U.K. energy supplier British Gas-owned Hive has launched its second generation smart thermostat and has outlined its road map of future products which will include smart lightbulbs, motion sensors and potentially even a connected camera.
The new products will be compatible with the existing Hive smart home hub and are powered by AlertMe’s Honeycomb platform. Hive wants to become the UK’s defacto smart home company, and this slew of new products is part of its trojan horse strategy to reach there.
The original Active Heating from Hive was a good first stab at a smart thermostat, but the likes of the Nest, Tado, Honeywell Evohome and Heat Genius all offered superior features, easier-to-use software or a combination of both. Hive Active Heating 2, which is available to order from today, aims to change that with both style and substance.
Like the original, the Hive 2 is a smart thermostat that allows you to control temperature and hot water manually and via a mobile app. However, the new thermostat isn’t quite as anonymous as its older sibling — in fact, it’s actually quite striking. It’s a small rounded square with a mirrored front, designed to look impressive but not dominate the home.
Then there are the Hive Window and Door Sensors. These little plastic dongles come in two parts: one for the window or door, and one for the sill or frame. When the connection between the two parts is broken, you’ll be notified as such on your mobile device. They can alert you when someone arrives home (or breaks in) through the front door, but can also be placed elsewhere around the house. Take bedroom doors, for instance, which could be rigged to give parents an idea of which child got home when.
Coming up soon are Hive Active Plugs, which will let you control electrical appliances remotely via the Hive hub and apps. Likewise, Hive Active Lights are light bulbs that can also controlled via the Hive app.
The final product Hive announced, but didn’t show, is the Active Lights. All the company has said about these is that they’ll be controllable by smartphone, and the specifications of the bulb design are still being finalised with potential partners. But, we’re under the impression they could have a feature set similar to Philips’ Hue products.
The Hive Active Heating 2 goes on sale today and for current users will cost £99 as an upgrade for a limited period. For new customers the thermostat together with installation costs £259 while the 2 on its own cost £179.
