Giving your home a brain could be as easy as installing a single sensor. At least, that’s the promise of the new Oval 2.0, an all-in-one smart sensor that claims to monitor light, temperature, and humidity, and send its users instant alerts if anything feels out of place. Whether you want to turn an object or an area into its smart counterpart, Oval 2.0 wants to help.
The device builds upon the success of the original Oval, which launched early last year across 32 countries. The team was apparently so pleased with its performance that it decided to manufacture the next generation of the product, creating the 2.0, heralded as an “even smarter sensor.”
If you place the Oval 2.0 next to a door, window, or private room, the device can send an email or smartphone alert when these entrances are opened or closed. And if you place the device next to water pipes, it can tell you if there’s a leak or a mechanical failure. The Oval 2.0 can also monitor the temperature and humidity of an area or items including food, medicines, or plants.
“No two homes, or people, are alike, and Oval was created with this in mind. After our initial release, we spent the year speaking to our customers all over the world, learning how they were using Oval around the home and asking how we could improve our smart sensor to provide even more value to our customers,” said Mike Harry, CEO of Oval Digital Inc. “Oval 2.0 is the result of both customer feedback and the latest technology available.”
Of course, no smart home product would be complete without smart assistant compatibility, and luckily, the Oval 2.0 can be integrated with either Amazon Alexa or Google Home. You can ask Assistant what the temperature is in your living room, or have Alexa tell you if there’s water in the basement. And thanks to the device’s IFTTT support, you can create “scenes” with Oval, triggering other devices to jump into action if the sensor detects that something is amiss.
There’s no installation process required for the Oval, and setup should take just minutes. Thanks to its small size and wireless configuration, it can be attached to just about any object or area. The Oval gateway is wireless and can be connected to a Wi-Fi network — sensors communicate with this gateway at a range of up to 150 feet.
“Oval has demonstrated it can improve lives, even save them,” Harry added. “In one instance, a customer had installed Oval in his elderly father’s home. One day, Oval identified a drop in temperature and alerted our customer immediately. Concerned that his father, who was on blood pressure medication, wasn’t answering his phone, our customer rushed to him, and found his father unresponsive after he’d accidentally lowered the thermostat to a dangerous level. Our customer wrote us explaining that while he knew OvalllVAL would give him peace of mind about his father’s well-being, he never thought it could actually save his life.”
Of course, you should always exercise caution when backing a crowdfunding campaign, but if the Oval 2.0 has piqued your interest, the team is offering early bird pricing of $99. Delivery is expected for November.