Google is updating older Nest speakers with firmware version 3.79.550760, which is being tested through the Home Preview Program.
The original Google Home, Home Mini, Nest Mini, and Nest Audio are eligible for the update.
Google expects to release the update more broadly over the next few weeks, but it hasn’t announced an exact date.
Some love is coming to a few of Google's older Nest speakers in the form of updates designed to make them more useful around the house — but don't expect a dramatic transformation from hardware that has been around for years.
The update, version 3.79.550760, is now in testing through Google's Home Preview Program. This includes the original Google Home from 2016, Home Mini, Nest Mini and Nest Audio. The Google Home Max isn’t included in this testing round.
The release comes as Google continues to refine its smart home experience, where voice commands and connected devices are supposed to work together without users having to fight their setup. It’s especially the case for older smart speakers, which still have utility for basic tasks as Google’s newer hardware and software evolve.
The original Home Mini was released in 2017, followed by the Nest Mini in 2019 and Nest Audio in 2020. These speakers can still handle everyday requests, but their age means they’re not necessarily getting the same attention as Google’s newer products. That said, better software can extend their usefulness.
For owners, the bigger question is whether these changes will just keep existing speakers ticking over or make them more reliable and convenient. Smart speakers are only as good as the assistants inside them, and Google’s software updates could help older Nest speakers remain useful, even as newer hardware and features arrive.
But software updates can only go so far. Older speakers can still manage basic smart home tasks and play audio; in other words, anyone expecting a major upgrade should temper their expectations.
Google’s latest moves prove it hasn’t totally forgotten about its older Nest lineup. That’s good news for those who would rather keep a perfectly functional speaker than replace it just to stay “current.”
Owners can join the preview
Owners who want to give it a try can go to the Google Home app, tap on their speaker, go to Settings > Device information > Preview program, and sign up if they are eligible. The firmware will install automatically overnight. Google expects to roll it out more widely over the next few weeks but hasn’t given a specific date.
There’s a separate October Google Home update too, improving Gemini for Home conversations, voice commands, weather responses and device controls in the app.
My home runs on Apple’s smart-home platform, but it’s cobbled together like an automated Frankenstein’s monster. The brains live in an Apple TV and a HomePod on a shelf. The cameras, locks, and thermostats came from whoever bothered to support HomeKit. Apple HomeView is the company’s own answer: a $299 smart display with a square 7-inch screen, an A18 chip, and a camera that recognizes up to six people in the house by face.
Three other announcements came with it. A fourth-generation Apple TV 4K moves to an A19 chip at $299; HomePod mini 2 gets an S10 chip and a glowing top at $149; and the new Apple Home Collection puts cameras, a smart lock, and thermostats built by LG and Schneider Electric on Apple’s store shelves in December. Apple now sells something for nearly every spot in the house where smart-home devices usually go.
Product
Starting price
On sale
Apple HomeView
$299
Nov. 13
Apple HomeView (Wall Mounted)
$299, plus mount from $59.95
Nov. 13
Apple TV 4K (4th generation)
$299
Nov. 13
HomePod mini 2
$149
Oct. 30
Apple Home Collection
$39.95 to $399.95
Starting December
Prices are U.S. list.
1. Apple HomeView is a speaker with a square screen on a hinge
The tabletop HomeView sits on a domed speaker base, with the display attached by a stainless steel hinge that tilts it toward whoever’s looking. Overall, it’s giving miniaturized iMac G4. For a more contemporary reference, the face looks like a giant Apple Watch or a real-world embodiment of an iOS widget. The 7-inch Liquid Retina panel runs 1,088 by 1,088 pixels at 220 ppi. That square shape suits photo albums, camera feeds, and widgets better than movies. Brightness drops as low as 0.3 nits, so it shouldn’t light up a dark bedroom at night.
Two full-range drivers sit in the display, while the base holds a down-firing woofer and two force-canceling passive radiators, and the whole setup supports Spatial Audio. The tabletop model weighs 2.1 pounds and needs wired power from the included 30W adapter. It’s a kitchen-counter fixture like a typical smart screen.
HomeView (Wall Mounted) costs the same $299, drops the base, and weighs 286 grams. It uses two drivers tuned for wall placement and hangs from one of three Schneider Home power mounts, all sold separately: a plug-in USB-C wall connector from $59.95, a hardwired AC version from $79.95, and a hardwired Power over Ethernet version for $129.95 that arrives in early 2027. Unlike the tabletop model, it doesn’t come with a USB-C cable or power adapter, and Apple calls for an adapter of at least 20W, so the real price lands well above $299.
The 12MP Center Stage camera is what separates HomeView from a HomePod with a screen bolted on. It recognizes up to six people by face and gives each a personal Home Screen with their own apps and widgets, while shared photo albums and music stay open to everyone, guests included. When nobody’s using it, the screen shows one of Apple’s faces, including Calendar, Weather, a Home Camera face that streams up to nine live feeds, and a Snoopy face whose animations follow the weather, sports, and holidays.
2. HomeView’s Siri AI shows personal info only when your iPhone is nearby
Apple
HomeView ships with Siri AI, the rebuilt Siri that holds a conversation and understands what’s on the screen, as a beta in HomeView software 27.2. Anyone in the house can use it for general questions and music discovery. Personal requests, like checking a calendar or reading a text, require a paired iPhone or iPad that supports Apple Intelligence.
The privacy rules warrant a close read if a camera in the kitchen has kept you away from smart displays. HomeView surfaces personal content from apps like Messages and Calendar when it recognizes an enrolled face and that person’s paired iPhone or iPad is on the same Wi-Fi network and was recently unlocked. Apple’s fine print carves out one exception, for a phone that recently dropped off the home Wi-Fi but stays on cellular in the same location. The A18 handles camera and microphone data inside Secure Exclaves, which Apple says isolate that data from the rest of the system.
As a home controller, HomeView runs cameras, thermostats, lights, locks, and blinds by touch or voice, and it listens for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and sends an alert when one goes off. With a supported iCloud+ plan and compatible cameras, it can identify faces, pets, packages, and vehicles in camera footage. Apple won’t sell HomeView in the European Union because Siri AI isn’t available in iOS there.
3. Apple TV 4K (4th generation) adds an A19 chip and far-field mics at $299
Apple
The new Apple TV 4K listens without the remote. Three far-field microphones with echo cancellation handle hands-free “Hey Siri,” which helps when a movie is playing loud and the remote is somewhere in the couch. Apple rates the A19 chip at up to 50 percent faster CPU performance and up to 2x faster GPU performance than the previous generation, and it adds an AV1 decoder for the efficient video codec more streaming services are adopting.
Pair two HomePod mini 2 or HomePod (2nd generation) speakers up front and two more in back, with each pair made of matching speakers, and Apple TV 4K runs four-speaker surround sound. There’s just one available configuration for the Apple TV, with 128GB of storage, Wi-Fi 7, Gigabit Ethernet, and a Thread radio. The outgoing lineup’s cheaper model left Ethernet and Thread off, so every new unit can serve as a full home hub.
The new Siri Remote charges over USB-C and works with Find My, including Precision Finding with a supported recent iPhone. It also works with Apple TV HD and earlier Apple TV 4K models, and it’s sold separately. You don’t need new hardware for Siri AI, which arrives as a beta on Apple TV 4K models back to the second generation. Searching for something to watch opens a full-screen Siri interface, and questions asked mid-show get answered in a compact overlay on top of what’s playing.
The price has gone up. Apple TV 4K launched at $129 in 2022, and Apple raised that starting price to $199 in June amid a memory chip shortage. The 128GB model with Ethernet, the closer match to the new box, went from $149 to $249 at the same time. At $299, the new model costs about twice as much as the Google TV Streamer, which went to $149.99 on August 31.
4. HomePod mini 2 gets an S10 chip and a top that glows with the music
The original HomePod mini launched at $99 in 2020 and stayed largely the same for six years, aside from new colors and a temperature and humidity sensor Apple switched on with a 2023 software update. HomePod mini 2 moves to Apple’s S10 chip, which runs computational audio that adjusts dynamic range and loudness to the music in real time.
The visible change is Sound Glow. The top of the speaker pulses in time with bass and treble using colors pulled from the album art, and it can play ambient soundscapes like rain. HomePod mini 2 comes in pink, green, blue, white, and midnight, stands 3.3 inches tall, and weighs 335 grams.
