Recently it seems that Amazon’s Echo speaker has been gaining a ton of functionality, from being able to call you an Uber, stream music from Spotify, to ordering you a pizza. Now it looks like it can even control aspects of your home, thanks to ecobee who has recently announced that their ecobee3 smart thermostat will now see integration with the Echo.This means that by using just voice commands, users will be able to control the thermostat to increase the room’s temperature, set temperatures, and so on. According to Stuart Lombard, president and CEO of ecobee, “We’re excited to provide ecobee3 users with added functionality and convenience through Amazon Echo. Amazon has been a tremendous retailer to work with, and we are looking forward to expanding that relationship through thermostat integration with Echo, which offers complete home voice control.”
All users have to do is issue commands like, “Alexa, set my thermostat to 72,” or “Alexa, increase the temperature in my house.” The company is claiming that they are the first smart thermostat that is compatible with the Amazon Echo. If you own a Nest instead of an ecobee3, fret not because the Nest can also be controlled, albeit relying on third-party apps like IFTTT.
Perhaps later on we will see Nest integration, but for now it looks like the ecobee3 has the edge. The thermostat is currently available for purchase where it is priced at $249 and comes with one free sensor. Additional sensors are sold in packages of two for $79.
Filed in . Read more about Amazon, Connected Objects, Echo, IoT (Internet of Things) and Speakers.