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Ecobee Launches New HomeKit-Compatible SmartThermostat With Updated Internals

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Ecobee today announced a new thermostat called the Ecobee SmartThermostat with Voice Control. Similar to previous versions of the product, the updated Ecobee can help reduce energy consumption through automated temperature control, as well as provide easier thermostat adjustments thanks to HomeKit support.

new ecobee
The fifth-generation Ecobee SmartThermostat includes a glass finish with LCD touchscreen, and inside it has a quad-core processor to enable advanced machine learning. This revamp improves the device's natural language processing and speech detection, according to the company. In terms of wireless connectivity, it has 2.4GHz and 5GHz dual-band Wi-Fi.

“We see the smart home emerging as an oasis where great technology can fade into the background and free you from the chaos of everyday life.” said ecobee President and CEO, Stuart Lombard.

“We’ve designed the new ecobee SmartThermostat with voice control to be the foundation of that vision. It’s packed with more power than ever before to deliver a best-in-class user experience and effortlessly connect you to the solutions and services you love, but also work quietly in the background so you can focus on the things - and people - that matter most."

Additionally, there's a new speaker in the device with "twice the intensity" of its predecessor for richer sound and a wider dynamic range. This lets you listen to podcasts, music, or news directly from the SmartThermostat, which is compatible with Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Pandora, TuneIn, and Spotify, but no mention of Apple Music was given.

The new SmartThermostat is compatible with ‌HomeKit‌, Alexa, Google Assistant, SmartThings, and IFTTT. There's also an updated Ecobee SmartSensor that has a new design and enhanced wide-angle detection range. This device senses motion and temperature, detecting how warm or cool it is in separate rooms and adjusting the main SmartThermostat accordingly.

The new Ecobee SmartThermostat with Voice Control is priced at $249 and is available to purchase today on the company's website, and at Amazon, Lowes, The Home Depot, and Best Buy. The device comes with the updated Ecobee SmartSensor in the box, and additional sensors are available to buy in packs of two for $79.

Tag: Ecobee

Top Rated Comments

93 months ago
The speaker is overkill. It's a thermostat. I would never listen to music...or anything, from my thermostat. o_O
There are so many smart speakers on the market, and so many ways to use voice control for smart devices. Frankly, the microphone is unnecessary. Especially, since it only works with Alexa. If you could use it with Siri, maybe I would change my mind about the microphone.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gsmornot Avatar
93 months ago
I am fine with my original Ecobee's. What I would like to see however are updated remote sensors with humidity. The main unit is the only one that can detect humidity and the remote sensors are too slow to be used in Homekit triggers. Not only that the remotes will show motion for a half hour after being detected, I guess to save battery they only check at long intervals. My Hue sensors last forever and respond right away, wish these did as well.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
93 months ago
How have the Ecobee servers been lately? Going off the /r/ecobee subreddit, it seems they have outages all the time. Is that right, or are people on reddit being overly hyperbolic?
I've not noticed a lot of outages. However, they do provide a running Incident History:

https://status.ecobee.com/history
[doublepost=1559593858][/doublepost]
I am fine with my original Ecobee's. What I would like to see however are updated remote sensors with humidity. The main unit is the only one that can detect humidity and the remote sensors are too slow to be used in Homekit triggers. Not only that the remotes will show motion for a half hour after being detected, I guess to save battery they only check at long intervals. My Hue sensors last forever and respond right away, wish these did as well.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/3/18646398/ecobee-smartthermostat-review-alexa-announcement-price-specs-features

"The new remote sensor is nicer to look at than the prior model, but I’m disappointed that it doesn’t add the ability to measure humidity; it still only measures temperature and detects motion. The system also still takes a long time to switch between home and away modes, even when it hasn’t detected any motion activity for over an hour on any of the sensors, which has been an ongoing frustration with the Ecobee for me."
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
93 months ago
EcoBee’s support is near non-existent, just a warning for any potential buyers.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
93 months ago
"Improved sensor technology - Now with better range and accuracy, and up to five years of battery life."

Unfortunately, they still don't detect humidity. I hope that the "better ... accuracy" means that the new sensors will not say "occupied" after 30 minutes like the old ones. That might be enough to get me to upgrade my 2nd gen.

Interestingly enough, the new sensors are backwards compatible all the way back to the ecobee3.
Um....

Sensor Facts
The sensors include a motion detector to tell the ecobee3 which parts of your house are active. They also include a temperature sensor so it can figure out the best way to keep you comfortable. The remote sensors do not include a humidity sensor, but the ecobee3 does.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
93 months ago
I'd like to move from Nest to a Homekit enabled thermostat. can all the Alexa stuff be disabled? Can you set a range of temperatures like you can with Nest?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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