How many times has your smart speaker woken up at the wrong moment? In our household, it’s too many to count, but now Aqara has a different idea: a smart microphone that won’t listen until you physically pick it up.
Debuting this week at IFA in Berlin, the Aqara Voice Mate H1 is a small, battery-powered device the shape of a hockey puck. Inside is a microphone that—unlike the mics in speakers powered by Alexa, Apple’s Alexa, and Google Assistant—isn’t constantly listening for a wake word.
Instead, the Voice Mate H1 only activates its microphone when it detects you’ve picked it up.
This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart home systems.
When you do finally speak to the Voice Mate, your words will be relayed—via the required Aqara M3 hub–to Aqara Copilot, the new LLM-powered Aqara smart assistant that lets you control smart devices, activate scenes, create home automations, and adjust smart settings.
First announced at CES earlier this year, the generative AI-enabled Aqara Copilot has—until now—only been accessible via the Aqara mobile app. But with the arrival of the Voice Mate H1, you’ll be able to interact with the assistant without your phone.
Because it’s not listening until it’s picked up, the Voice Mate H1’s battery should last a year (it’s not clear whether the battery can be recharged or must be replaced).
Nice, but if you want to try Aqara’s upcoming AI microphone, you’ll have to be patient. The Voice Mate H1 won’t be available until late this year or early next, Aqara says. Pricing has yet to be determined.
The Voice Mate H1 wasn’t Aqara’s only announcement at IFA this week. The smart home brand also announced its first outdoor security camera, the Camera Hub G5 Pro, a 4MP camera with on-device AI for the detection of faces, vehicles, pets, and packages.
Aqara
Arriving in Wi-Fi and PoE versions and equipped with its own Zigbee 3.0 hub, the Camera Hub G5 Pro will also boast color night vision, local eMMC storage, the ability to sync vidoes with cloud or NAS servers, and end-to-end encryption.
Next up is the Garage Door Controller T2 Kit, a first for Aqara (if you don’t count the Dual Relay Module T2, a multipurpose device capable of controlling garage doors, among other things). The Garage Door Controller T2 supports geofencing, app and voice control, and automations, while a wireless sensor lets you keep tabs on the status of the door.
Meanwhile, the Valve Controller T1 is designed to prevent one of the most damaging events that can happen in a home: a burst water pipe. The Valve Controller T1 works with leak sensors, including the Aqara Water Leak Sensor, and can quickly cut off your water or gas valve if it detects a potential leak. The wireless retrofit device works with lever and butterfly valves on DN15, DN20, and DN25 pipes (DN is an acronym for “diametre nominal,” the metric equivalent of “nominal pipe size” or NPS).
Also coming soon is the Aqara Smoke Detector, which boasts an 85 dB alarm, Zigbee connectivity, and up to 10 years of battery life. If it senses smoke, the Smoke Detector can trigger alarm-equipped Aqara hubs as well as other grouped detectors.
Finally, the Thread-enabled Aqara LED Bulb T2 series comes in three form factors—E26, E27, and GUI10—with tunable-white light ranging from a warm 2,000 Kelvin to a cool 9,000K, while the RGB CCT variant can also glow in up to 16 million colors. Besides Thread, the LED Bulb T2 lights can also connect via Zigbee.
On the software front, Aqara says it has joined the Work with Home Assistant program, allowing smart home users to connect selected Aqara devices to their Home Assistant setups. The Hub M3, Smart Lock U200, and Motion and Light Sensor P2 are the first Home Assistant-certified devices from Aqara, with more to come in the “next months,” Aqara says.
Aqara is also adding Advanced Matter Bridging to its M3 Hub, allowing the device to sync “IF” conditions and “THEN” actions to third-party Matter apps. Another new addition is an integration for Tesla electic vehicles.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer, TechHive
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he has covered everything from smart speakers and soundbars to smart lights and security cameras. Ben's articles have also appeared in PC Magazine, TIME, Wired, CNET, Men's Fitness, Mobile Magazine, and more. Ben holds a master's degree in English literature.