5 Smart Gadgets That Can Immediately Upgrade Your Living Room

Constant technological advancements have enabled us to lead easier lives, with most of the world depending heavily on the gadgets we carry around. While the strides in artificial intelligence on phones and computers have been nothing short of remarkable, home automation is an aspect that often goes unnoticed — and for a place as important as your house, it is absolutely worth it to splurge a bit on tech essentials.

Whether you've just moved into your beautiful new home or are looking for ways to integrate smart technology into your current space, starting with the living room is always the most exciting. This is where you spend a good portion of your time with friends and family, making it the perfect place to embed gadgets that enhance not just functionality but also level up overall comfort and ambiance. 

From smart speakers that liven up the surroundings with bright music to robot vacuums that clean up after you, here are five exciting tech gadgets you should consider getting for your living room. 

Apart from blasting your favorite music while you go about your day, a smart speaker can help with recipes, news, weather, and so much more when configured the right way. While there is a good selection of some great portable speakers on the market, both Amazon and Google make options that fit better in a household setting. These devices connect to your home Wi-Fi network and allow you to use voice control to perform actions while being on the other side of the room. 

Google Nest Mini is a good choice for filling your living room with an ample amount of sound. It connects to other smart devices in your house, like your TV, phone, lights, and thermostat, and extends their controls through voice commands. Amazon's lineup of Alexa speakers is also recommended by many for their broad compatibility and ease of installation. If your living room spans a larger area, you can find speakers equipped with bigger drivers and some that even deliver a surround sound experience.

Good lighting is pivotal to setting the mood, especially in a space as prominent as the living room, and research says it plays an important role in maintaining health and human physiological functions. While nothing beats the organics of the sun, most living areas are well-illuminated either by ceiling lights or lamps. But imagine the level of freedom you can attain by being able to control the lights in your home. From altering the brightness to changing colors with a tap on your phone, a good smart lighting solution adds flare to your living space. 

Most smart lights talk to other devices in your house to achieve a seamless and interconnected experience. They can sync to a movie playing on your TV and match rhythms to the songs playing on your smart speaker. Beyond providing aesthetic value, you can schedule on and off times for your lights or simply control them using voice commands. The ability to fine-tune the time and intensity of lighting in your home is not only convenient but also energy efficient. 

It's no surprise that air purifiers have become an increasingly common purchase, and if there's anything the pandemic has taught us, it's the importance of maintaining a clean and healthy environment around the air we breathe. There is a sea of options when you're in the market looking for the best air purifier for your home, but there are a few factors that can trim your search down.

Make sure to look for a HEPA purifier, which takes care of dust, allergens, dander, mites, and other particles as small as 3 microns. Some purifiers from premium brands also have a carbon filter to eliminate smoke and smell. Since you're shopping for your living room, you'll need to buy an air purifier capable of its purpose for a larger space. CADR, or the Clean Air Delivery Rate, is a measure of how effectively a purifier is able to suck the pollutants out of the air and is an important consideration too. Modern options also connect to your smartphone and can be controlled using a smart speaker. 

Let's be honest — everyone loves a clean apartment, but no one enjoys going through the process of cleaning it every day. We've transitioned from stick brooms to vacuum cleaners and then succeeded in fitting computers inside them. The result? A cute robot that keeps the place tidy without you having to lift a finger. During first-time setup, your smart vacuum will map the layout of your house, including the areas occupied by furniture it can't reach under. Then, all it takes is a push of a button to get your entire floor vacuumed. 

Using a companion app on your phone, you can create zones within your house and configure them so that the vacuuming is done to fit your home's unique needs. Most vacs also come with automation features that let you schedule cleanings at convenient times so the machine doesn't get in the way while you're home. 

Robot vacuums from premium manufacturers like Dyson and iRobot have self-emptying dustbins, object recognition, adaptive suction control, and other cutting-edge technologies that make them suitable for busy chambers like a living room. Some will even crawl back to their charging docks on their own to power up for next use. Consider a smart vacuum as one of those appliances that you set once and forget about — all while it makes your life tenfold easier. 

Five slots of smart accessories to recommend for a living room overhaul simply weren't enough, so here's a rapid-fire list of a few more. First, installing a modern thermostat will allow greater and finer control over your house's temperature. Most thermostats from Nest, Honeywell, and Ecobee can also be wirelessly controlled using a smartphone. 

A giant TV always complements the experience of a living room, but a smarter TV is what puts the "fun" in function. Nearly every television on the market has ways to connect to the internet to deliver a suite of streaming platforms and applications. However, if you own an older TV and do not wish to splurge on a newer one, products like the Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Apple TV, and other smart media boxes convert any screen into a smart library of content. 

Another good investment would be a tablet in your living room that lets you control all other appliances. One of the best features of the Google Pixel Tablet is its ability to be docked and used as a digital photo frame or a video calling device. You can even think about all the traditional components around your living room that can be replaced by smarter alternatives, like electric blinds from IKEA or video doorbells by Ring.