Persistent low-latency Wi-Fi 6E, Thread, and an Ultra Wideband chip make HomePod mini 2 a capable home hub, and one or two can serve as the default speaker(s) for a Mac with Wi-Fi 6E or later. Four of them make a surround system with the new Apple TV 4K, with automatic calibration based on where each speaker sits. Apple’s comparison chart lists Spatial Audio and room sensing only for the full-size HomePod (2nd generation), so those stay on the bigger speaker, though you can match a pair of those with a pair of the mini 2 for your home theater.
Siri AI comes to HomePod mini 2 in a future software update rather than at launch, and it will recognize up to six household voices. At $149, HomePod mini 2 costs $50 more than the original did at launch and $20 more than Apple charged for the original after its June price increase.
5. Apple Home Collection brings LG and Schneider cameras, locks, and thermostats to Apple Stores
Apple
LG Electronics and Schneider Electric make the Apple Home Collection hardware, designed in collaboration with Apple, and Apple sells it on apple.com, in the Apple Store app, and in its stores. Every device sets up with one tap on an iPhone and runs in the Home app with no separate app or account, which skips the step where a new doorbell asks you to make yet another login.
Apple Home Collection device
Price
LG Video Doorbell Wired
$249.95
LG Floodlight Cam
$399.95
LG Outdoor Cam Plug-In
$299.95
LG Indoor Cam Plug-In
$199.95
LG Smart Deadbolt Lock
$349.95
LG Smart Thermostat
$199.95
LG Temperature Sensor
$39.95
Schneider Home Smart Thermostat
$199.95
Schneider Home Room Sensor
$39.95
Prices are U.S. list. C-wire power adapters ($24.95) and a Schneider Home trim plate ($14.95) are sold separately.
The LG Smart Deadbolt Lock unlocks over Ultra Wideband as you walk up with an iPhone, supports Matter and the Aliro door-access standard, and keeps working without an internet connection. A PIN pad and a backup key slot cover a dead phone. The LG Video Doorbell Wired pairs a 2.5K front camera with a second, full HD camera on the bottom of the unit, plus a built-in spotlight and chime.
Every device in the Home Collection runs on Thread, and the cameras keep recording to built-in storage if the Wi-Fi drops. Video history requires iCloud+, which keeps 10 days of events. The 50GB plan covers one camera, 200GB covers up to five, and 2TB covers unlimited cameras. Some features also need a home hub, which can be HomeView, a HomePod, a HomePod mini, or an Apple TV 4K.
Apple Home Collection availability begins in December, and select accessories follow in early 2027, though Apple hasn’t said which ones. Apple Retail also offers professional installation from ADT in the U.S. starting this fall, for an extra charge.
6. Where to preorder Apple HomeView, Apple TV 4K, and HomePod mini 2
Apple HomeView, HomeView (Wall Mounted), and Apple TV 4K (4th generation) are $299 apiece; preorders are open now at apple.com and in the Apple Store app, and they arrive November 13. HomePod mini 2 is $149 and reaches stores October 30. The Apple Home Collection doesn’t take preorders yet. Availability begins in December, with select accessories following in early 2027.
Start with the base, which holds a down-firing woofer and two force-canceling passive radiators under the screen. The square 7-inch screen, 12MP Center Stage camera, and A18 chip recognize six people by face and give each one a personal Home Screen. It comes in silver, starlight, rose pink, and space gray, and the $299 Wall Mounted version comes in silver and space gray with mounts sold separately.
Hands-free “Hey Siri” through three far-field microphones is the change you’ll notice first, and the A19 chip is the one you won’t see. Every unit ships with 128GB of storage, Wi-Fi 7, Gigabit Ethernet, and Thread, so there’s no stripped-down model to accidentally buy. The included Siri Remote charges over USB-C and shows up in Find My, which should end the search through the couch cushions.
Watch the top of this one. Sound Glow pulses with the music in colors pulled from the album art, while the S10 chip tunes dynamic range and loudness in real time. It doubles as a Thread and Wi-Fi 6E home hub with a temperature and humidity sensor, and four of them build a surround system around the new Apple TV 4K. Siri AI arrives in a later software update.
Google is inviting third-party agents, including Claude and Open Claw, into Google Home. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
Google is opening up its smart home to AI agents, letting tools like Claude and Open Claw access and control your connected devices and analyze your home's data using the standardized Model Context Protocol.
Google Home MCP is a new integration that lets third-party AI agents control and monitor your smart home and act on your behalf. It "allows any AI agents that support MCP, including Google Antigravity, Claude, Hermes or Open Claw, to securely work with all of the devices and event history in your Google Home ecosystem," Taylor Lehman, group product manager at Google Home & Nest, said in a blog post.
Xiaomi has introduced the Mijia Smart Humidity and Temperature Meter 3 Pro, a new indoor monitoring device that expands beyond basic temperature and humidity tracking by adding carbon dioxide (CO₂) detection.
The device is now listed through Xiaomi’s retail channels, with crowdfunding scheduled to begin on September 21 at 10:00 AM, positioning it as a compact smart home monitoring device for everyday indoor use. Its regular suggested retail price is 149 yuan, while early crowdfunding backers can purchase it for 114 yuan.
CO₂ Monitoring Is the Major Upgrade
The biggest change compared with the previous generation is the addition of real-time CO₂ concentration monitoring.
Xiaomi says the new meter uses a next-generation low-power thermal-conductivity CO₂ sensor from Sensirion. It can continuously measure indoor carbon dioxide levels and communicate the current air-quality status through a three-color indicator.
This gives the device a more practical role in everyday indoor monitoring. Instead of simply showing whether a room is hot, cold, dry or humid, it can also help users notice when ventilation may need attention.
Larger 3.6-Inch Display Shows More Information
The Mi Home Smart Humidity and Temperature Meter 3 Pro features a 3.6-inch LCD display, along with a slimmer-bezel design compared with the previous model.
The screen can show several types of information, including:
CO₂ concentration
Temperature
Humidity
Date
Day of the week
Time
Users can switch between different display layouts with a single action, allowing the screen to be configured around the information they want to see most often.
Works With Xiaomi’s Smart Home Ecosystem
The new meter is also designed to work as part of a connected smart home rather than operating as an isolated sensor.
It supports Xiaomi mijia smart-home integration and can connect with other compatible devices through a Bluetooth Mesh gateway. Temperature, humidity and CO₂ readings can be used as triggers for automated actions.
For example, users can configure a CO₂ threshold in the Mi Home App. When the measured level reaches the configured limit, a compatible smart speaker can automatically issue a voice reminder.
This makes the sensor more useful in rooms where users want automatic notifications instead of having to check the display manually.
Historical Data Can Be Viewed in the App
After pairing the meter with the Mi Home App and a compatible Bluetooth Mesh gateway, measurement data can be synchronized to the cloud.
The app can then generate historical curves showing changes in temperature and humidity, as well as CO₂ concentration, making it easier to track indoor environmental trends over time. This allows users to look beyond a single reading and identify longer-term changes in indoor conditions.
For example, a user could compare CO₂ levels at different times of day or observe how ventilation affects the readings over several days.
Flexible Placement and Long Battery Life
The Mi Home Smart Humidity and Temperature Meter 3 Pro supports both desktop placement and magnetic mounting, giving users more flexibility when deciding where to install it.
Despite the larger display and additional sensing capability, Xiaomi has retained a low-power design. The device uses a single CR2450 coin-cell battery and is rated for approximately one year of battery life.
A More Capable Indoor Environment Monitor
The new model is essentially an expansion of the traditional temperature-and-humidity meter concept. Its most important addition is not the larger display, but the ability to monitor CO₂ alongside temperature and humidity.
At 114 yuan during crowdfunding, the Mi Home Smart Humidity and Temperature Meter 3 Pro combines environmental monitoring, historical data tracking and smart-home automation in a compact device. Whether that extra functionality is useful will largely depend on whether users want CO₂ data and automated ventilation-related reminders in their homes.
Ceiling lights are usually one of those home products that disappear into the background once they are installed. BlitzWill BW-CLT2, however, takes a different approach by combining a conventional main ceiling light with a separate RGB ambient-lighting effect.
The result is a fixture designed to handle two different jobs: providing practical illumination for everyday activities while also giving a room a more customizable atmosphere when bright white lighting is not what you want. The BlitzWill BW-CLT2 is designed to replace a conventional ceiling fixture with a more flexible smart home lightingsetup.
