Google has today launched a new thermostat under the Nest brand, and is simply calling it the Nest Thermostat. Priced at $129.99, pre-orders for the Nest Thermostat start today in the US and Canada from the Google Store, and it will also be available from select retail outlets in the coming weeks,. The latest nest offering cuts a few corners when compared to the pricier Nest Learning Thermostat, and is being targeted at those who are buying a thermostat for the first time. Google has eschewed the signature rotating dial control in favor of a touch-sensitive strip on the side that can recognize swipe and tap gestures.
Notably, the new Nest Thermostat comes equipped with the Soli system for motion sensing. But unlike the Pixel 4 on which the Soli chip allowed hand gesture recognition, the one inside the Nest Thermostat can only detect your presence. It can be controlled using the Google Home app as well as by summoning Google Assistant or Alexa via other smart devices in your home. The thermostat will also send you alerts if it detects a critical heating or cooling issue with the HVAC system of your house.
It supports a Quick Schedule feature that will let users set a custom temperature at different times and on different days for optimum comfort as well as energy saving. The Savings Finder feature, on the other hand, suggests schedule adjustments to save more power. As for the Soli sensor’s role, it detects motion and automatically switches the Nest Thermostat to an Eco temperature to conserve energy when the house is empty. Google touts an estimated savings of 10-12% on heating and 15% on cooling.
Google says that users can install the new thermostat on their own in 30 minutes or less. The device has a clean design and comes in four colors – Charcoal, Fog, Sand, and Snow. Google is also selling a Trim Kit separately for $14.99 that will let you hide the holes or imperfections on the wall from an older thermostat or any other gadget.
Having owned two Roborock robotic vacuum cleaners, the S5 Max and the S6 MaxV, it is really easy to get used to the convenience it offers and the value it adds to my life, by saving me precious time.
Both aforementioned models offer a vacuuming and mopping combination, but now the company is preparing to launch a model for those who are only interested in the vacuuming capability.
Whether you want to mop up yourself or skip mopping altogether, the key is to have a clean and dust-free surface, whether that’s wooden floor, tiles, or carpets.
Enter the new Roborock S4 Max, the latest addition to the robotic vacuum cleaner line-up, dedicated exclusively to vacuuming. Being a Roborock product, you can expect top-notch performance both when it comes to navigation, vacuuming power, and battery life.
Equipped with the company’s LIDAR navigation system, it makes sure to get the job done efficiently, with fewer passes and misses. It does so by mapping out your home constantly with the help of laser beams that revolve at 300RPM. This way your rooms are not only accurately mapped and recognized but said maps are constantly updated with every pass.
With a suction power of 2,000Pa, coupled with a floating main brush that adapts its height, and automatic carpet recognition that boosts power accordingly, the S4 Max makes sure that it thoroughly cleans any surface.
Its 5,200mAh battery ensures 150 minutes of operation, which is good for homes roughly 250 square meters large. With a large, 460ml dust bin, you don’t have to constantly empty it after every pass or every room, and thanks to the HEPA E11 filter, which is washable, 95 percent of particles, like pet dander and mold, are being captured.
While the robot does the actual job, it’s the application that lets you truly unleash the capabilities of the S4 Max. Once the first pass is done, and your home is mapped for the first time, you can define your rooms inside the app.
With automatic room recognition, the S4 Max can identify every room inside your house, allowing you to customize not only the order in which they will be vacuumed but also the suction power, to best suit the floor types you have. Automatic carpet detection ensures proper cleanup by boosting the power when carpets are detected.
Should you have multiple levels in your home, you simply put the S4 Max on the desired level, without the need to manually select the floor inside the application.
One of the conveniences of having a robotic vacuum cleaner, like the S4 Max, is the ability to set up schedules. For instance, in my particular case, I have it set to vacuum every other day at 8 AM, when I’m at the gym so that by the time I get back home, it has finished vacuuming the entire place.
But you can have an even higher degree of control over scheduling inside the app. For instance, you can set up kitchen and hallway vacuuming every day, and another schedule (like every other day) for the bedroom, or twice a day for the living room.
By defining specific zones, the S4 Max can only vacuum a specific part, or several parts of a room, without going through the entire place. You can see specific usage scenarios in our Roborock S6 MaxV review here.
With the new S4 Max, Roborock has something to offer for everyone. If you only need the convenience of a vacuum, without the need for it to mop up, definitely check out the S4 Max.
2020 has been a very interesting year if you want to look at it from an extremely positive perspective. We have seen how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected our way of life, how it has affected sports, the economy, and more. We have seen how important events started to be replaced by online events, where they weren’t canceled altogether, and we have also seen how others, such as the Amazon Prime Day sales event, suffer delays. We are still waiting for Amazon to announce an official date for Prime Day, but a new report suggests it may take place next month.
