Smart home: Smart Display
By Kuhu Kinnori
Imagine waking up to a device to which you say “Hey Google! Good morning,” and it will instantly show you your routine of the day along with the news and any other features necessary in your day-to-day digital lifestyle. It may not sound like much, but such a “smart display” adds enormous benefits to a user’s life.
Introducing the Smart Display
A smart display is essentially a management tool. It contains a monitor with features of a smart speaker like Amazon Alexa or Google Home Assistant, along with voice control and touchscreen display. You can mount the device on a wall or place it on a table or countertop as per your convenience. The smart display offers several features that make it an essential device to have in a smart home. From streaming music or videos, to controlling smart appliances of the house, to showing nearby locations on the map, or simply as a digital photo frame, this nifty device has you and your needs covered.
Features of the Smart Display
Basically, the smart display functions as a combination of a smart assistant speaker like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant and a digital tablet. It can work as a personal assistant, increase your home’s security, shop hands-free, and many more features than what meets the eye.
Firstly, the digital smart display has a wide touchscreen for a user to access apps by a finger’s touch.
The display also allows a user to connect their smartphone or other control device to track and optimize the monitor’s activities. Some smart displays also connect to smart assistant devices like Amazon Alexa, Google’s Home Assistant or Samsung SmartThings Hub to increase efficiency and useability of the display device.
With advanced features like “gesture control”, you can make certain hand movements and the smart display would read that motion as a command. For instance, if you hold your hand up, you could pause a video, or resume the video by waving at the display. This feature comes in handy while following a recipe online. This hands-free feature also helps with visual learning for children and disabled people who struggle to use controls in the usual devices.
The smart display contains one or more built-in cameras for security and surveillance. In this way, the display uses facial recognition technology to identify people at your doorstep. It also has personalized face and movement detection, so you could, say, hoist the display up near your infant’s crib and use it as a baby monitor.
Besides, the smart display provides a control panel to securely organize the “smart home devices”. Anyone in the house can use this as a control center while not giving away access to apps to the other users.
When not in use, the smart display works as a digital photo frame that displays pictures of your choosing. These can go around as a slideshow for you to relieve your favorite moments and add to the aesthetics of your room.
So, how is this NOT a smart tablet?
Although this device might sound very similar to the functions of a tablet, the smart display is certainly not a tablet. The key difference is mobility. You can take your tablet with you anywhere, but the smart display is designed as a stationary device. The smart display is heavily focused on voice assistant commands and video-oriented capabilities, therefore, unlike the digital tablet, the smart display is specialized for at-home activities. Additionally, the smart display is much cheaper than the digital tablet and much easier to use even to the technology-shy niche of users.
Final Thoughts
The popularity of smart displays are increasing among homeowners. With all the amazing features it offers, there is no doubt that the smart display can be a great addition to your collection of useful devices.