The 40cm BlitzWill BW-CLT2 supports adjustable color temperature from 2700K to 6500K and can be controlled through an app, voice commands, or a remote control. It also supports DIY scene settings, giving users more control than a basic on/off ceiling lamp.
One Ceiling Light, Two Different Lighting Roles
The combination of adjustable white light and RGB effects also makes the BW-CLT2 more versatile than a basic smart LED ceiling light.
For normal use, the primary light can provide the room’s everyday illumination. The adjustable 2700K–6500K range gives users the flexibility to move between warmer and cooler-looking white light depending on the time of day or the atmosphere they want.
The RGB section serves a different purpose. Instead of replacing the main light, it can be used to add color around the room and create a softer background effect.
That separation makes the design more practical than an RGB-only lamp. You can keep the main light focused on visibility while using the colored lighting to change the mood.
2700K to 6500K Gives More Control Over the Room
A fixed-color ceiling lamp can work perfectly well, but it gives you little flexibility once the fixture is installed.
The BW-CLT2 takes a more adaptable approach with a 2700K–6500K adjustable color-temperature range. Warmer settings can suit relaxed evening use, while cooler white light can be more appropriate when you need a brighter, more functional environment.
This makes the light suitable for spaces that serve multiple purposes. A bedroom, study, living room, or gaming area can all require different lighting at different times.
Rather than buying separate lights for different situations, the BW-CLT2 puts those adjustments into one ceiling fixture.
Smart Controls Make Daily Adjustments Easier
Another advantage is that the BW-CLT2 is not limited to a physical wall switch.
The product supports app control, voice control and a dedicated remote, giving users several ways to change the lighting.
App-based control is particularly useful for people who prefer adjusting lighting from a phone, while the remote provides a more traditional option for quick changes.
The combination also means the light does not have to be treated as a purely decorative smart-home gadget. It can still be operated in a straightforward way when you simply want to change the lighting without opening an app.
DIY Scenes Are More Useful Than They Sound
The BW-CLT2 also includes a DIY scene mode, which is one of the features that separates it from a basic adjustable LED ceiling lamp.
Instead of repeatedly changing brightness, color temperature, or RGB effects manually, users can create lighting combinations suited to particular situations.
For example, one setup could prioritize a brighter white light for working, while another could use warmer illumination with RGB ambience for watching movies or relaxing.
The important point is not simply that the lamp has RGB lighting. It is that the different lighting elements can be used as part of a more personalized room setup.
Is the 40cm Size a Good Fit?
At 40cm, the BW-CLT2 occupies a middle ground between small decorative fixtures and larger ceiling panels.
That makes it potentially suitable for bedrooms, smaller living spaces, studies, gaming rooms, and other areas where a large ceiling fixture may look excessive.
However, buyers should consider the dimensions of their room before choosing it. A 40cm fixture may be a sensible fit for a compact or medium-sized space, while a much larger room could require additional lighting.
What Buyers Should Consider
The BW-CLT2 makes the most sense for people who want more than basic ceiling illumination.
Its strongest feature is arguably the combination of practical white lighting and RGB ambience. The adjustable 2700K–6500K range handles everyday lighting needs, while the RGB system and DIY scenes add a more decorative element.
It is also worth remembering that smart-lighting features are most valuable when you actually plan to use them. If you only need a simple ceiling lamp that stays at one brightness and color, a conventional LED fixture may be enough.
For users who want to experiment with room lighting, however, the BW-CLT2 offers considerably more flexibility in a single fixture.
BlitzWill BW-CLT2: A Flexible Upgrade for a Smart Home
BlitzWill BW-CLT2 Smart Ceiling Light is less about adding another colorful gadget to a room and more about combining several lighting functions into one ceiling fixture.
Its 40cm form factor, adjustable 2700K–6500K white lighting, RGB ambience, multiple control methods, and DIY scene support give it a broader role than a standard ceiling lamp.
Banggood’s EU-direct listing currently shows the BW-CLT2 at around $52.99, although the final price can change with promotions, region, taxes, and availability.
For shoppers looking to make a room more adaptable without filling the ceiling with multiple lighting fixtures, the BW-CLT2 is an interesting option worth considering.
One chunky, powerful mopping and vacuuming robot...
... with a regular, small robovac docked in its hat, for detail work
When it comes to robot vacuums, size matters. Robovac makers need their bots to be powerful, but also small enough to get into tight spots. The two things are often incompatible.
iRobot has come up with an imaginative solution. The iRobot Roomba Duo is a two-in-one bot in the truest sense. In its full form, it's a big, chunky floor cleaner, with a bulky body is large enough to contain everything you need for serious cleaning oomph. Then, in the upper part hides a regular robot vacuum that's compact enough to take care of detail work.
(Image credit: Future)
I spoke to Adam Pope, Chief Engineer & Vice President of Product Planning & Development at iRobot, to get some more insight into the unusual creation.
"The large base robot is really for heavy-duty cleaning," he tells me. "It's big enough to be able to have lots of water inside, and it can also have stronger vacuum. It's designed for heavy-duty cleaning and more open spaces and high-traffic areas in your home. You get that heavy-duty clean that you might use a stick vac or a wet-dry vac on today."
(Image credit: Future)
He explains that on top of all that, the base also deploys the companion bot — which is similar to the Roomba Plus 575 robot. That smaller robovac will clean under furniture, around chair legs, in corners and essentially "all those other spaces that the larger robot can't get to".
"They work together," he adds. "They each have their own job, and they kind of split the job up and go do those activities."
I saw a demo of the iRobot Roomba Duo in action at IFA 2026. The dock was lifted off the top of its cleaner base — like someone taking their hat off — and lowered gently to the ground, where the smaller robot vacuum exited. This then went on to successfully complete an obstacle course that looked far too tight for it to navigate, before returning to its hutch, to be lifted back to its charging home on top of the base bot.
FutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFuture
Unfortunately, for those who like the sound of this, the iRobot Duo isn't going on sale quite yet. "It's a cool little innovation concept we're just showing here at IFA to see how the market reacts to it and if there's interest in that type of product," Pope tells me.
I suggest it's quite difficult to stand out in the robot vacuum market these days, given the speed at which brands are releasing new models. "There's a lot of spec war in that category," he responds. "Not as much innovation as we'd like to see. So this was our way of trying to get something different, something new. But it still does the job — the job that customers actually need."
John Ternus: 'I started the day with the idea of a personal hub'
This, during Apple's famous 'one more thing' moment, to close its event
And yet, no HomePod mini 2 — which feels like an oversight
Whether you followed our Apple event coverage or simply streamed the event itself (and referred back to us later for a rundown of what you saw) you'll know that alongside a cracking duo of AirPods 5 new releases and of course our first folding iPhone, Apple's John Ternus seemed to continually tease the idea of a "personal hub" to act as the remote for your life.
At one point during the event, before announcing those ice-white buds, Mr. Ternus also stood in front of a spherical array of speakers (imagine standing right in the center and streaming a bit of Rage Against the Machine…), so I felt sure Apple's "one more thing" moment would be the much-rumored, hotly anticipated HomePod mini 2, which we've been waiting on (and writing about) for quite some time now.
Most of us agreed that Apple's delay in releasing its second-generation HomePod mini would be intrinsically tied to everyone at Apple Park waiting, with bated breath, for the company's overhauled, AI-powered Siri assistant to be fully finished and worthy of some new products.
And so I sat there, waiting for the "Behold, Apple's new and improved softball-sized wireless speaker (now in colors fit to grace any softball pitch), the HomePod mini 2! What's new? The chipset, the improved chattiness and the snappier responses".
And then, Ternus' people would wax lyrical about the fact that even six years after the original launched, the 2020 pricing of the new HomePod mini 2 had been put on lockdown (see what I did there?), so the price rise from $99 / £99 / AU$129 to $129 / £129 / AU$199 that was enacted in late June of this year would be reversed — just like the better-value AirPods 5. These, after all, just arrived with wireless charging, ANC and volume-swipe stems for $149 / £149, less than the $179 / £179 of the previous version!
But no.
What else might Apple have unveiled in its compact, Siri-powered "hub" speaker no-show? Oh, maybe an upgraded S9 chip, to replace the original HomePod mini's S5 chipset. Then perhaps deeper integration with Apple Intelligence for a chattier, more context-aware Siri that actually could become a voice to talk to, about music (music commands are all I use Siri for, when I use it at all).
How about stronger Wi-Fi or 2nd-gen Ultra-Wideband (UWB 2) for improved Handoff — something Apple did note at the event?
It seems that what Ternus said after his opening "I started the day with the idea of an intelligent personal hub" bit was most important. What was the end of the sentence? It was " …and why there's no product in the world better-designed to be that hub than iPhone". Ah. There's the rub. Folding phones.
I understand Apple's desire to get a foldable out there, but I have to disagree. A speaking speaker hub that plays music as well as the HomePod mini can, and is able to simply accept your iPhone-and-AirPods audio in one smooth audio handoff as you step in the door? That would be a hub that made your home a better place to be.
And if we look at the definition of the word — a hub is the central component of something — isn't home where the heart is for many of us? So wouldn't a HomePod mini 2 be a great intelligent personal hub, Mr. Ternus?
It’s “Surprise and Shine” day today! It’s been previously reported that Apple has a release schedule chock-full of products for the rest of this year. It starts today with new iPhones, AirPods, and Apple Watches.
What about the other rumored products, like the touchscreen MacBook, or the updated HomePod and the home hub? Well, before you shrug and exclaim, “That’s it?” at the end of today’s event, you should know that’s not it, according to a post by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
IF you don't see the Apple TV, HomePod mini, home display and touch MacBook today, don't worry. It's only September.
If you’re not familiar with Gurman’s work, he has very good sources and his reporting tends to be spot on. Of all the people who report Apple leaks, he’s the most reliable. So while Gurman doesn’t directly say it, the touchscreen MacBook, HomePod mini, home hub (that he called “home display”), and Apple TV will be coming later this year.
Apple has held October and November releases before, so it’s not unprecedented. By the sound of his post, Gurman likely knows more about these releases, but he’s going to save reporting on those for later. After all, he has to save some surprises for his weekly newsletter so you’ll want to read it.
Those are products for another day. We have “Surprise and Shine” today, and you can track the event through the Macworld live blog, if you are unable to watch it.
The Aqua20 Pro Ultra Roller X Complete is Dreame's new flagship robovac
World's first robovac to use heated steam at 180°C as part of its mop system
Can also clear double-step thresholds up to an impressive 3.9in / 10cm
When I spoke to a load of major robot vacuum brand execs about where they thought robovacs were heading in the next five-to-10 years, a common theme cropped up: the desire to close the performance gap between manual and robotic floor cleaners. That's not just the vacuuming power, but the mopping prowess too.
And so, at IFA 2026, we have the world's first robot vacuum with steam cleaning powers: the Dreame Aqua20 Pro Ultra Roller X Complete. It's an exciting prospect, but based on the demo I saw, I'm not sure I'd be throwing out my manual steam cleaner any time soon.
The Aqua20 Pro Ultra (I'm not typing the full name each time) vaporizes water into 356°F / 180°C steam, which is pushed out through four outlets along the roller edge. This steam is designed to loosen tough, dried-on stains. The roller then gently scrubs them away, using hot water.
On the demo I saw, the steam function seemed quite gentle — there wasn't enough to be visible on a still photo, although you can see it in the video clip above. My first concern about the system is that there might not be enough steam to really make an impact.
The second is that because the heating happens inside the bot itself, using it has a big impact on battery life. I spoke to Dawn Chen, a Director at Dreame, and he confirmed that with the steam function on, the robot's runtime is around 30 to 40 minutes, compared to around four hours with it off. Steam needs to be switched on and off manually, in the app, and can only be used for a zone that's less than 10 square meters in size. Chen explained that the function is meant for spot-cleaning only; to tackle stubborn and dried on stains.
That runtime is fairly limiting. It makes it difficult to use the steam function as part of a more extensive cleaning session, which is a situation I expect will be common.
Making it work
The process of adding the steam function caused Dreame a few headaches. "During this R&D process, we faced two main problems. The first is about the limescale. Because we are turning the water into steam, this process will produce a lot of limescale," Chen explained. "To solve this problem, we added some limescale remover inside the robot, in the pipeline."
The second — and perhaps bigger — challenge was to do with controlling the temperature inside robot itself. "Because we put this kind of heat inside the robot body, the heat it produces will affect other components, especially the electronic components inside the robot body," Chen told me.
To address the issue, the engineers had to add internal insulation to protect the different components. And that was easier said than done — Dreame had to completely redesign the inside of the robovac to add the steam components, and insulation, while still maintaining the streamlined shape and size.
(Image credit: Future)
All the talk of limescale and preventing damage to internal components instills a certain amount of fear in me. I can't help but wonder if iRobot might have had the better approach — that brand's new Roomba Max 875 expels warm mist rather than steam, and the active heating happens in-dock rather than on-bot.
The demo showed a much denser cloud of mist than Dreame's bot was expelling, and because the Rooma bot itself isn't doing any active heating, using the mist function has a minimal impact on battery life. Of course, the really important thing is how effectively each robot cleans, and we won't know that until we've had a chance to test them.
Other upgrades
Back to the Aqua20 Pro. Aside from the headline steam feature, you'll also find an upgraded 'Proleap' system that can now bump the bot over single steps up to 2in / 5cm, or double steps up to 3.9in / 10cm. That's the tallest threshold clearance I've seen from any brand (so far) although in the demo it sometimes took a couple of run-ups to make it over.
Dreame has also added enhanced AI vision with adaptive learning — so the robovac can apparently react to moving objects and re-plan its route, in real time, in response.
The roller can kick out from the side of the robovac by up to 8cm / 3in — much further than its predecessor, the Aqua10 Ultra Roller Complete — to get nice and close to the edges of rooms. To avoid unwanted dampness while all this is going on, the main vacuum roller and side sweeper can both lift (by 5mm and 10mm respectively) while the mopping is happening. The roller can also lift 15mm when the bot is traversing carpet.
The Dreame Aqua20 Pro Ultra Roller X Complete is due to launch on September 21 in Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland, followed by a number of other European countries. I don't have a launch date for the UK yet, but Chen promises it'll arrive before the end of the year. Due to FCC regulations, launch in the US is unconfirmed.
iRobot has unveiled its new flagship Roomba Max 875 Combo
It sprays out heated mist to dislodge dried dirt from hard floors
There's a seal around the vacuum to maximize pickup power
iRobot has revealed its latest flagship robot vacuum, and I've just seen it in action at IFA 2026. The Roomba Max 875 Combo is a combination robovac-and-mop, and boasts some intriguing features on both of those floorcare prongs.
One that caught my attention in particular is the mopping setup. Robot vacuum mopping has historically been rather underwhelming, but the latest models are showing some significant improvements. iRobot's Roomba Max 875 Combo's USP is its 'ThermaMist' function. I got the low-down from Adam Pope, Chief Engineer & Vice President of Product Planning & Development at iRobot.
"The ThermaMist is a pretty interesting technology," he tells me. "It's an ultrasonic warm mist, meant to pre-treat stains. So it'll detect stains and pre-treat them before it mops. The customer can also activate it in a certain area if they want to just do that whole area.
"The heat gives you a little better power to break up some of the oily or sugary stains that might be sticky. So that's the reason that we have the heat in there, really, try to help break those up."
Unlike on Dreame's new mist-expelling robovac, which heats the water on the robot itself, here the heating happens in the dock. From an engineering perspective, what's interesting is that the on-bot process of creating ultrasonic mist also naturally generates warmth.
"The dock can put hot water in the robot, but the actual ultrasonic ThermaMist part of that process, it does actually heat the water as it's coming out," explains Pope. "When [the water] goes through that process, it comes out warm, even if there's room temperature water in the robot."
The fact there's no active heater on the robot itself is good news for battery life. "With the ThermaMist on, it's going to have a small impact on the battery life, but not a large one, because the process of heating is part of the ultrasonic component," Pope confirms. "It's not like there's a special heater that you're running all the time."
Unfortunately, iRobot wasn't demoing the ThermaMist feature when I visited the booth. However, based on the video (above) I was sent over later, it looks promising — there's a good amount of mist created, and it's being delivered evenly. In theory it sounds like a truly interesting innovation, and one that has plenty of potential to deliver strong mopping results.
(Image credit: Future)
iRobot has also extended the mop, which is larger in diameter and spins faster than its predecessors, for extra scrubbing power. It can kick out to one side to get close to the edges of rooms, and there's a shield that will slide under the roller as extra protection against unwanted sogginess when the bot is moving over carpet.
Sealing the deal
There's interesting innovation on the vacuuming front too. iRobot has added a 'SealForce' system, which is essentially a kind of skirt around the suction inlet on the Max 875 Combo, which lowers to form a loose seal against the carpet fibers.
"The SealForce brings a component of the cleaning head down to the floor, so you get all that airflow going right through the deep fibers of the carpet, trying to pull everything deeply out of the carpet, or even out of crevices, grout lines, that sort of thing," says Pope. "It's really kind of applying the suction where you need it most."
In the demo, the 'SealForce' seal wasn't as dramatic as I had been expecting. You can see the moving frame around the suction inlet below, and in the right-hand photo it's about as extended as it gets. That small shift could be enough to make a big difference to the suction, through — we'll need to test it out to find out.
(Image credit: Future)
iRobot is traditionally shy about publishing its suction specs, but here it has done: the Roomba Max 875 Combo offers 35,000Pa, which is right up there with the highest numbers you'll find anywhere. I'm increasingly of the opinion that it doesn't really matter anyway. The suction is only as effective as the wider design you put it into — and if it works as intended, this seal could make a big difference to the Max 875's pickup power.
Saving grace
The past few years have been a rocky time for once-supreme robot vacuum brand iRobot. Its bots have fallen behind the pack when it comes to features, so it's exciting to see the company starting to find its footing again when it comes to innovation.
What about the US? Due to the new FCC ban on foreign-made "advanced" robots, the Max 875's launch is on pause for now. iRobot was founded in the US, but at the start of the year it was taken over by Chinese manufacturing company Picea. However, this takeover isn't to blame for the fact the brand can't now sell its new products in the US; the ban refers to where the product is manufactured, and Roomba bots have long been made outside of the US.
In terms of future plans, Pope has this to say: "We're working through with our advisors on how we continue to sell in the US. So we have multiple plans that we're working through and multiple strategies that will come to fruition, and we'll still be able to bring cool technology to the US as well."
Last week, Philips Hue showed off a huge collection of new smart lights and accessories to decorate your home and make your TV-watching experience more immersive. There were so many new launches, in fact, that you might have struggled to keep up with them all. To help, I've rounded all the coolest new releases for you in one place — complete with links to the official Hue store so you can pick them up yourself, or register for updates when they go on sale if they're not yet available.
My personal favourite is the new Philips Hue Play Screen Sync, which lets you synchronise Philips Hue Play lights with the action on your TV screen, regardless of its source (unlike a Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, which only works if you're using HDMI input). The Screen Sync uses a fisheye camera to capture what's on screen, and then uses your smart lights to extend the colours into the rest of your room.
Philips Hue has also partnered with smart lighting company Nanoleaf to bring you two colour-shifting Wall Panel Starter Sets, which you can mount on your wall in any configuration you like, and if you want something more architectural, take a look at the new Liane 360-Degree Rope Light, and Signe Gradient Pole. Scroll on for all the details.
A look inside UGREEN’s push beyond charging and storage, as HomeAgent aims to make the smart home more connected, proactive, and personal.
For years, home security cameras have largely been designed around the things we do not want to happen. A camera watches for an intruder, detects a package, alerts you when someone approaches the door, or records an unexpected event.
UGREEN wants to change that.
At its Smart Living Launch Event at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on September 1, the company introduced HomeAgent, a new AIoT ecosystem designed to bring local storage, artificial intelligence, home automation, security, and everyday memories together under one system.
The event was not simply a product launch. It was an opportunity to see how UGREEN envisions its products working together, and perhaps more importantly, how the company thinks technology should fit into our lives.
That vision can be summed up in three ideas UGREEN repeatedly returned to throughout the event: Activate. Proactive. Trusted.
Rather than adding another collection of smart devices that each require their own app and setup process, UGREEN is attempting to build a system that understands what is happening in the home and can respond without requiring constant interaction from the user.
Stepping Into UGREEN’s Smart Living Vision
The event was divided into two primary areas. One side of the space was arranged around the stage, where UGREEN presented its vision for the future of the smart home. The other side was dedicated to hands-on demonstrations of the products and technologies introduced during the event.
The atmosphere was surprisingly relaxed. The UGREEN team was welcoming and genuinely appreciative of the media and clients who had attended. Representatives were readily available throughout the event, which made it easy to stop, ask questions, and spend time with the products rather than simply moving from one presentation station to another.
That was important because UGREEN is entering a much broader category than the one most people traditionally associate with the company.
UGREEN has built a significant business around charging accessories, connectivity products, and storage. The company says it now has more than 300 million users across more than 180 countries and regions. Its expansion into AIoT represents a significant shift in how it wants those products to work together.
The stage presentation laid out that strategy before giving attendees a chance to experience it firsthand.
The Presentation: From Accessories to an AIoT Ecosystem
UGREEN’s presentation began by looking at the company’s growth and evolution, including its expansion into network-attached storage and AI-powered computing.
But the focus quickly moved to the home.
One of the more interesting ideas behind HomeAgent is that UGREEN believes cameras should be capable of doing more than recording problems. A security camera might tell you that someone entered your yard, but it could also recognize a moment worth remembering.
That distinction became important throughout the presentation.
HomeAgent is designed to serve as a local AI hub that brings together storage, computing, security, and control. Instead of sending everything to the cloud, the system is built around processing and storing much of that information locally.
The result is intended to be a smart home that can respond to what is happening without constantly relying on a remote server.
UGREEN demonstrated HomeAgent interacting with cameras and other smart-home devices, including examples such as controlling lights and curtains, checking on pets, and searching through camera footage.
In one demonstration, the system was able to answer questions about where a pet had been and when it had appeared on camera. Another demonstration showed voice commands being used to control devices around the home.
The idea is less about having a collection of smart products and more about having a central system that understands those products.
HomeAgent Is the Center of the System
UGREEN introduced three HomeAgent platforms.
The HA100 is positioned as the entry point to the HomeAgent experience, combining local storage, AI processing, security, and smart-home control in a single device.
The HA100 Pro takes that concept further with more powerful hardware and faster networking, targeting users who want to run more demanding AI workloads.
At the top of the range is the MasterAgent MA100, which UGREEN says is its first agentic AI local hub powered by NVIDIA Jetson Thor T5000 technology.
The hardware differences are substantial, but the larger story is what UGREEN wants these devices to become. Rather than another computer that happens to sit in the home, HomeAgent is intended to become the place where the home’s data and connected devices come together.
That is where the company’s AIoT strategy starts to become interesting.
The Round Table: The Smart Home Should Not Feel Like Work
After the main presentation, UGREEN held a round-table discussion that moved away from individual products and toward some of the challenges that have prevented the smart home from becoming as seamless as companies have promised.
One of the biggest problems is fragmentation.
A typical smart home can easily turn into a collection of individual ecosystems. There may be one app for cameras, another for lighting, another for a thermostat, another for a door lock, and another for a robot vacuum.
Every device has its own account, setup process, interface, and way of communicating with the user.
For someone who enjoys technology, that may be manageable. For everyone else in the household, it can quickly become frustrating.
The discussion emphasized the idea that smart-home technology should understand what the user is trying to accomplish rather than forcing the user to understand how every individual device works.
There was also considerable discussion about local AI. Processing information locally can reduce dependence on cloud services, improve responsiveness, and provide greater control over sensitive information. For a system dealing with cameras, family members, conversations, and activity inside the home, that distinction matters.
The discussion also touched on something that is easy to overlook when companies talk about smart-home technology: the person who has to make everything work.
In many households, there is one person who becomes the unofficial technology expert. That person sets everything up, connects the devices, fixes problems, explains how everything works, and often becomes the household help desk. A truly smart home should reduce that burden rather than increase it.
One of the most memorable ideas from the discussion was that technology should know when to appear and disappear.
That may be one of the most useful ways to think about UGREEN’s approach. The best smart-home technology should be visible when it is useful and almost invisible when it is not.
Walking Into the Demo Area
After the presentation and round table, the event shifted from talking about the smart home to showing it.
The demo area was organized almost like a collection of rooms and experiences rather than a traditional product showroom.
HomeAgent devices were displayed along a side wall, where attendees could open the units and get a closer look at their internal storage configuration.
The HA100 units had three drive bays populated for the demonstration, with two labeled for storage and one labeled for surveillance. The MA100 demonstration unit had four drives, with three designated for storage and one for surveillance.
There were also dedicated slots for AI acceleration hardware.
