Honeywell has launched its Lyric thermostat, which the company says will make temperature adjustments based on a user’s smartphone location.
The $US275 thermostat is the first offering in a new family of connected home products from Honeywell.
Using the location of a user’s smartphone, the geofencing feature automatically turns the Lyric thermostat into energy saving mode when a home is empty, and then senses when users are coming home and heats or cools the house to preferred temperatures.
A Fine Tune feature factors indoor and outdoor temperature, humidity, and weather into its algorithm, enabling it to provide the most comfortable temperature for homeowners.
“Most people don’t have a predictable pattern to how they live their lives; why not have a thermostat that adjusts based on your real-time schedule?” says Beth Wozniak, president of Honeywell Environmental and Combustion Controls.
“With the Lyric thermostat’s geofencing capability, my house returns to my preferred comfort setting when I’m within a few miles from home.”
The temperature can be managed using Honeywell’s familiar round dial control on the thermostat itself. With the Lyric app (available via the App Store on iTunes and Google Play), homeowners can adjust their home’s temperature wherever they are.
When a homeowner walks up to the Lyric thermostat, a built-in proximity sensor signals the display to turn on and show current temperature and the home’s heating or cooling status. A soft halo of light in orange (heating), blue (cooling), or green (away/energy savings) momentarily illuminates around the thermostat to indicate it is making temperature adjustments.
Touch-sensitive buttons flank the center display, one for accessing current and upcoming weather information, and one for setting back your temperature while you’re away.
