Get your smartphone ready. Nespresso launched a new, smart espresso machine that allows coffee drinkers to schedule a brewing time, brew coffee right away, manage the capsule stock, and more through the comfort of your own phone or tablet.
Users can utilize the fancy espresso machine, the Prodigio, with their smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth connectivity. By inserting a coffee pod into the machine, users can activate the espresso machine and have their drink ready in just 25 seconds through the app. The app gives users full control of choosing how strong they want their coffee, with ristretto, lungo, and regular espresso options. If the Wi-Fi is out, there are still buttons on the machine that let users choose from three sizes.
Prodigio also has an eco-friendly feature, turning itself off after 9 minutes of inactivity. The Nespresso app will notify the user when the time has come to descale the machine using the Nespresso descaling cleanser.
This single-cup brewer works only with Nespresso’s premium coffee capsules. (Sixteen are included.) The company says they’re designed to lock in freshness, but it also means you can’t avoid having to buy Nespresso-brand capsules. (When Keurig tried to use DRM to keep its 2.0 machine from working with other companies’ pods, consumers and competitors found ways around it.)
The used capsules are automatically discarded and placed in a built-in container. The app allows you to keep track of your stock, and you can reorder more through it. That’s useful, because in some places, like Portland, Oregon, there aren’t stores where you can go buy capsules.
Nespresso’s latest machine follows a controversy regarding environmental concerns about how the coffee pods are being discarded. As The Verge points out, coffee pod machines were banned from government-associated buildings in Hamburg, Germany in an effort to become environment-friendly.
The app will launch on February 24 and is compatible with iPhone 4S and newer, iPad 3rd Generation and newer, and select Android devices. Nespresso’s Prodigio is available for $249 at Sur La Table.
