IFA 2022 nourishes the hope that smart home technology from different origins will soon be able to be put into operation and operated together without being forced to use the cloud. The planned Matter communication standard is intended to ensure this. The initiators Amazon, Apple, Google and Samsung as well as several hundred partner brands have designed it for purely local control. As a kind of “superstandard”, Matter allows a setup with various partner apps instead of just one from the respective manufacturer.
How this can simplify operation and greater data sovereignty in the smart home is shown most impressively by the manufacturer Eve in Hall 5.2. So far, its products are only compatible with Apple’s HomeKit platform and Siri. But in Berlin, at booth 117, smart home fans can test the Eve Energy smart socket on and off with commands from Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. The commands take the microphones of an Echo 4 and a Google Nest Hub 2 and forward them to the socket relay. In addition, the adapter plug reacts to app switching commands from Google Home and Samsung SmartThings – also on Android smartphones instead of just on the iPhone as before.
The switching signals are exchanged between the devices, which are equipped with experimental firmware, purely via the trade fair WLAN and the young wireless standard Thread. There is no internet connection. An unfair show trick with a false bottom cannot exist simply because Eve does not operate a cloud via which its own accessories can be networked with Amazon’s, Google’s and Samsung’s web servers. This makes the demonstration all the more credible.
When Matter works, it’s totally unspectacular
Tuya and Netatmo also give interesting perspectives on Matter in the same hall – but with much less practical content. Unfortunately, Tuya’s self-running demo of two lightbulbs controlled by a thread and a LAN gateway cannot be tried out (status 121). Netatmo’s prototype of a motion and window contact sensor that sparks with Thread, which is exhibited at booth 107, can only be operated using Apple technology. Control devices from Amazon, Google and Samsung stand next to it as pure decoration. Explanatory videos close narrative gaps at both stands.
Although Tuya’s and Netatmo’s Matter samples require more imagination, Eve doesn’t actually offer much more exciting visuals on the abstract network topic. And that leads to an all the more exciting realization during the IFA visit. If Matter works as unobtrusively in the background as advertised, the result is quite unspectacular. Nothing significant changes at all in the usual operating experience with the common apps and voice assistants. These simply come with more accessories ex works than before.
AVM makes Fritz!Boxen Matter compatible
The prospect of offering their own customers more combination options with third-party accessories motivated other manufacturers to declare their intention to integrate Matter at the IFA. Network specialist AVM announced to voonze online that it would expand the FritzBox routers with DECT base to include the standard. As a result, not only in-house smart home devices from the FritzDECT series, but also those from other providers can be controlled via the AVM software.
So far, AVM has kept a low profile on the subject, but has now recognized: “We find Matter very promising”. The first beta firmware, known as a laboratory version, which supports this, cannot be expected before spring 2023.
Yale: Matter integration for existing products complex
Unlike AVM, Yale is already an official member of the Matter Initiative. At the trade fair, the manufacturer of smart locks and security cameras specified its plans on request. According to this, all new Smart Locks should in principle be compatible with Matter in the future, explained the responsible product director Markus Henkelmann to voonze online.
For this purpose, the manufacturer will install Thread instead of Bluetooth for data exchange in new releases, because Matter does not accept the latter radio protocol for switching commands. In addition to Thread and LAN, WiFi is provided for this. According to Markus Henkelmann, Yale is not planning a retrofit solution for existing products. That would only be possible with the WLAN bridges that integrate the Bluetooth locks into the home network. However, the basic functions of the locks, which do not require a bridge, are sufficient for many users. Yale does not believe that a large clientele only wants to make the additional purchase for Matter and therefore does not see the integration effort as justified.
Yale is not alone in the problem with existing products. In order not to take any unnecessary risks, many other manufacturers are still waiting with their product decisions until Matter is ready – even if they basically want to integrate the standard. This is how Bosch Smart Home, LG, TP-Link and Samsung want to handle it.
Matter 1.0 is ready to launch “in the fall”.
The set of rules for the Matter specifications currently has the version number 0.9. Before it jumps to 1.0 and thus becomes ready for the market, final test rounds for the first prototypes have to be completed and processes of the testing institutes involved have to be clarified. The responsible certification organization Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) explained this on the sidelines of the IFA. Around 130 products in different development phases are included in the final tests. It is not foreseeable how many of these will actually be ready for use at the start of Matter.
The director responsible, Jon Harros, still vaguely scheduled the start of the standard for “fall 2022”. According to information from voonze online, a large launch event is planned for November in Amsterdam, which the CSA did not want to confirm. Instead, Harros specified which product categories are to be expected. Accordingly, Matter 1.0 supports functions for lighting and switching accessories, fans, heating and cooling technology, locks, multiple sensor categories, window coverings, smart TVs and bridges.
“White goods” household appliances, vacuum robots, video doorbells and security cameras, energy accessories such as wall boxes, access points and so-called border routers are definitely not available at the start. Specialists are currently working on specifications for these devices for one of the upcoming Matter versions.
No new Matter devices under the Christmas tree
In addition, one thing is already clear: There are unlikely to be any brand-new smart home devices under the Christmas tree this year that can do Matter right out of the box. The currently long delivery times alone speak against it, said Harros. Smart home fans have better chances with existing devices they have already purchased, which have already undergone the accompanying tests during the creation of the matter and can be retrofitted via software after a successful test.
Eve, for example, started two years ago to equip new model variants with the Matter-compatible Thread radio standard. If everything works as the manufacturer hopes, final firmware updates for several sensors, a radiator thermostat, a weather station and a roller blind motor will allow a setup via Matter for the first time before the end of the year. It wouldn’t be worth much without a playing partner. But Eve spokesman Lars Felber is optimistic that other Matter competitors will have enough products and control programs ready for the new standard by then.
