Samsung has introduced a new smart home hub that also doubles as a wireless charging pad. SmartThings Station is a charging dock that supports Matter and Thread protocols to connect devices like TVs, speakers, thermostats, lights, and plugs to SmartThings. It works with the new smart home standard to connect devices to any Matter platform. Plus, the SmartThings Station doubles as a 15-watt fast wireless charging dock for Galaxy smartphones and headphones. SmartThings Station will launch first in Korea and will arrive in the United States in early February, priced at $59.99 ($79.99 with a USB-C adapter). It’s modeled after Samsung’s current wireless charging pad, but the hardware and software are completely new. Samsung has added a small button to the device. By tapping this little SmartThings logo, you can control scenes or devices set in the SmartThings app. There are three options: single click, double click and long press.
You can also use the charging status of Galaxy phones to trigger an automation. When you leave your phone charging, say after 11pm, it can trigger a Good Night scene that turns off the lights, locks the door, and adjusts the thermostat. Then when you pick him up after 7am, he might trigger the Good Morning scene. SmartThings Station works with the SmartThings Find service to help you locate your gadgets. If you set it up with your Galaxy smartphone, the base will be preset to ring your phone when you double-press the button. It also acts as a device scanner so you can find out where your smartphones, tablets, watches and headphones are. Additionally, a new feature continuously scans for Galaxy SmartTags or SmartTag Plus and can send a notification when a tag or device leaves or returns home.
It’s also a Thread Border router along with a SmartThings Zigbee hub and has built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios. As a Thread router, the Station will be compatible with any device that uses Thread, one of the key wireless protocols Matter is based on, along with Wi-Fi. Thread is a low-latency, low-power mesh network used primarily for low-bandwidth devices such as sensors, lights, and blinds. The Station is currently the cheapest edge router you can buy, and having several at home could help extend a Thread mesh network to improve reliability and reduce latency. The Family Hub line of fridges will upgrade to Matter this month, and Samsung TVs and monitors in March of this year (2022 and later models). The SmartThings Hub Dongle — designed to work with Samsung fridges and TVs to add support for Thread and Zigbee — will be upgraded to Matter in the first quarter of this year and will function as a Thread border router. Finally, Jung has confirmed that the SmartThings iOS app will be compatible with Matter this month, giving iPhone owners another option to integrate Matter devices. Currently, only the Apple Home app supports Matter on iOS. Both Google Home and Amazon Alexa have yet to update their iOS apps to support Matter. #gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */
