The big shift for the majority of smart home brands this year will be the inclusion of the Matter standard in devices. With that, those devices are able to communicate with more ecosystems with ease. At CES, SwitchBot has unveiled the Hub 2, a bridge for SwitchBot Bluetooth devices to work with any ecosystem.
SwitchBot’s Hub 2 is the newest in the companies lineup, bringing something new through not only its own features, but also through the added connectivity it brings to existing devices. The Hub 2 is a WiFi-based hub that performs first as a thero-hydrometer, detecting humidity and tepaerature in the air. SwithBot has a temperature sensor already, though it only performs that function.
The new Hub 2 is much bigger with a simple display that looks clean and easy to read. This new hub isn’t battery powered, though that’s a good thing since you can be sure it’ll stay on at all times and perform it’s secondary function. The Hub 2 converts all of your existing Bluetooth-based SwitchBot controllers to the latter standard so they can, in effect, talk with just about any ecosystem.
Related: What is Matter, and why are so many smart home companies supporting it?
For instance, products like the SwitchBot Lock, Curtain, and Bot will be Matter-compatible with the introduction of the Hub 2. Down the road, SwitchBot plans on converting existing WiFi-based products such as the Plug Mini to Matter later in the year without the need for the Hub 2.
Matter is considered to be a huge step for smart home companies and products developed by them. The new standard breaks those locks that don’t allow certain set of devices to access other ecosystems like Google Home or Apple HomeKit. With that, the Hub 2 should prove to be a great add from Switchbot.
The Hub 2 will be available “later this year.”
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments