Over the past year many people have found themselves at home for longer than ever before, with working from home becoming the norm for millions of people. And now, even with people getting back to normal, the importance of a connected smart home experience is more crucial than ever before.
That’s why in the T3 Awards 2022 we were so keen to celebrate the best smart home technology on the market today, from smart energy products to smart security cameras and more. Smart home products help people live smarter, better, more connected lives, and to us at T3 that is a really noble cause.
As such, right here we reveal the winners of the best smart lighting, best smart security, best smart energy product, best home networking tech and best smart speaker awards at the T3 Awards 2022. The competition this year has been really intense, but there could only be a handful of overall winners, so let’s find out what the judges opted for.
(Image credit: Philips)
Best Smart Lighting
Smart lighting can transform an interior or exterior in seconds. A new colour or theme and suddenly the mood of the room or environment changes, which is great when hosting, relaxing, exercising and more.
And when evaluating the smart lighting options on the market today, the T3 Awards 2022 judges once more could not look past the quality and range of Philips Hue, which rightfully tops T3’s best smart bulbs buying guide.
As T3’s 5-star Philips Hue review notes, Hue delivers easy setup and configuration, a fantastic range of light bulbs and smart lighting products, it works with all smart home standards and hardware, from Amazon Alexa and its Echo products, through Google Nest and Google Assistant, and onto Apple HomeKit and Siri, among others.
The judges were also very enamoured with the Philips Hue app, which grants Hue owners best-in-class colour and theme options, as well as advanced customisation features. The Hue app just makes it so easy to setup lighting zones and customise them as desired – it’s intuitive and simple.
As such, for all these reasons and more we’re pleased to announce that the winner of the Best Smart Lighting award at T3 Awards 2022 is Philips Hue.
Best Smart Lighting shortlist
Philips Hue, Nanoleaf Lines, TP-Link Tapo Smart Lighting, Lifx, Innr
(Image credit: Arlo)
Best Smart Security
The rise of smart home products have transformed home security, with everything from security cameras to alarms, to smart locks and video doorbells, allowing people to secure their home easily and with advanced device connectivity.
And, in terms of delivering a superb smart security product at an affordable price, the T3 Awards 2022 judges felt that the Arlo Pro 4 smart security camera needed recognition. Well, even more recognition as it currently sits top of T3’s best security camera buying guide.
In our Arlo Pro 4 review T3’s reviewer praised its high-quality 2K footage, long-lasting battery life and smart person, vehicle and animal detection features. The camera also is weather resistant, meaning you can install it anywhere, and it also has a built-in spotlight, too.
The Arlo Pro 4 app is also very, very good, and grants total control over the camera and the footage it records. You can set activity zones in-app, too, meaning you can cut off areas you don’t want the camera to activate on.
Two-way audio also means that you speak to a person through the camera and hear their response as well, so you can tell a courier where to leave or parcel, for example, when out and about.
As such, for all these reasons and more, we’re pleased to announce that the Best Smart Security award at the T3 Awards 2022 is awarded to the Arlo Pro 4.
Best Smart Security shortlist
Arlo Pro 4, Arlo Essential Spotlight Camera, Yale Sync Smart Home Alarm 6 Piece Kit, Yale Conexis Smart Lock, ERA Protect Indoor Camera, ERA Protect Floodlight Camera, TP-Link Tapo C320WS Outdoor Security Wi-Fi Camera
(Image credit: Hive)
Best Smart Energy Product
With the cost of living crisis hitting hard for millions of people, with energy prices soaring, the importance of smart energy products just got even more important.
And among the top smart energy products on the market today, the T3 Awards 2022 judges felt that one product stood out among all others – the Hive Thermostat Mini.
The Hive Thermostat Mini, as detailed in T3’s best smart thermostat buying guide, takes everything that made the original Hive Thermostat so good and incorporates it into a smaller, slicker, even more stylish device.
A simplified interface makes interacting with the Hive Thermostat Mini easier than ever, while its companion smartphone app is powerful and intuitive to use, with advanced features like geofencing on offer.
The Hive app, crucially, gives you total control over your energy usage, allowing you to set heating and hot water schedules, control lighting and sensors, as well as any EV charging a person may have. The T3 Awards 2022 judges felt that the Hive Thermostat Mini would help most people save money on their energy bills.
And, for all those reasons and more, we’re therefore very happy to announce that the winner of the Best Smart Energy Product award at the T3 Awards 2022 is the Hive Thermostat Mini.
Best Smart Energy Product shortlist
Wiser, Hive Thermostat Mini, WundaSmart, SmartThings Energy
(Image credit: Asus)
Best Home Networking Tech
This was an incredibly tough category this year for the T3 Awards 2022 judges to decide on, with multiple 5-star products competing for the Best Home Networking Tech award.
In the end, though, the judges chose the simply fantastic Asus ZenWiFi Pro ET12 as the product to recognise above all others, with the Wi-Fi 6E mesh system blowing them away in terms of performance and features.
As the reviewer noted in T3’s Asus ZenWiFi Pro ET12 review, this mesh Wi-Fi system is “a real future-proof winner”, with its ability to crush dead zones and delivers Wi-Fi 6E speeds throughout your home very impressive indeed.
The Asus ZenWiFi Pro ET12’s app, too, was called out by the T3 Awards 2022 judges, with its ability to let its owner see connected devices, check on transfer speeds, configure parental controls and more appreciated.
The fact that you get a suite of security protections designed to combat spam and network attacks for free (where other manufacturers often charge), too, also elevated the ET12.
Basically, if you want upgrade you home networking tech to the very best level on the market today, the Asus ZenWiFi Pro ET12 lets you do that. As such, we’re very pleased to announce that the winner of the Best Home Networking Tech award at the T3 Awards 2022 goes to the Asus ZenWiFi Pro ET12.
Best Home Networking Tech shortlist
Asus ZenWiFi Pro ET12, Netgear Orbi WiFi 6, Netgear Orbi WiFi 6E, Eero 6, TP-Link Deco X90 (AX6600), TP-Link Deco Voice X20
(Image credit: Amazon)
Best Smart Speaker
Smart home speakers have come on a lot over the past 5 years or so and become residents of many people’s homes, acting as the smart home hub that everything else operates around.
That duel use of smart home speaker and smart home hub now seems more important than ever before in 2022, with people increasingly turning to their smart home controller for more and more applications – they truly are modern smart home computers.
Which was why, after comparing a selection of top tier smart home speakers this year, the T3 Awards 2022 judges turned to the Amazon Echo Show 10 as the product to recognise.
Amazon has been, arguably, the biggest pioneer in smart home speakers and hubs and in the Amazon Echo Show 10 it delivers a smart home computer with screen that also delivers truly excellent sound quality from its dual front-firing tweets and large central woofer.
Indeed, in our Amazon Echo Show 10 review the reviewer specifically called out that its “audio fidelity might be another reason that you consider spending the extra money to get this”, and that with the Echo Show 10 “you definitely get audio that’s crisp and clear enough to fill a room easily”.
So the fact that the Echo Show 10 delivers such great audio and then also provides a smart home hub powered by Alexa with a large, bright 10.1-inch display, which is perfect for watching videos, making video calls, reading the news, checking the weather, browsing the internet and much more besides just takes it to another level.
Congratulations! The Amazon Echo Show 10 is the winner of the Best Smart Speaker award at the T3 Awards 2022.
Best Smart Speaker shortlist
Amazon Echo Show 10, Amazon Echo (4th Gen), Bang & Olufsen Beosound Level, Google Nest Hub Max, Audio Pro G10
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