Smart home appliances have drastically grown in popularity over the past couple of years, with improved connectivity and technology leading to WiFi-enabled devices such as switches, lights, and even vacuum cleaners. This is clearly a growing market, and one that Nokia is seemingly trying to capitalise on—the Finnish brand has just launched its first smart air conditioners in partnership with Flipkart.
The move is rather random in nature, but according to Flipkart VP of Private Brands, Dev Iyer, Nokia’s air conditioners are designed for households that “ask for more” from their home appliances. Additionally, Vipul Mehorta, VP of Nokia Brand Partnerships, called Nokia’s decision to enter the smart home market is a “milestone” in the partnership between the two companies.
That aside, what can Nokia’s new smart air conditioners do?
A smart AC that goes “beyond cooling”
The air conditioners—despite their “smart” branding—look pretty conventional. There is a hidden display that lights up when the unit is powered on, while Nokia promises that environment-friendly R-32 refrigerant is used. Smart features include intelligent motion sensors, as well as WiFi-enabled smart climate control.
Nokia’s air conditioner will also remind you when it’s due for cleaning or servicing, while users can customise individual profiles—which should eradicate the all-too-common remote wars. Speaking of remotes, you can also use a compatible smartphone as a remote for the air conditioners, although there doesn’t appear to any mention of compatibility with popular smart home ecosystems (like Google Home).
Other features include the use of Bluefin technology, anti-corrosive copper internals, triple inverter technology, and a dual-rotary compressor. Nokia also promises “noiseless” operation, while you also get low vibration motors.
If that sounds interesting to you, the Nokia smart air conditioner will be available in India from the 29th of December 2020, with official pricing starting at INR 30,999 (~RM1,702). It doesn’t look like a wider regional release is planned for now, unfortunately. Finally, it’s worth noting that the starting price listed above is only for non-WiFi models, so you should expect a significantly higher price for the “smart” version.
What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
