Smart home manufacturer Nest has announced that its new smart thermostat, the Thermostat-E, will be available to pre-order in the UK from October 2, with the first shipments expected to reach customers by the middle of the month.
Although the Thermostat E has already been released in the US for a number of months, the version being released in the UK and Europe contains cool features unique to these territories, including 'Heatlink', which is Nest's alternative to wired thermostats, and a pre-designed heating schedule.
At £199, the Thermostat-E is considerably cheaper than previous models like the Nest Learning Thermostat, which comes in at around £300 when you factor in professional installation and accessories - the old models do looks a little more luxe however.
Turn up the heat
Not only is the Thermostat-E intended to be a cheaper alternative to other Nest thermostats, but it's also designed to be super easy to install and use, with no need to pay out for a professional installation.
It also comes with Heatlink, which acts as a replacement for traditional wired thermostats - simply use the dedicated app to guide you through hooking up your Heatlink to your boiler and it’s ready to connect to the Thermostat-E. With the same fabric design at Google Home speakers, the Heatlink looks good enough to mount outside of the boiler cupboard.
As it’s not wall-mounted, the new thermostat can be placed anywhere in the home, and is made to be discreet, with a white casing and frosted display, which hides the temperature when not in use.
Smarty-pants
Another new feature for UK customers is the predesigned schedule - using real behavior data from customers across the UK and Ireland, Nest have programmed an average heating schedule which will work for most users.
What makes the Thermostat-E smart however, is that it learns from your behavior as you use it, taking around a week to learn when to automatically turn the heating up and down based on your preferences.
It can also be controlled via Google Assistant if you have a Google Home or another compatible smart speaker - simply say "OK Google, set the temperature to 20 degrees" and the thermostat will respond.