Visually, the HomeAgent devices reminded me of compact NAS systems, although their more vertical design gives them a different presence. The HA100 could also easily be mistaken for a small printer sitting in a home office.
But the most interesting part of the HomeAgent demonstration was not the hardware.
It was what was happening around it.
A Smart Home You Can Walk Through
UGREEN created a miniature living environment for the demonstration, complete with a living room and nursery.
The nursery included a baby doll positioned in a crib. UGREEN representatives could trigger a simulated crying event, which HomeAgent could recognize. The system could then announce that the baby was crying through the connected smart-home system.
That demonstration illustrates an important difference between traditional security cameras and the type of system UGREEN is trying to build. The camera is not simply recording footage. The system is interpreting what it sees and turning that information into something useful.
The living room contained smart lighting and curtains that could also be controlled through HomeAgent. I saw those controls work earlier in the day, although my own attempt later in the event did not go as smoothly.
A printed card beside the HA100 encouraged attendees to try several voice commands, including turning the living room light on or off and opening or closing the curtains.
When I tried the system myself, HomeAgent successfully recognized the “Hi Uliya” wake phrase. However, it was not able to complete the command I gave it and instead indicated that the requested function had not been programmed.
At another point, I was told that the curtain’s battery had been drained.
That experience is worth mentioning, but I would not consider it a failure of the product. This was a launch-event demonstration environment rather than a production HomeAgent system installed in a home for extended testing. More importantly, I had already seen the connected-home controls work earlier in the day.
For me, the experience reinforced how important the final software and setup experience will be. If HomeAgent can reliably make those interactions as simple as UGREEN demonstrated, the concept is compelling.
From Security to Prevention
The outdoor camera demonstration offered another example of how UGREEN is approaching smart-home security. A small artificial pathway led toward a front door, with markers indicating the camera’s movement-detection area.
As someone crossed one of the marked areas, a recorded warning announced that the person was entering private property. Moving farther into the monitored area triggered an alarm, followed by another message indicating that a recording of the trespassing person had been sent.
I do not know whether those exact messages are customizable in the final product, but as a demonstration, they were effective.
Instead of simply recording someone after they reached the property, the system was designed to recognize the movement and actively respond.
UGREEN’s SynCare camera lineup includes an indoor camera along with PoE and battery-powered outdoor cameras, giving the HomeAgent ecosystem multiple ways to bring visual information into the local AI system.
The company’s larger goal is to have that information become useful beyond simple notifications. HomeAgent can recognize people, vehicles, pets, packages, and unusual activity, while AI Highlights are designed to identify meaningful moments in recorded footage and photo libraries.
That is where UGREEN’s original idea about cameras remembering the good things becomes more interesting. A camera could still tell you when something goes wrong. But it could also help surface the moments you actually want to remember.
Gallery Looks Beyond Security
Another product that caught my attention in the demo area was the Gallery E-Paper Smart Frame. The frame itself looked lovely, although I did not get an opportunity to see the Gallery software in operation during the event.
The concept fits naturally with UGREEN’s broader vision. If HomeAgent can identify meaningful photographs and moments, having a dedicated display for those memories makes more sense than simply keeping them buried in a camera roll. Of course, the software experience will be critical.
There are already products designed to turn digital photos into something more like a traditional picture frame. If UGREEN can make Gallery intuitive and easy to use while integrating it directly with HomeAgent, it could offer a compelling alternative.
That will ultimately come down to how well the hardware and software work together.
A Little Help From Bambu Lab
One of the more unexpected details in the demo area was a Bambu Lab 3D printer. UGREEN and Bambu Lab announced a new partnership centered around creating custom 3D-printed accessories and designs for UGREEN’s new products.
The partnership involves creators from Bambu Lab’s MakerWorld platform designing models inspired by UGREEN’s products. Penny Peng, a UGREEN PR Manager, introduced herself toward the end of the event when the crowd had thinned out, and we had an opportunity to talk about the partnership.
She explained that the collaboration could result in practical and playful designs that work with UGREEN’s products, such as a small pet house or bed that can accommodate a camera or a custom case designed for the HA100.
It is a small detail compared with the larger HomeAgent announcement, but it reflects something interesting about UGREEN’s approach. The company is not only thinking about the hardware it sells. It is beginning to think about the ecosystem surrounding that hardware and how users might personalize it.
In the Middle of It All Was MagFlow
While HomeAgent was clearly the focus of the event, UGREEN also introduced a new generation of MagFlow charging products. The MagFlow lineup includes a magnetic power bank, a 3-in-1 desktop charging stand, and a foldable 2-in-1 wireless charger.
The charging products were positioned in a central kiosk with a two-sided table, making them easy to pick up and examine. That turned out to be particularly useful for me because my phone was nearly dead. My iPhone was at 1% when I put it on the UGREEN MagFlow Pro 3-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charging Stand 25W. After approximately 10 minutes, the phone had reached 18%.
That is obviously not a controlled charging test, but it was a convenient real-world demonstration during an event where I needed to keep my phone alive. I was also impressed by how quiet the charger was.
The MagFlow Pro uses active cooling, and I have another charging stand with a fan that works well but is noticeably loud. By comparison, the MagFlow Pro was remarkably quiet during my time with it. That alone made an impression on me.
If a charging stand is sitting on a desk next to you all day, cooling performance is useful, but so is not having to listen to a fan constantly running. UGREEN says the MagFlow Pro 3-in-1 combines Qi2 25W magnetic charging with active cooling and can simultaneously charge an iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods.
The new MagFlow Pro Magnetic Power Bank takes the cooling concept into a portable form, while the MagFlow 2-in-1 Foldable Magnetic Wireless Charger is designed for travel and can also function as a magnetic phone stand.
What the Event Says About UGREEN
Walking through the event, it became clear that UGREEN is trying to connect several parts of its business that previously felt more independent. Storage, charging, smart-home devices, cameras, displays, and AI are becoming pieces of a larger ecosystem. That is an ambitious direction.
The potential advantage is obvious. Instead of having a camera from one company, storage from another, lights from a third, and a collection of separate apps to manage everything, a local AI hub could become the central point through which those devices communicate.
Personally, that is one of the most appealing aspects of what UGREEN is proposing. I do not particularly like having a separate app for every smart-home product in my house. I want technology to make my life easier, not give me another collection of passwords, accounts, notifications, and interfaces to manage.
If UGREEN can make HomeAgent actually unify the home in the way it demonstrated, that would be a significant improvement over the fragmented smart-home experience many people deal with today. But the word if is important.
The success of HomeAgent will depend on much more than powerful hardware. It will depend on interoperability, reliability, ease of setup, communication between devices, software updates, customer support, and how well the system handles the unexpected situations that inevitably occur in a real home. UGREEN appears to recognize that.
During the round-table discussion, a UGREEN user-group manager noted that communication with the company after initial setup is one of the complaints users have raised. Customer experience was identified as an area receiving significant attention.
That is encouraging because an ecosystem this ambitious will require more than good hardware. It needs to be easy to live with.
Pricing and Availability
UGREEN provided the following MSRP and launch pricing for the new AIoT products at the event:
Product
MSRP
Launch Pricing
HomeAgent HA100
$1,799
$899 Super Early Bird
HomeAgent HA100 Pro
$5,999
$2,999 Super Early Bird
MasterAgent MA100
$19,999
$9,999 Super Early Bird
SynCare Indoor Cam ID500 Pro
$149
$89 Early Bird
SynCare PoE Cam OD600 Pro
$269
$159 Early Bird
SynCare Battery Cam OD800 Pro
$399
$199 Early Bird
Smart Speaker for Uliya
$99
$69 Early Bird
Gallery E-Paper Smart Frame
$439
$299 Early Bird
Pre-orders for the HA100, HA100 Pro, and MA100 are scheduled to open September 3 through UGREEN’s AIoT Official Store, ahead of the Kickstarter launch planned for October 27. UGREEN says a deposit starting at $50 can secure the Super Early Bird pricing.
The new MagFlow products are available now:
MagFlow Pro Magnetic Power Bank 10,000mAh 25W: $149.99
MagFlow Pro 3-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charging Stand 25W: $159.99
MagFlow 2-in-1 Foldable Magnetic Wireless Charger 25W: $59.99
UGREEN says the MagFlow products are available through its official store and Amazon.
Final Thoughts
UGREEN’s Smart Living Launch Event was ultimately less about introducing a handful of individual products and more about showing where the company wants to go next.
