Nest – the ‘learning thermostat’
The thermostat itself is still in its ‘learning’ phase, so I’ve not yet seen the benefit of its ‘auto away’ mode or dynamic scheduling. I’m looking forward to seeing how it adapts to changes in routine and the outside temperature.
I bought Nest direct from Google, through the Play Store. There was a slight hiccup with installation – which seems a little too frequent based on reading other people’s experiences. It’s a sub-contracted system in the UK, but communication doesn’t seem to be fool proof. Despite receiving an email confirming the date and time of my installation, the company assigned the job failed to turn up on the day, claiming they knew nothing about it. I was, however, able to reschedule for the following day.
First impressions of the Nest thermostat itself are very positive. The engineer installed it in about an hour, first connecting up the heat link to my boiler and then replacing my old thermostat with the Nest unit.
The Nest thermostat connected to my home network and the Nest app without any issues. Nest feels solid to touch and is straightforward to control. The basics are all there. I’ll see how it performs over the coming weeks and months.
On to the secondary consideration of purchasing Nest… With so much promising home automation technology heading to market (you’ve no doubt heard of the ‘internet of things’!), Nest feels like one of the strongest bets when it comes to centralising and controlling it all from a single location.
Google’s ‘Works with Nest’ programme already includes Dropcam, Phillips and Mercedes and is only going to grow. I already have separate apps to control home alarm and CCTV systems. I’ve also been looking at Piper recently. However, as much as I love all of these systems, I want my life to get simpler, not more fragmented.
It’s a complicated picture, but Nest and Apple TV look well set to lead the way in managing home automation over the coming months and years. At least, I hope so.