A plug with Siri and HomeKit? Less compelling than you'd think
Kitchen & Household
Set the dining scene.
Your wish is my command.
And lo, dining scene.
[MUSIC]
Every time, I get a kick out of that.
This is the iHome iSP5 Smart Plug.
It is a home kit compatible device.
that will turn any old dumb thing into a smart device.
It's compatible with Android barely, but it's really compatible with iOS.
Again, you saw me control this thing with Siri.
And you can give Siri commands based on the name of the device, Based on the name of your home, based on the name of the zone.
[SOUND]
Okay the outlight is turned off.
It's really fun once you get this thing set up, because the IHome app called the IHome control makes organizing everything
Coming into those home kit buckets, easy.
So using the device I was able to call this lamp the bat signal, and give Siri a command like hey Siri, turn on the bat signal, and she actually listened to me and did something.
It was cool.
If you're not an iOS user and are trying to use this thing on Android, stop trying to use this thing on Android.
It's barely functional Tons of setup problems, and even once it was up and rolling, it's barebones and way behind the competition.
For now, it's one of the few homekit compatible smart devices out there, meaning it's actually a fine entry point if that's what you're looking for.
But by the end of the year, you'll have a lot more options to pick from, and almost all of those upcoming options will do more.
Then the iHome ISP5 Smart Plug.
For more, check out my full review on cnet.com.
For CNET, I'm Andrew Gebhart.
