Although phrase leaked out final week, Ecobee at present formally introduced its fifth-generation GoodThermostat is now out there for buy.
Like the EcobeeFour it replaces (our present prime choose amongst good thermostats), the brand new mannequin could have Alexa onboard, however Ecobee says the brand new thermostat is outfitted with a brand new, extra highly effective speaker “offering richer sound and a wider dynamic range” than customers would look forward to finding in a thermostat.
EcobeeEcobee’s sensors have additionally been redesigned.
And with the brand new addition of Bluetooth help, customers will have the ability to stream music providers together with Spotify, Pandora, and Amazon Music from the thermostat to a discrete Bluetooth speaker. We’ve requested if the brand new mannequin will probably be able to being grouped in a multi-room audio configuration with different Alexa-compatible good audio system.
The new mannequin can even have a brand new and extra highly effective quad-core processor that the corporate says permits the thermostat to function thrice sooner than the earlier mannequin. Homeowners residing in crowded Wi-Fi environments will recognize the presence of a dual-band (2.4- and 5GHz) Wi-Fi adapter (the earlier technology may join solely to extra crowded 2.4GHz networks).
Ecobee says this new mannequin additionally options digital microphones (in comparison with the analog mics within the older mannequin), which can enhance wake phrase detection and echo-spatial detection (the characteristic that allows a number of Echo good audio system to find out which one is closest to the individual talking and will due to this fact be the speaker to reply). The new mannequin additionally helps extra Alexa options, together with Alexa Calling, Messaging, and Drop-in.
Ecobee gained’t stray removed from its successful method, nevertheless, for the reason that new mannequin will share a really related industrial design—the corporate calls it a “squircle”—though this mannequin’s LCD touchscreen will probably be behind glass. The thermostat can even work with Ecobee’s SmartSensors: occupancy sensors that measure temperature in distant rooms (one is included with the thermostat).
And as with the remainder of the Ecobee line, the fifth-generation mannequin will probably be Apple HomeKit suitable and able to integration with Google Assistant, Samsung SmartThings, and IFTTT. The new mannequin is out there now and sells for $249 with one SmartSensor. The new sensors can be found in two-packs for $79 every.
