Jordan O'BrienLogitech is taking direct aim at custom installers, with a smart home control system that is designed to be easy to install, control and manage – but it’s not exactly the most advanced system in the world. That’s because it’s not supposed to be, as the latest product in the company smart home range, the Logitech Pop, is supposed to simplify the whole home automation process.
Over the past couple of years there have been many companies who enter the smart home market promising to simplify control. The most successful of all those companies has been Amazon, with its Echo speaker and Alexa voice assistant. Logitech is forgoing complicated user interfaces or voice control however, and instead has opted to release a range of programmable buttons to control pretty much any smart home device.
The Logitech Pop can be placed anywhere in a user’s home and can control everything from Sonos speakers, to Hue and LIFX lights, to smart locks and even smart blinds. In fact, thanks to its integration with the Logitech Harmony Hub, which can already control thousands of products, the Logitech Pop has a pretty extensive control portfolio.
Unlike a touchscreen interface, the Logitech Pop doesn’t offer fine-tuned control – for that Logitech offers devices such as the Harmony Remote. To control a product, users have three options – a single press of the button, a double press or a long press. Each of those functions can be programmed using the Pop App.
If a user wants to turn up the volume on the Sonos system they can programme the system to register a long press as the volume up command, while if they want to change playlist it can be programmed into the double press command – Logitech says the possibilities are quite literally endless.
The Logitech Pop can go even further and mimic a feature many smart home advocates are already familiar with – scenes. Using the Pop App users are able to combine several different commands into just one button press. That means a single press of the button can turn the TV on, the lights off and bring the blinds down – making it easier for users who would rather not have to deal with touch screen interfaces.
To install the Logitech Pop users simply need to place it in whatever location they wish it to be. There is also a hub attachment that can be directly plugged into the wall – this is where the real smarts lie and it communicates with the button via Bluetooth LE.
So what is the reasoning behind the Logitech Pop? Well, in an interview with TechCrunch, Logitech’s senior director or home control, Neil Raggio, explained why it went to the route of a single button, rather than another smartphone App.
“A phone is actually very, very personal to you,” Neil explained. “If your friends come over, or you’ve got a babysitter, the aspect of control that you’ve got set up on your phone, you can’t just give that person, since you’re not going to hand over your phone.”
Unlike the Logitech Harmony, which can often be difficult to set-up for any home automation novice, the Logitech Pop is specifically designed to be as simple as possible. The company says that it limited each button to three functions so that people would find it easy to remember what each device does.
It’s unlikely that the Logitech Pop will threaten the custom install market – but it could raise awareness of smart home devices. Consumer-installed home automation continues to grow with affordable devices such as the Logitech Pop being offered as a user’s first taster of a smart home environment. At $99 for a Logitech Pop starter pack – it’s hard not to see the value for some consumers who would like to stick to basics before jumping into the deep end.
Unfortunately, there’s no word yet on whether Logitech is planning a wider release outside of the US, but as always CE Pro Europe will keep you updated.