5 great smart devices to use with the Android ecosystem

If your Android phone could give your home a high-five, it would. Android has the power to transform any ordinary home into Star Trek-like technological miracle. And while we’ve griped about many of the shortcomings inherent in today’s smart home market, there’s still plenty to crow about. Here are five of our favorite smart home devices you can implement into your Android ecosystem right now.

1 Philips Hue smart light bulbs

These are the top-selling smart bulbs for a reason

There are many smart light bulbs on the market, but Philips Hue is the undisputed best. These bulbs are more than mere light sources. They are architects of ambiance. Designers of atmosphere. Composers of mood. You get the idea.

You can choose from a near-infinite palette of colors and levels of brightness. They last a long time, up to 25,000 hours, which will give you years of usage. And they’re easy to install and set up with Google Home. You can easily control them with Google Assistant once you’ve linked your Google account to the Philips Hue app. There’s something satisfying about turning on a movie and then shouting “Hey Google, turn my living room blue!”

2 Sonos Era 300 smart speaker

Google Assistant plus exceptional sound with spatial audio

We reviewed the Sonos Era 300 smart speaker. The TLDR is that this is a fantastic smart speaker and takes over where both Google and Amazon dropped the ball with their own hardware. Sonos’ laser-focused dedication to sound has been rocking our world for a while, and the Era 300 is their newest piece of the puzzle. It has incredible room-filling sound mixed with Google Home or Amazon Alexa smarts.

Link your Google account to the Sonos app, and you can summon Google Assistant or Alexa with the speaker. It’s a personal DJ who is also your personal assistant and can control your thermostat and lights.

3 Ring Doorbell 4 camera

Security at your fingertips, no subscription required

The Google Nest doorbell camera isn’t bad, per se, but it’s not as good as Amazon’s Ring doorbell camera. For starters, you don’t need a subscription to use the Ring camera (although Amazon offers upgraded services with a subscription plan). The Ring packs a punch, too. Motion detection will alert you the moment there’s movement at your front door. Two-way audio can welcome your Amazon delivery driver or scare off would-be porch pirates.

The device integrates with your Android phone through the Amazon Alexa app. You can install an Alexa skill to sync it with your Google Home. While not completely without friction, thanks to Amazon’s hostile “Amazon-only” take on software, it’s not impossible to do. Once you’ve got it all set up, however, you’ll be able to keep a hawk-like eye on your front porch.

4 August 4th gen Wi-Fi smart lock

Ditch the keys with this easy-to-install smart lock

The fourth generation of the August Home Wi-Fi smart lock remains our favorite smart lock for another year. This clever device turns your existing deadbolt into a hyper-intelligent castle guard. You can lock or unlock your door with a few taps on your Android phone and yell, “Open the gates!” as you do so. The best part is the ability to grant temporary keys to friends and house cleaners while keeping a log of all who enter your mighty fortress.

The August app is a breeze to install and set up, and you can link your Google account to give your Google Assistant control of your lock. This is seriously helpful when you set up “Make way for the King!” as a custom unlock command.

5 Ecobee Smart Thermostat Enhanced

More reliable than Nest

The Ecobee Enhanced smart thermostat is your hub for home comfort, controlling your furnace and air conditioner, and helping maintain air quality. The device is pretty clever. It can learn your temperature preferences and adjust accordingly, making sure you’re never too hot or too cold. It has geofencing abilities, so you’re not wasting energy when you’re not home.

The Ecobee app is where a lot of the magic happens. Once you’ve linked your Google account to the app, you can begin using the thermostat with Google Home and Google Assistant. You can then change the temperature by complaining. Shouting “Hey Google, it’s too hot in here!” will turn down the heat or fire up the air conditioning. How cool is that?

5 smart devices to save the Android smart home

These five smart devices prove Android is good enough to be the brains behind your smart home. They all integrate easily with your Android phone, and most can be controlled with Google Assistant.

We’ve heard all the grumbling about the state of the Android-based smart devices in 2024. But these five devices show there is hope for the ecosystem. We deliberately steered clear of smart tv streaming devices. A truly seamless and user-friendly smart TV experience remains frustratingly elusive over here on the Android side of things. The Apple TV 4K remains our recommendation for those needing a dedicated streaming device.