Japanese Tech Reviews - LiveSmart LS Mini IR remote hub

I always fascinated by Japanese's technology and innovation, this is one of the reasons I moved to Japan 7 years ago. My current apartment comes with an automatic lock in the front entrance, heated toilet seat, delivery locker, and 24hr security cameras etc.. This is one of the reasons I never lock my apartment's door.

All those technologies are the standard in a recently built apartment in the last 10 years but Japanese companies are starting to lag behind on Home automation in the last few years with products like Nest thermostats, Amazon Echo, and Google Home had become an essential gadget in most modern homes in the US and other parts of the world.

With the recent heat wave in Tokyo, I want cool down my apartment a little bit just before arriving home at the same time don't want to waste any energy. I am a geek that loves hiking and care about the environment so I want all my electronics to be eco-friendly and I always carry a reusable shopping bag with me all the time ;) My air conditioner unit has a timer function but I often arrive home at a different time. I want to turn on my air conditioner unit only when I am near my home since I cannot replace the unit itself, I need an IR remote hub with geofencing function. I started to search for the remote hub a few months back, but most IR remote hubs don't have a geofencing function.

After looking around for a while I saw a new product on Amazon Japan call LS Mini, it has a temperature and a light sensor built in so you know the temperature even when you are away from home. If you have a pet this is a gadget that you should have to keep your best friend cool and happy. As soon as this product start accepting preorder, I put in my order and wait for a month before it arrived on Aug 3rd, 2018. Disclaimer: I am NOT affiliated with this company or this product, just my own opinion as a geek.

Photos from the official website 

Preorder Price: 4980 Yen

Retailer Price: 6980 Yen

Pro:

• Integrated with Amazon Echo and Google Home
• Geofencing
• IFTTT (In development)
• Built-in temperature sensor
• Infrared transmitter
• Remote controller learning
• AI temperature control
• iOS and Android Apps
• WiFi connectivity (You can turn on devices manually or create a rule to manage your devices)
• Temperature accuracy ±1c

Con:

• WiFi only support 2.4Gz, 5Gz is not supported
• If you type in the wrong WiFi password, you have to turn off your WiFi router and reset the LS mini
• The remote controller device library is limited, you have to use the learning function to create your own remote
• Need a direct line of sight to the device, so you need more than one LS mini for each room
• AI may turn on the heat if it thinks the room is too cold. As of this writing, AI is not working well because the temperature sensor is inaccurate. (The support team is very active, you can ask them on their website or on Twitter)

I recommend this product if you are a tech-savvy person or a pet owner, and don't mind the time to play around with the setting and set up the remote for each of the devices. Geofencing function is really good, I set it so that when I am one station away from home my AC turn on automatically, and everytime I got home the temperature it is very comfortable.