A new report from CNET is giving us a possible date for the next Amazon Prime Day 2020. This sales event usually occurs in July, but it has been somehow affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is now rumored to start on October 13, with no further information as to how long it will last. If we take last year as a reference, we could expect a 48-hour sale or increase again, as it has happened in the past.
Amazon is also preparing for the launch of new hardware, as it’s hosting an event on September 24, where are expecting to see refreshed Echo products, Ring devices, and more. This would give Amazon two weeks to get everything ready for the next Prime Day. Amazon would’ve even put warehouse workers’ vacation dates on hold from October 13 to the 20, to keep shipments running smoothly. The company has told us to: “Stay tuned for more details on Prime Day. Customers can also say, ‘Alexa, keep me posted on Prime Day.”
Amazon was already concerned about the impact the coronavirus was going to have on Prime Day since February, and well, It seems that we will just have to keep on waiting until we get an official announcement from Amazon.
We start today’s deals with Apple’s 12.9-inch iPad Pro. This Wi-Fi + LTE model with 512GB in storage is available for just $999 after a $500 discount. You can also get the 64GB version for $799 after a $350 discount, the 256GB variant for $929, or go for the 1TB version for $1,199 with $500 in savings.
Next up, we have the Samsung Galaxy Note 10, which is getting a $150 discount over at Amazon. You can get your 256GB unlocked version in Aurora White for just $799.99, plus you get a 12 month US warranty and free shipping.
You can also get a new Samsung SmartThings door and window multi-sensor for just $16.05 after a $3.94 discount. This will help you keep track of when doors and windows are opened or closed in your home, and you also get alerts when there’s unexpected activity, and you can use it with other smart devices to make your home smarter.
The Google Pixel Stand fast wireless charger for the Google Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL, Pixel 3, and Pixel 3 XL is also on sale today. It is currently available for $60, which means you save $19 upon purchase.
The Roborock S6 MaxV is one of the most versatile, accurate, and intelligent robot vacuums out there. Because of its ability to learn, adapt, and avoid obstacles, as well as its obsession with dirt and doing a good job cleaning up (both vacuuming and mopping up), the Roborock S6 MaxV is our Best Choice for a robot vacuum that you need to have in your household.
Growing up in the 80s not only allowed me to experience the shift from VHS to Blu-ray, tapes to CDs and digital media, PDAs to smartphones, and so on, but it also made me adapt to the way we go around our household chores.
I remember the big and noisy vacuum cleaner I had to drag around the house when I was in my teens, moving to a different power outlet every time I started cleaning a new room or reaching the far end of the living room where I was literally missing just a single extra foot of power chord to finish the job.
Then vacuum cleaners went cordless, and more silent, and boy was it convenient to clean up the entire place in a single run. Of course, mopping up was always a pain after a run or two with the vacuum cleaner… and then came robotic vacuums which can do the job for you.
When it comes to robot vacuums, there are smarter ones, and, well, less smart ones, but the Roborock S6 MaxV we’re looking at today just ticks all the boxes: looks, smarts, wits, and effectiveness. It’s funny, because I’ve been using the Roborock S5 Max for more than six months now, and I thought it couldn’t get any better than that. Well, it can! This is our Roborock S6 MaxV review.
Roborock S6 MaxV box contents
The Roborock S6 MaxV comes in a fairly compact packaging. Inside you’ll find the actual robot vacuum cleaner itself, together with some indispensable accessories.
The charging/docking station is included, together with a power cable we wish could be just a tad longer. You also get the mopping cloth and mopping module, as well as a sheet of plastic with double sided tape you can tape to the floor underneath your robot when it’s docked so that there are no leakages that can damage your floor.
You also get not one, but two HEPA filters which are completely washable, but having a spare one is also reassuring.
Roborock S6 MaxV: what I like
I absolutely loathe vacuuming. It comes in second best after doing dishes, but having an intelligent robot do the vacuuming and mopping for me is a blessing.
Due to its relatively small footprint, the Roborock S6 MaxV is able to clean up in places that are difficult to reach. It always puts a smile on my face when I see it vanish underneath the bedroom bed or the bathroom furniture, just to reappear on the other side. I know that if it were up to me, those areas would only be thoroughly cleaned occasionally.
The first run is also the one that takes the most time. After fully charging the robot, it will start mapping out your home. Interestingly, it didn’t pick up on the map that was created by the Roborock S5 Max, even though I had both vacuums connected to the same app (more on the app and features in the segment below).
After thoroughly mapping out every inch of the apartment (while meanwhile vacuuming), the robot creates a map of the entire location which is then saved in the Mi Home app. Inside the app, you can clearly define rooms: I’ve got a hallway, living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom.
