Do you like the temperature to be at 75☏ at 6pm on Monday through Thursday, but 73☏ at 3pm on Fridays and 80☏ at 4pm on Saturdays? The Nest will figure that out too, as long as you give it a few data points to work from. If you want the thermostat set to a certain temperature when you get home from work, set it that way for several days and the Nest will eventually figure it out. The device learns what you like, when you like it-there is no schedule to program, only a schedule to live. In fact, the Nest's headline feature is its capability to learn. You can also set up your account there and view/change the Nest's learned schedule. This is useful for its energy statistics, because it can tell you whether the day's weather affected your thermostat use. You can also enter your address when you first set up the device so it can bring in the local weather. If you want to set yourself to "away" (more detail on this later), you can do so by clicking once and turning to the away setting. In addition to turning the thermostat, you can also "click" it by pressing down on it this brings up a plethora of other features that you can scroll and click through. Nest comes with a Web app, as well as an app for iPhone, iPad, and Android-the functionality of which I'll get to in another section of this review.īut the Nest's interface can do a lot more. That in itself is a handy feature, but the WiFi functionality serves another purposes to us lazy geeks: the ability to see stats and make changes to our settings remotely. Since the Nest's original release in October of 2011, there have been 10 software updates seeded wirelessly to users' Nests, most of which were released in May of 2012. For one, it can update its own software over WiFi, allowing the company to issue bug fixes and even add features (if they should feel so inclined). More importantly, the device can connect to your WiFi network, which lets it perform a number of valuable functions. If that's all you ever wanted to do with your thermostat, then that's really all you need to know. Just walking up to it and turning the dial will wake it up and allow you to turn the temperature up or down. When nothing is running at all, the background is black and the text is white. The background color of the Nest turns blue when the air conditioning is running, and an orangey reddish color when the heat is running. I like to have it light up when I walk by, because it allows me to see the current setting at an easy glance as I'm on my way to the fridge or the living room. The device has a backlit screen that comes on when you mess with it, or whenever you pass by it (if you have that setting turned on). Overall, it's pretty good-as you've likely already seen, the thermostat itself is a round wheel, similar to the original iPod's moving click wheel, but in thermostat form. The usability of the device as "just" a thermostat is extremely straightforward, and it's the first thing you deal with after installation. What's so great about the Nest anyway? General usability Is the Nest really worth the $250 it costs to obtain one, just so you can have a fancier way of turning the temperature up and down? I think so-especially if you're the "convenience oriented" type (that's PC for "lazy"). Now that I've been using the Nest for several months, I have a pretty good feel for its strengths and weaknesses-at least compared to what is typically available on the market. So when I finally had the opportunity to install a Nest, I jumped at it. Friends and Twitter followers have long asked me to evaluate higher-end thermostats, and I'm always examining the thermostats at other people's houses. I am fascinated by thermostats and their usability, but I also don't like to spend too much money on them-unless the extra cost is worth it. (Listen, it doesn't sound very exciting because it's not, but I like them). I like to think of myself as somewhat of a thermostat nerd. The round, user-friendly device was initially met with excellent reviews, but were these based in reality or were they the result of some Apple-like hype? Founded by the former senior VP of Apple's iPod division, Tony Fadell, along with his partner Matt Rogers, Nest Labs set out to create what is essentially the iPod of the thermostat world. It has been close to a year since the Nest "learning" thermostat was introduced to the public, bringing us one step closer to that elusive home of the future.
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