Review: Google Home Mini

When the Google Home Mini was introduced with a price point of $49 I was ecstatic that Google had introduced a smart speaker at a price point that was comparable to the Echo Dot.  Then things got even better and they dropped the price to just $29 for the holiday season.  While this is a temporary price drop and the price is scheduled to go back up to $49 on the 1st of January it is still a very affordable option for a smart speaker. I already purchased two of the original Google Homes and have been impressed with how far the Google Home has come in just the first year.  

Belkin's WeMo switch review

I have been slowly collecting smart home devices for about the last year and half with the hope that I will be able to control just about everything in my home with a simple voice command.  One of the first items that I picked up was a Belkin Wemo switch.  I found the Wemo switch was a very easy way to moving to home automatiom, so let's take a look.

Review of iHome iSP5 Smart Switch

In this post I will do a review of the iHome iSP5 smart switch.  I picked up a few of these units when they were on clearance at my local Walmart.  At the price it was worth a shot. 

So let me start by saying if you are planning to set these up using an Android device just forget about it.  I tried with several Android devices and was never able to get them set up.

I would have to say I like the design and size of the switches when compared to some of the Wemo switches that are a lot bigger and bulkier.  You can easily use two on these switches in a single wall socket and this to me is a big plus for these switches. 

Luckily I had an iPad in the house otherwise I never would not have been able to get any of the switches setup.  The set up with the iPad was pretty straight forward and worked as expected when the setup instructions where followed.  Now I will say that once the plugs were configured using the iPad I was then able to see them on my Android device when I logged into my account.

Once the configured it was very easy to link get them setup for use with my Google Home.  Like was stated above if you use only Android devices I would steer clear of these switches.  If you do have an Apple device to setup the switches then I would say these will work great.