- There are 1,001 reviews and videos
on the brand new HomePod mini,
but very few of them are talking
with these Thread devices.
So to test this out, I have the Nanoleaf light bulb
here in the studio.
I took the HomePod mini to the other side of the house
which is about 30, 40 feet away.
And came back in here to see
if I can turn on the light bulb
and it worked just fine.
And it was super fast.
When I originally had this set up with Bluetooth,
which is notorious for being super slow,
and it took anywhere from two to three, five seconds
and sometimes it even lost communication all together.
But when I hooked up the Thread network
or just the only way, the only thing you need
to do turn on Thread is turn on this device.
Once I did that, the speeds was almost instantaneous.
As soon as you hit the tile, the light turned on.
By the way, if you do want to confirm
that your device is running on Thread,
there's an app called Controller For HomeKit.
You're going to actually go into the services
in this app and you can see
that it's actually running on Thread.
So once I knew that it was working across the house,
I decided to take the HomePod mini
and plug this in one level down on the main level.
I tried it and unfortunately, that did not work.
So then I took the Nanoleaf light strip
and plugged this in upstairs on the other side of the house
and tried to reconnect to the light bulb,
and instantaneously it came right on.
So I wanted to take this one step further
and I actually dropped down the HomePod, the mini,
into the basement, kept the Nanoleaf light bulb
or light strip on the top level
and came back in here and test the light bulb.
And I have great news,
it turned on almost instantaneous.
So I hope you can see how exciting this is
for the future of smart home.
One, it's super secure.
Two, it's a self-healing mesh network
that's super fast, faster than other protocols out there.
And three, Apple has now adopted it.
Which means the other companies are going
to jump on the bandwagon.
And we're gonna get products for Thread networks
up the wazoo.
Now there's still a lot of questions to be asked
and answered about this great new technology.
Recently, I had a conversation with one
of the VPs over at the Thread group,
asking him some general questions
that the everyday consumer might ask.
(gentle music)
He mentioned that back in 2015,
they actually tested this with 250 devices
and they didn't have any issues.
He went on to mention though that today's devices
have a lot more memory than they did five years ago.
So in theory, a Thread network
could handle hundreds more now.
(gentle music)
And he says they can all act as a border router.
If one happens to go down,
the other ones will take over with no hiccup whatsoever.
Plus I think if you have multiple border routers
that's just going to add to your mesh network
make it stronger, and also extend the distance.
(gentle music)
Unfortunately, he couldn't comment on that.
Nanoleaf did release the first two for HomeKit,
the Nanoleaf leaf light strip and the Nanoleaf bulb,
which I'll be doing a full review of both those products,
if you guys wanna check that out right up there.
Eve has also announced that their 2020 model products
even though it has the same name as their previous models,
it is only their 2020 products that go
and get that firmware update that has the Thread technology.
And then after the year,
I expect a lot more Thread products coming out
on the market simply because Apple has now adopted it.
And anything that Apple does, everyone jumps
on the bandwagon and everyone gets with it.
So we can definitely expect a lot more Thread products.
(gentle music)
And what he mentioned is that yes, it could be done.
It could run off the same technology
or same chip set as a Zigbee product
but more than likely what the issue is,
is the amount of memory that's built into that product.
And that's gonna be the hiccup with these previous products
that you might already have in your house.
So with that being said,
your current HomeKit products will still work
with the HomePod mini, which has Bluetooth, WIFI,
and the new Thread technology,
which leads in to my next thing
is this Thread technology can lead
into two more products that are not supported
just specifically for HomeKit.
Currently though, in the specs of the HomePod mini,
they do say that the Thread products
still has to work with HomeKit.
This new threat technology will also lead
to a more universal standard for smart home communication.
In the last few years, major players
in the smart home industry like Amazon, Apple,
Google and ZigBee have all teamed up
in what's called the CHIP project.
And this will lead to,
like a standard communication standard
where a consumer could easily just walk
into a store, find a product they like
and bring it home and not worry about compatibility.
They won't have to worry about working
with Alexa or with Google or with HomeKit.
They just find something they like
and bring it home and it will just work.
And if you want to hear more about the CHIP program
or dive deeper into Thread, my friend Chris
from HomeKit Geek, he is going to do a video
diving really deep into this stuff.
If you guys wanna check that out,
I'll put a link right up there.
See how exciting this is for smart home.
I know I'm pumped up about this.
This is really gonna change
the smart home industry moving forward.
Thread is the future of smart home
and it is here today.
And it is great, great stuff.
(gentle music)
The second reason why you're gonna want
a HomePod mini and that is because it has UWB in it.
Which is ultra wide band.
And what that does is allow devices within your home
to know where it is within your home
or what devices are closer to your HomePod mini compared
to another HomePod mini.
So if you have a phone with a U1 chip in it
or a UWB chipset in it, it'll be able
to tell you which room, which HomePod it is closer to.
So you can go back and go get it.
Now that's not only limited to iPhones.
It's gonna be in the brand new AirTags.
And I can't tell you when AirTags is gonna be released.
Yes, I've talked about it a million times on this channel.
And I think it's gonna come very, very soon
or at least I'm praying and hoping that it will
because I'm super excited about AirTags
and what ultra wide band's gonna do
for the everyday consumer and for the smart home.
'Cause there's other benefits to this ultra wide band also
but with AirTags and the ultra wide band
being in your phone, it's really going
to improve the smart home industry also.
So you guys gotta get a HomePod mini
if you're into Apple stuff.
It is definitely well worth the $99
and with Thread in it and ultra wide band,
the future is here now.
Thanks for watching,
I also want to thank my Patreon members.
These guys are awesome.
If you want to learn more about Patreon,
and how you can support this channel
through Patreon and what benefits you get
definitely check out my patron page right there.
And if you're into HomeKit,
smash that subscribe button down below
'cause I got a lot more HomeKit products coming
to this channel.
Check out that next review in my HomeKit series.
And I will see you on the next video.
Thanks for watching.
♪ Nothing can break me no ♪