This comes in handy when you only want the robot to clean up a single specific room in your apartment or more, but not the whole place. It’s also useful when scheduling it. Tasks can be defined to vacuum, mop, or both, a single room, multiple rooms, at a specific time of a specific day. Meanwhile, you can set up quiet hours to make sure the robot stays quite (during night time, for instance).
Inside the app, you can also definite no-go zones, and no-mopping zones. The no-go zones will be avoided by the robot at all costs. Think of these zones like corners with lots of cables, or simply just stuff you don’t want your robot to stumble upon.
No-mopping zones will be avoided only when in mopping mode, and this comes in handy if you have a carpet in the middle of your living room you don’t want your robot to mop over.
More power, better cleaning
Being more powerful than its predecessors, which were not too shabby either, and literally obsessed with dust and cleaning up, it did a wonderful job in the entire apartment. Most of it has a hardwood floor, except the kitchen and bathroom which have floor tiles. I’ve got a couple of carpets and rugs as well, which were not a problem for the Roborock S6 MaxV. Neither were the thresholds delimiting the rooms as the robot effortlessly tackled them.
The dustbin is also somewhat larger than on earlier models, so it can clean-up a larger area without getting full, which is a breeze now with a larger battery offering up to 3 hours of continuous operation.
Worry not, if it ever senses that it’s running out of power (and that happens at 20 percent battery level — sadly, the user has no control over this threshold) it will automatically return to its charging dock. Once charged, it will resume its activity from the same spot where it stopped.
Roborock S6 MaxV: object identification
New with the Roborock S6 MaxV is its capability to identify objects. As a first, it features a dual-camera and with the help of ReactiveAI, the robot is able to identify objects that are in its way.
Whether that’s a bathroom scale, a shoe that’s in the middle of the hallway, or even animal droppings (if you have pets), it will detect and avoid them, conveniently placing a mark on the map where it stumbled upon the object.
Those worrying about privacy shouldn’t. All the pictures the robot snaps are processed locally (they never leave your robot) and are immediately deleted, according to the manufacturer.
To protect your privacy, images captured by ReactiveAI cameras are processed onboard and immediately deleted.
Roborock
Object identification isn’t perfect, and sometimes it will miss-identify something. In that case, you can go inside the app and correct the mistake, which makes the robot learn and adapt.
It does that anyways, intelligently optimizing routes the more you use it. This way it will try new routes to make the entire process finish faster.
And, being the intelligent robot that it is, I don’t have to watch over it afraid it will get tangled or stuck somewhere if I’m not around. As a matter of fact, its schedule tells him to mop up every other day, and vacuum twice a week, usually, during the times I’m at the gym or out and about.
Mi Home app
The Mi Home app is your central hub for managing your robot, as well as maps. As we touched upon earlier, this is where you define rooms and zones, correct identification errors, and create schedules.
This is also where you adjust your robot’s settings. You can set the level (strength) of the vacuuming process, and you can also select the amount of water it will use when mopping up.
From within the app, you can also update the firmware of your robot, choose the volume and language of the voice notifications, and choose between cleaning up a room, the entire place, or just a zone that you define inside the app.
The app is intuitive with little to no learning curve required and offers a great user experience. Most of the work you’ll do will be at the beginning when you divide your place into rooms, but once that’s done, it will become an easy task to get things done with just a couple of taps.
Roborock S6 MaxV: what could be improved
As useful as object identification is, being based on cameras, good lighting conditions are required. Just like with any other camera, the cameras on the robot require light to clearly capture images, in the lack of a flash (or headlight — but who knows, maybe that’s coming in the next iteration).
Opposed to its radar guidance system, which does a good job even in the dark, light is needed for object identification.
While the battery lasts for a long time, and you shouldn’t worry if the robot spends its entire idle time on the dock (as recommended), it takes quite a long time for the charging station to top off the battery. Faster charging would be nice.
With all the technology also comes a price you’ll have to pay. While Roborock vacuum cleaners are usually much cheaper than competitors, while offering the same, or even more/better features, it’s still an expensive gadget. It currently goes for $749,99 on Amazon, which, again, could be less than competitors, but still a pain for the wallet.
Roborock S6 MaxV: conclusion
This being my second Roborock robot vacuum (and fourth I’ve worked with), I’m still just as impressed, if not more than I was with the first one. Granted, I’m yet to meet a Roborock product that fails to impress me.
If you can afford it, definitely get one. You won’t be disappointed. Of course, you’ll have to do some basic robot-proofing in your house, but it’s a small price to pay (in addition to the purchase price) for a hassle-free, clean home.
