Stay Home, Stay Connected.  Keeping connected with loved ones throughout the Coronavirus ‘lockdown’ is essential.  Smart home devices are a great way of keeping connected with friends and family during this dreadful situation.

These affordable and versatile devices will keep you in touch – 24 hours a day – with your home, here in Spain, or loved ones back in the UK.  We’ve tested a number of these devices here in ou office in Calahonda and have come to the conclusion that the best is the Google Nest Hub, closely followed by the amazon Echo Show.

Google Nest Hub

Google Nest Hub provides help at a glance in any room at home. With the Google Assistant built-in, you’ll always see your best and latest shots from Google Photos. Plus, view and control your connected devices from a single dashboard. Simply use your voice to watch YouTube and play songs from YouTube Music on a crystal clear speaker. And with Voice Match, get your personalized calendar, commute, answers from Google, and more. Hub helps with the little moments so you can enjoy the big moments.

Amazon Echo Show

Echo Show 5 connects to Alexa to give you vivid visuals on a 5.5” screen with a crisp full sound—all in a compact design that fits in any room, in any home. See on-screen lyrics with Amazon Music. Set alarms and timers. Catch up on news highlights and movie trailers. Check weather and traffic as you head out in your new city.

Get in Touch for More Information or for a Demonstration

If you’re interested in keep more closely connected to friends and family, speak to us, we’re here to help!  Leave a few quick details and we’ll get right back to you!

 

How To Stay in Touch During Lock Downs or Periods of Isolation

As governments encourage “social distancing” in the fight against coronavirus, many of us including older people are facing the prospect of being told to stay at home for weeks.

But what if a parent or older person in your life, doesn’t already have access to video calling tech?  “You might want to consider getting a specialised device to make video calls to your loved ones,” says Kate Bevan, editor of computing at Which?, the consumer magazine.

“Once they’re set up, they’re very simple to use but you do have to dig through settings in their apps to connect them and that’s not always as straightforward as it might be,” she says.

“Give yourself plenty of time to familiarise yourself with doing that”.

“To protect people’s privacy it will be important to ensure that any new devices are secure and not likely to be hacked, and that anyone using a new device has access to ongoing support to help them learn how to use it and deal with any issues or problems.”

All-in-One Hardware Solutions

Integrated kit can be the easiest solution – and could be hundreds of pounds cheaper than buying a laptop, tablet, or a mid-range smartphone.

As an example of the kind of equipment and technical support we can give, Google has an excellent smart device that brings to it a lot of excellent information capabilities in addition to a screen for video calls.

Thanks to its support for Google Duo video calls, the Nest Hub Max excels as a way to keep in touch with friends and family, with the camera lens capable of following you around the room. The device has a feature that allows family members with the right permissions can activate the security features and start watching the camera feed at any time.

Be aware that a smaller Nest Hub model does not have a camera

Smartphone Solutions

Sometimes, a smartphone might be the better option. “If your family member has a tablet or smartphone, you can also help them get set up with apps such as Skype, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, all of which do video calls. Apple users can also use FaceTime.”

Many of these apps are basically smartphone versions of the software on the smart displays – Google Duo, for example, is what Google’s Nest speakers use.