An increasing number of devices in the home are getting connected to the Internet, giving consumers new ways to control their household appliances. But as more and more consumer electronic manufacturers are adding connectivity to their devices, it’s becoming ever more difficult to manage all of them.
A new home monitoring device called Sentri was designed to help consumers make their smart home even smarter. Competing as part of our Hardware Battlefield at CES in Las Vegas this week, Sentri adds a deeper level of management for multiple devices in the home.
Sentri looks like an iPad, which can be mounted on a wall or placed on a bookshelf and provides all of the basic home monitoring features you might expect. The device has an HD video camera with night vision and motion detection that can alert users when someone is in their home and capture video of whatever’s happening in the house.
Sentri goes well beyond home security, thanks to a number of different sensors that have been added to the device. Sentri also tracks the temperature, air quality, light, and humidity inside the house, enabling users to get a fuller view of things through the device’s mobile app.
Being able to see what’s happening in the home is one thing, but being better able to manage what’s happening in the home is a whole other thing. And that’s where Sentri really hopes to excel. The company has connected its home monitoring device with a few other devices that are already on the market.
By connecting to a Nest thermostat, for example, Sentri can provide even smarter management of the temperature in the home based on the weather and other conditions in the home. It also connects with Lockitron and Phillips Hue smart light bulbs, which can be managed remotely via the app.
The company launched a Kickstarter campaign for the device last summer, during which the company raised nearly $400,000 from backers who wished to put the device into their homes.
The device, which costs $299, is taking pre-orders for those who missed the Kickstarter campaign, and will begin shipping to customers soon.