Samsung SmartThings Hub 2nd Generation

Samsung SmartThings launched, in early September, their sleeker and more contemporary look 2nd gen smart home hub along with their new product lineup and a video streaming capability of the new hub, which is first available in beta version.

Samsung acquired IoT SmartThings company in April last year, much like Google with the Nest and Dropcam. Home automation devices are now becoming a new trend and the processors are more powerful after these two large and famous companies acquired them.

For a smart home automation, Samsung SmartThings Hub lets you control, check, and secure your home, whether you are inside or far away from home. It is compatible with nearly 200 different smart devices from different companies.

samsung smart home hub

Check Price on Amazon

Samsung also has introduced new Samsung SmartThings products such as outlets and sensors– multi-purpose, water leak, arrivalmotion, open/closed, and temp/humidity— to complement the home automation hub. You might want to add individually the products I am mentioning here. Or, you may chose the whole package – Samsung SmartThings Home Monitoring Kit.

How does Samsung SmartThings Hub work

It is the brain of your home. It connects to a wide array of compatible smart products such as thermostats, the voice-activated smart speaker Amazon Echo, outlets, smart lights, sensors, audio alarms, and many more. Via SmartThings app on your smartphone, you receive notifications about what’s going in and around your home. Once alerted, use the free app to control remotely your home’s security. Not just only for home’s security, but also you can control the lighting, energy usage, or any other smart home automation.

For example, if you’re in another location, or when you’re inside the house, you will be alerted in your smartphone (with SmartThings app installed) when an unwanted intruder enters the house. And in time, you can call the cops then. Or, if you have a smart alarm device integrated into the hub, it scares away the intruder with its loud, flashing siren.

Easy to Set-up

No wiring needed, easy installation. To get started, you simply need a wall power adapter, Ethernet cable, micro-USB card, internet connection, and a manual. It’s as simple as that!

Compatibility

Brands of smart devices that work with Samsung SmartThings Hub  are Osram Lightify, Bose, Yale, Schlage, D-Link, Cree, First Alert, Bose, Honeywell, and others. Recently, SmartThings has added support for Sonos audio products, Philips Hue lights, and Belkin WeMo. Compatible also with Z-Wave, ZigBee, and IP-connected devices.

Minimum Smartphone Requirements

  • iOS 7.0
  • Android 4.0
  • Windows Phone 8.1, or greater

More features

SmartThings hub has a battery backup—4 AA batteries included. This assures your continued and specific home security automation if there’s power failure or if your internet connection fails, or both. But this backup feature will only work with products SmartThings specified to work locally. For example, motion sensor or siren goes off when it detects activity.

There are 2 ports and a Bluetooth at the back of the hub for future expansion.

Support is great and quick to respond. Users of 1st generation SmartThings hub who also bought the 2nd generation hub attested to this. They had issues with migrating the existing smart things in the app from the old to the new hub, and support responded quickly.

Conclusion

Currently, SmartThings app is clunky— complex navigation and frustrating to the users’ end. But they have promised to expand support for its entire Smart Home Monitor section of the app in the future where users can create custom security alert rules.

Overall, Samsung SmartThings Hub delivers an impressive performance. Testing its functionality with some integrated smart devices, like switching off/on the lights, and commanding Amazon Echo to switch on the TV… the response is real fast.

Scroll to Top