It’s no wonder that the tablet market is becoming oversaturated and slowing down its growth, considering many people already have 2 or 3 slates at home. Today CNET has a piece showing us how to reconvert these devices into universal Smart Home remotes.
With this, you will be able to control your smart bulbs, thermostat, security cameras and locks straight from the tablet. In the best case scenario you will be able to control all of these with a single app, but seeing how fragmented the smart home segment is, you’ll probably be controlling them each from its dedicated app.
If you own a hub like WigWag Relay, Logitech Harmony Home Hub and such the setup will be easy, since there’s only one app needed. If all the devices are HomeKit-compatible, you can also get apps more easily, which also applies for Samsung’s Smart Home Service family. If there’s no hub or common platform, you’ll have to use an app for each smart home feature.
To make the tablet strictly about remote features, you will need to remove the lockscreen, also remove all homescreens, aside from the basic one, that will be filled with controls. Then you use a third party launcher like Apex or Nova and customize your homescreens, icons and launcher easier. Voice commands are also useful, so enable them.
Even if your tablet doesn’t have them, you can download Cortana for free and let it control your apps. Gesture commands are also useful. TouchMe Gesture and GMD Gesture Control are the apps to look out for. Do you feel comfier now?
