Wink Announces Latest Smart Home Hub

[Julio Urquidi]

The new smart home hub, called the Wink Hub 2, is a follow-up to the original Wink Hub, sporting a slimmer profile than its predecessor and adding several features missing from the original product.

The Wink Hub 2 gets dual band wireless connectivity, letting customers choose between connecting their hub to 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks, and also adds Bluetooth LE. Additionally, the Wink 2 Hub gets an Ethernet port for physical connections.

Installation of the new hub is also improved in two ways. Wink adds an auto-discovery capability to the Hub 2, a features that works with the Wink app at the initial setup. Secondly, owners of the original Wink Hub can use a hub-to-hub process to transfer settings from the older model hub to the new one.

Similar to the Wink Hub, the Wink Hub 2 also supports Z-Wave, Zigbee, Lutron, and Kidde devices, and adding Thread in future releases.

Automation of smart home devices can also be set up through the soon to be updated Wink app, giving Wink Hub 2 owners the ability to use Schedules (set to run at specified times during the day) and Robots (devices triggered by other products) to operate their smart products.

Priced at $99, the Wink Hub 2 will be available at Walmart and Home Depot stores, Amazon and the Wink company website. The Wink app is available for free at the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

 

[Paualsh112]

With the Hub 2, Wink is able to shift some processing from its servers down to the hub itself. That means if a bunch of lights are set to activate after you open a door, they should turn on in less time, since the hub will be able to manage some “complex automations” all on its own.