. You can say it’s a combination of the Nest, Echo Dot, and Google Home plus the new Echo Show by Amazon. There are no LED lights but the screen will be enough to give some illumination.
The Essential Home is a smart device that will answer your questions just by talking to it. Tap on the screen to activate or glance on the display to read information. It is private as it limits sending data to the cloud and works over your network at home. It has its own AI engine so it doesn’t have to call on a server all the time.
It runs Ambient OS that introduces itself to current devices at home. The new OS for the home aims to choreograph the devices, people, context, and content. Developers can also make their own apps that can work with the Ambient OS technology. An open SDK will be provided so you can start developing programs for the Essential Home.
Essential Home can do what Amazon Echo and Google Home can do like answer your questions, turn on/off lights, play music, and control your other smart home devices. We have no details yet on pricing and availability but it is expected to arrive this Summer.
SOURCE: Essential
