Lowe's has teamed up with the British home automation company Alert Me to stock affordable and easy to install system called Iris for controlling your home remotely.
If you read our home automation article, competing standards and prohibitively expensive gear have prevented the technology from being adopted en masse. In the last year or so, however, the elements to control your home from afar came down in price, and the appearance of Iris at Lowe's comes as a further proof that time is ripe for an exploding demand in the field.
There are three Iris kits to choose from. The Iris Safe & Secure package will run you $179, and, as you can guess from its title, in there are motion and contact sensors for your doors, windows and closets, as well as an Iris Hub control station, and a keypad. The Iris Comfort & Control kit has the same price, but leans on the energy efficiency side, offering a remote-controlled thermostat, as well as smart plugs for managing things like lights from a distance. Both offerings are combined in the Iris Smart Kit, which costs $299.
Needless to say, installation is made as easy as possible for the homeowner, and the price is pretty tempting for outfitting your crib with remote-controlled sensors. Naturally, as these things go nowadays, there is an Iris app for your iOS or Android device, where you get alerts when a sensor is triggered, video camera streaming, and which allows you to switch on or off devices. Automatic scheduling of those, as well as alerting several people about the sensor trigger, come with a monthly subscription of $9.99.
Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.
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