HomeAgent is the centerpiece of that strategy, bringing together local storage, AI processing, cameras, smart-home controls, and personal data.
The most compelling part of the concept is not necessarily the ability to tell your lights to turn on with your voice. We already have products that can do that.
The more interesting question is whether HomeAgent can understand what is happening in the home and take useful action without requiring the user to constantly tell it what to do.
That is a much harder problem.
UGREEN is also making a deliberate argument for local AI, particularly when dealing with the intimate data generated inside a home. Keeping more processing and information local could address some of the privacy, latency, and cloud-dependency concerns that come with connected-home technology.
My hands-on experience at the event was limited, and the demonstration environment was not representative of a long-term home installation. I was able to see UGREEN successfully demonstrate several of HomeAgent’s capabilities, while my own attempt to control the living-room devices was limited by the demo setup.
That leaves plenty of questions for a full review once production hardware and software are available. Still, the direction is easy to understand. The smartest home may not be the one filled with the most devices. It may be the one where those devices finally stop feeling like separate products.
If UGREEN can make HomeAgent deliver on that promise, the company’s move from charging and storage into AIoT could become one of its most significant expansions yet. And perhaps the best smart-home experience is one where technology knows when to appear, when to disappear, and quietly makes life easier in between.
UGREEN just announced its first line of smart home products, including a trio of cameras (two outdoor, one indoor), a smart speaker, an ePaper smart frame, and an AI-powered NAS to keep everything safe and local.
If there's one thing you need to know from all this, it's that UGREEN has put a lot of thought into this product. From the incredibly easy-to-use hardware design to the cables themselves, the app's features, and the entire UGREEN HomeAgent family is a marvel of planning and execution.
I received the UGREEN HomeAgent HA100 NAS, SynCare PoE Cam OD600 Pro, and SynCare Indoor Cam ID500 Pro ahead of UGREEN's Boston-based event and got to spend some time with these products for this hands-on report. UGREEN is launching the HomeAgent HA100 crowdfunding program on September 4, including a 50% discount for early backers until October 27.
You've never used a NAS like this
(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
As someone with 15 years of professional IT experience, I've spent plenty of time with big ol' NAS boxes in server racks. Usually, they're a pain in the butt to set up, and while they're mostly a set-it-and-forget-it affair, they're rarely designed to be user-friendly. A home NAS has to be very different from this approach, and it's clear UGREEN went back to the drawing board for the HomeAgent HA100.
Everything here is as self-explanatory and user-friendly as you can imagine. I specifically did not read the manual just to see if I could figure it out, and I was able to get the entire package set up in less than 5 minutes once I unboxed everything. A bevy of ports lines the back of the unit, located right underneath the cooling fan with a nifty magnetic filter that's dead easy to remove and clean.
Underneath the simple magnetic lid is a storage bay for three HDDs of your choice. Standard 3.5" models pop in with no screwdriver needed, while a 2.5" drive will need one of the small brackets included in the box. The drives pop in with a satisfying click and are removed with a simple button on top. They can even be locked into place with an included "key," which can be swapped out with a butter knife if you happen to lose it.
My unit shipped with an AI Accelerator unit already installed, but UGREEN sells models without this compute module for a lower cost. Adding an M.2 SSD is a little trickier since you'll have to flip the unit over and install it below, then add some thermal tape to keep things cool, but I imagine most people won't need M.2 performance anyway.
The front of the unit sports a touchscreen that only requires you to select a language to move forward. The unit is paired with the UGREEN NAS app and just requires you to select it from the list of LAN models found on your network. Since this NAS is hardwired to my router, it was as simple as opening the app on my phone and tapping the HA100 in the list.
Nicholas Sutrich / Android CentralNicholas Sutrich / Android CentralNicholas Sutrich / Android CentralNicholas Sutrich / Android Central
UGREEN's HomeAgent line supports all Matter-compatible smart home devices, with Zigbee compatibility coming soon. It's also got full voice command support via UGREEN's Uliya agent, which is built into the NAS and can be used immediately since the NAS has microphones and speakers on the unit.
My NAS is located behind my couch, so it's easy to ask Uliya to toggle my lights and switches without having to worry about adding the dedicated speaker to my house, although I may end up getting a secondary speaker for the bedrooms.
Nicholas Sutrich / Android CentralNicholas Sutrich / Android Central
Central to this unit's purpose is the all-local-all-the-time philosophy. That AI Accelerator unit is a mini computer that acts similarly to something like Gemini, albeit much more focused than a normal LLM. This one is made specifically for smart home control and to intelligently manage your media.
On the smart home side, it can keep track of familiar faces, understand the difference between a dog and a package, alert you if your chickens get in the front yard (yes, that's a problem for me), or even wake you if your baby starts crying in the middle of the night. I'll need time to assess how well each of these works, but it certainly sounds a lot like the smart home I've long dreamed of.
And with the pictures and video you can store on the NAS (both from smart home cameras and your smartphones), the AI Accelerator will group events, places, people, and other categories similarly to Google Photos, all without requiring you to pay a monthly fee to store data or for processing.
To say I'm extremely excited about these products is an understatement. From the looks of things so far, this does everything I've wanted a smart home to do and then some. Local control and storage are particularly attractive to me, especially since I stopped using Eufy years ago after all those old scandals.
Nicholas Sutrich / Android CentralNicholas Sutrich / Android CentralNicholas Sutrich / Android CentralNicholas Sutrich / Android Central
Now, I've got a proper replacement solution that includes all that awesome local processing, plus the ability to control all my other smart home products using just my voice (thank you, Matter), all without requiring an internet connection. Pinch me, because this feels too good to be true, yet here it is in my living room.
Ugreen has a full roadmap for additional upgrades, including Zigbee device compatibility, a suite of additional voice commands the company is building, and more, which it'll be building out as the crowdfunding project continues through the end of the year.
Ads and tracking have turned TVs into privacy nightmares. Both are so widespread among smart TVs that I’ve written a guide for avoiding them. One recommendation in that guide is to use a computer monitor. But in recent years, monitors have become more capable of pushing ads and tracking users.
Without more straightforward approaches from vendors, such as easily comprehensible privacy policies and avoiding inappropriate ads, monitors are dangerously encroaching into smart-TV-like territory.
LG monitors’ McAfee ads
LG lost some trust after a recent report that some of its monitors installed McAfee pop-up ads onto connected computers. Since at least 2024, some of these displays installed an app, LG Monitor App Installer, onto connected computers under the cover of driver updates installed through Windows Update.
Petlibro founder and CEO York Wu provided more information about an outage that left users unable to control their smart pet feeders through the companion app and, in some reported cases, left them with hungry pets.
Petlibro, a company owned by Shenzhen, China-headquartered firm Shenzhen Libro Technology Co., first acknowledged the outage on Tuesday at 5 am PT. At 7 pm PT on Wednesday, Petlibro said the outage was resolved. Notably, some people online reported different information at the time, and some claimed to still have problems as of August 13.
In a blog post on Saturday that included an apology and acknowledgement of the “frustration and concern” the outage caused, Wu confirmed that problems with Petlibro’s cloud server caused the outage:
Smart pet-feeder company Petlibro suffered an outage on Tuesday, giving users a harsh reminder of the risks of relying on smart devices.
Petlibro makes pet feeders that connect to Wi-Fi and, for setup with Petlibro’s mobile companion app, Bluetooth. Users can set the feeders to automatically dispense food at scheduled times, which is handy for pet care when the owner is out of the home.
In a statement to The Verge, Petlibro CEO York Wu said this week’s outage was “related to how the Petlibro app communicates with devices through its online servers.”
As I write this, I have 78 devices connected to my home network, including phones, tablets, Windows machines, Android TVs, way too many Govee lights, and other smart home tech. The most important device, however, is my network-attached storage (NAS) system; it houses all my data, acts as my media and music server, and essentially runs my smart home.
So when it comes to selecting a new NAS, I'm exacting in my needs. I'm still using the 100TB home server I set up two years ago with the DiskStation DS1823xs+, but I wanted a new NAS solely as a media server, and there was an obvious choice: UGREEN's DXP4800 Pro.
I tested the DXP4800 Pro when it came out, and it became clear to me that it is a powerful Plex NAS. After the review, I slotted in two 24TB Seagate Exos X24 along with two 22TB IronWolf Pro NAS HDDs, and began transferring media and installing all the utilities and services I rely on every day.
