When you hear of a smart home you may think of purpose built, super modern apartments and houses that were designed to be future proof and packed with electronics. 

This is rather far from the truth as all you really need to make any home smart is some smart home appliances from tech giant Xiaomi. 

Xiaomi’s wide range of smart home appliances can turn any place at any time into a smart home. If you haven’t started the smart home transformation yet, or you may have dipped your toes into one or two smart appliances, today let’s look at some reasons you may want to bring some brains to your space. 

Come home to food and drinks prepared for you 

What if you had a personal chef at home to prepare you fresh food that’s ready right as you return from work? Or maybe a protein shake for just before the gym as you change into your exercise clothes? Or perhaps a hearty breakfast made for you would make waking up and getting ready all that easier? 

While a personal chef isn’t particularly feasible, smart home kitchenware is the next best thing. Xiaomi’s range of smart kitchenware can be controlled remotely and set up to work on a schedule. Just insert your ingredients in advance and come back to find perfectly prepared food and drinks. 

The Xiaomi Smart Air Fryer range handles cooking foods and the Xiaomi Smart Blender does drinks. Both, however, are so much more versatile. The Air Fryers, for example, can also be used to bake, make yoghurt, ferment foods and more. 

What to buy? 

• Xiaomi Smart Blender @ R2 499
• Xiaomi Smart Air Fryer 4L Pro @ R2 899
• Xiaomi Smart Air Fryer 3.5L @ R2 399

Beat the coming heat

South Africans can feel the temperature rising as we get closer to the end of the year as the holiday season brings with it the heat of Summer. With another scorcher on the way, why deal with another season of uncomfortable heat? 

The Xiaomi Smart Standing Fan, and other smart fan options from Xiaomi , reinvent the cooling fan. This area of the market has grown stagnant so it feels great to get excited about a company that is innovating even when it comes to fans. 

With a powerful DC motor and a dual blade design, this fan is designed to put all other fans to shame with sheer output. There’s brains behind this brawn as the natural breeze-simulating algorithm makes that flow of air gentle and relaxing, unlike the turbulent rush of air from large and cumbersome other fans.

This high level of precision means minimal power usage which is a blessing for rising electricity costs and South Africans who are running electronics on UPSs or portable power stations. High efficiency also means low noise with minimal volume of just 30.2 decibels in testing. For reference the patter of rain is in the 40 – 50 decibel range. If you love sleeping with a fan on, this is also perfect as an all night, cheap to run and efficient fan. 

What to buy? 

• Xiaomi Smart Standing Fan 2 @ R1 899

Breathe easier, both figuratively and literally

Despite the importance of the very air we breathe, most people simply leave its quality up to chance. If you don’t want to gamble with the quality of the air in your lungs, grab a Xiaomi Smart Air Purifier in various sizes to fit your space. 

These air purifiers intelligently monitor and clean the air from all pollutants. Smoke from fires, dust from hidden spaces and even more serious threats like airborne viruses are all taken care of. 

Our favourite feature of all these air purifiers is effective control of allergies caused by both plants and animals. This makes the ownership of flowers and pets even better and it can help visiting friends and family members when they visit. These machines even help to contain pet odours, making them a bust buy for the serious pet owner. 

What to buy? 

• Xiaomi Smart Air Purifier 4 Compact @ R1 999
• Xiaomi Smart Air Purifier 4 Lite @ R3 599
• Xiaomi Smart Air Purifier 4 @ R4 899

Get a head start on Winter

We already talked about the coming Summer, but time moves fast and colder months will be back as always. Again Xiaomi smart appliances are here to the rescue to beat out the cold as well as the heat. 

Xiaomi smart heaters perfectly balance heating with noise and power use to make a better Winter home without the disturbance and huge electricity bill that you expect from other heating solutions. 

Again we have to point out a feature we love in the ability to set a temperature to get back home to. You’ve heard of people with expensive new cars turning on the heat before they leave for work? You can do that at home for less than a fraction of the price with a Xiaomi smart heater. 

As you crank the heat don’t forget to stay moisturised. The cold of winter saps water from the air but this can easily and cleverly be replaced with a smart humidifier. 

What to buy?

• Xiaomi Smart Tower Heater Lite @ R2 499
• Xiaomi Smart Space Heater S @ R3 199
• Xiaomi Smart Humidifier 2 @ R1 299

One phone (or tablet) to rule them all

All Xiaomi smart home appliances can be controlled remotely by a mobile device inside of the Home App. This one unified app is the glue that keeps a smart home together as you don’t need to fight against the tedious, complex and expensive ecosystems that other brands force you into. It’s just one simple app that can connect to all your Xiaomi smart home appliances. 

Look out for voice command functionality on many Xiaomi smart home appliances too, and even integration with Alexa and Google Assistant for integration into your existing platforms. 

What to buy? 

Any of the great Xiaomi smart home appliances we’ve discussed today. Xiaomi, like traditional appliance manufacturers, offers different sizes of their offerings to fit your living space and the amount of people in that space. By selling these appliances at your favourite stores like Takealot, Yuppiechef and Tafelberg you can buy from whatever online retailer best suits your needs, especially as we head into the festive season. 

Shop the range from these retailers and maybe even take a glance at the similarly affordable and powerful phones and tablets from Xiaomi to control your new smart home appliances. DM/ML