Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsI wish it was smart(er).
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 20 November 2018
Oh dear, not smart enough. It is a plug, you ask Alexa to switch it on, or to switch off. It does nothing else. I had hoped you could ask Alexa to turn in on for a number of hours, then it will automatically switch off (for our clothes drier), but that sort of option does not appear available. I have spent a couple of hours playing with the Alexa app to see if it is my misunderstanding, but sadly not, it switches on or off at that time. I may as well just flick the switch! The only benefit I can see is you could switch off the plug remotely.
Unless it improves dramatically in terms of functionality, it is not an effective addition to a smart home and certainly not worth the asking price if you are capable of reaching and flicking a switch.
Update to review
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Revisions within the app have led to some progress. I have been able to put together a routine that allows me to tell Alex to turn on the plug for an hour, then turn the plug off. Alexa will say in confirmation that the routine is running. This would be neat if I could put together one routine that asked for the number of hours, but that is not possible, so the only (messy) solution would be to put together 24 seperate routines, one for each hour in a 24hr period. This does not take into account half hours! 24 routines is ridiculous, as is the number I have actually created, which is 12.
What is required is the ability, inbuilt within Alexa to say:
"Alexa, turn on the plug for X hours".
"Alexa, turn on the plug at 3pm and off at 4pm".
"Alexa, turn off the plug in X hours".
Features like this would be useful.
I have upped my review from 1 to 3 stars because there has been progress, but not enough progress for this plug to be called "smart" by any definition I would like to apply. I have attached a screen shot of the routine for one hour.