After three and a half months of extensive testing — totaling well over 2,500 hours of use — streaming 4K Plex content on well over a dozen devices, and writing 54TB of data to the drives, I can state with confidence that the DXP4800 Pro is the best all-round media server you can buy in 2026. I'll go into plenty of detail about how I tested the NAS over the last three months, but before I get started, here's a high-level overview of the hardware.
The DXP4800 Pro is a 4-bay NAS with the best internals in its class. It's powered by an Intel Core i3-1315U and has hardware transcoding (ideal for Plex and Jellyfin), 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity and a 2.5 Gigabit connection, 8GB of memory, a 128GB built-in SSD, and two NVMe M.2 SSD slots. The Intel Core i3-1315U platform is a solid choice for NAS servers, and it's no surprise that most manufacturers are using it in their enthusiast models. The DXP4800 Pro is available for $719 on Amazon, and you can also buy it on UGREEN's site.
Putting the DXP4800 Pro through its paces
I started testing the DXP4800 Pro by installing UGOS Pro, UGREEN's web-based software. It has come a long way in the last 12 months and is now at a point where you don’t feel like you’re missing out on any of the basics. After installation, I created a storage pool with the four drives; I recommend using a mirrored configuration if you’re looking to set up a NAS, as that way you’ll maintain data integrity should a drive fail. As I had this data in at least two other locations (I’m obsessive about storage), I just went with JBOD.
(Image credit: Future)
Then came setting up all the services I use, and this constituted the bulk of the testing. I installed Plex and Jellyfin to manage media, an instance of Roon to manage my music library, Immich to handle photos, and Tailscale to access the NAS remotely. While Jellyfin and Home Assistant are listed in UGREEN’s app store, they’re installed as containers anyway, so I just relied on Docker to install everything. It’s easier to manage, and I get better insights into how much system resources each service is using.
I prefer installing utilities like Plex and Jellyfin via Docker. I find these instances more stable, and I get the flexibility to make any configuration changes I need. On that note, the 8GB of pre-installed memory makes a big difference. Even with eight services running 24/7 within containers, I had 3.2GB of usable RAM left, with enough headroom to run a VM by allocating 2GB of memory.
That said, I subsequently installed a 16GB DRAM module, boosting the memory to 24GB and giving me much better headroom to work with VMs and other containers. Even if you don't want to go this route, know that the built-in 8GB of memory is more than adequate for most homelab hobby projects.
I took ten days to move the data to the DXP4800 Pro, transferring over 54TB in that time. I was conservative in this regard, as I didn’t want to transfer the entire dataset in one go, and I used rsync to move each category — photos, music, documents, and media — individually. A big chunk of that was my music production library that includes VST instruments and their associated media.
I connected the DS1823xs+ to the DXP4800 Pro using a 10GbE switch to take full advantage of the 10GbE connectivity available on both servers, and I was able to saturate the NAS HDDs' bandwidth quite easily. I got close to the 280MB/s maximum bandwidth of the Exos X24 and IronWolf Pro drives, and I saw aggregate transfers hit as high as 580MB/s — both NAS systems could easily handle six times that bandwidth, so this wasn't a problem at all. This was while moving bigger files; images and documents generally transferred at a much more modest average of around 120MB/s.
Thermal management can become an issue with sustained file transfers, and thankfully, it didn’t prove to be a problem on the DXP4800 Pro. The 140mm fan was effective at moving heat away from the internals, and the drives didn’t exceed 48 degrees Celsius.
What I like about Seagate's NAS HDDs is that they’re designed to run 24/7, and they come with unique features like vibration resistance, which is necessary in a NAS system.
But more than anything else, it’s long-term reliability that matters. While the drives I used in the DXP4800 Pro have now clocked just under 3,000 hours (I still count that as almost new), I've had several IronWolf Pro HDDs in the last decade that have clocked over 50,000 hours of usage, and I haven’t run into any issues with any of these drives yet (thankfully).
(Image credit: Future)
After the data transfer came the real test: media streaming. I used Plex predominantly, and the DXP4800 Pro delivered three high-bitrate 4K transcodes simultaneously, which is no small feat. Hardware-assisted transcoding via the built-in Intel Quick Sync platform is limited to Plex Pass users, and if you have older client devices like an early-gen iPad, this feature will come in handy.
However, most newer devices have the requisite media containers and codecs to play media files, so you don't actually need to transcode content most of the time — outside of testing how the NAS holds up in this area, I only had to rely on direct play. That said, if your video is encoded using H.265 and you have a TV or streamer that can't handle the codec, it will need to be transcoded to H.264 to play on the client device, and all of this is done automatically.
After playing dozens of hours of footage via Plex and Jellyfin over the last three months, it became clear that the DXP4800 Pro is the best 4-bay Plex NAS.
I did notice higher-than-usual power draw in general, with the NAS idling at 24—28W, going up to 60W when the drives are in use, and exceeding 85W under load. There is plenty of headroom, though, given that you get a 150W power brick, so this is not a problem as such. Averaged over three months, the power usage was well within the limits of a powerful 4-bay server, so I didn't worry about it too much.
Overall, the DXP4800 Pro is without a doubt one of the best 4-bay NAS servers around. The combination of powerful hardware and UGREEN's sensible software choices gives it a leg up over its rivals, and after extensive testing, it has consistently proven to be reliable, which is what I look for the most in a media server.
Ugreen
DXP4800 Pro
The DXP4800 Pro does everything I want in a Plex NAS, and if you need a new media server, this is the one I recommend.
A rumor claims to have discovered early "design illustrations" for a Ballie app from Samsung.
The illustrations lay out Samsung's supposed plans for an app, showing battery, location, status icons, as well as a "Streaming" button for the robot's built-in camera.
It's unclear if this means that Samsung hasn't completely abandoned Ballie, as the last report said the company "delayed" Ballie to figure out "its place in the home" and to likely handle that intense price point.
This certainly wasn't on our bingo card. A leak has surfaced online, offering a glimpse of what could be Samsung's companion app UI for its smart home assistant, Ballie.
Earlier today (July 30), SammyGuru posted a series of alleged "UI design sketches" for what would be Samsung Ballie's companion app. The illustrations give us a good look at the app's main screen. Taking up the center is Ballie's circular frame with its battery percentage, location, and an "Error"/"Ready" icon. There's a chance this could be used in scenarios when the device gets stuck, since it rolls around. If everything's all green, users can likely launch Ballie.
There is a hard-to-miss "Streaming" button. Earlier info about Ballie suggested it would feature a camera. There's a chance this app could let users see what Ballie sees in real-time. "Home Monitoring" seems to be quite an important aspect of this app and of Ballie as a smart home assistant. According to the post, the "monitoring" aspect could involve a setup process in which Ballie maps out its routes, maps out your home for navigational purposes.
Taking another look at the initial icons: battery, location, Error/Ready icon, Home Monitoring might play more of a role than we think. This app could give users every ounce of information they need to view their home, understand where Ballie is, and handle any scenarios that might occur.
Oh, Ballie, Ballie
(Image credit: SammyGuru)
Android Central's Take
I never would've thought that Ballie would make a "return" via app design drawings. This isn't even a real app (yet?). Ballie looked cool. By that, I mean it reminds me of sci-fi movies where there's a robot that rolls around, quips, and beeps. I know that sounds like R2-D2. Maybe Samsung delaying it was the right call. You see that suspected price? A $2,000 price tag? I don't think I know anyone who would splurge on something like that for a little yellow ball.
This is quite surprising. The last time we heard anything about Ballie was when a report suggested Samsung delayed it to "find its place in the home." It gave the impression that Samsung was questioning the right place for Ballie within the home. The company reportedly expressed "caution" about the AI companion. Other concerns, such as a potential high price point and whether consumers would truly engage with Ballie or not, ranked high on its list of worries.
Speculation claimed Ballie could cost consumers ~$2,000, and with everything going on in the world, that might've been too steep a price. Samsung hadn't officially said anything about Ballie. This report was in July, and nothing more has come of the little rolling robot. However, if we want to get real, Ballie was first introduced at CES 2020. Samsung was said to have a "human-centric vision" for robots, and Ballie was the start of it. The company said Ballie "understands you, supports you, and reacts to your needs."
Its built-in camera would be its "eye" into your life, your home, and your needs. There was an announcement that saw Google and Samsung working together to bring Gemini into Ballie for enhanced AI support.
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