Thanks to the latest Matter update, your oven may soon be able to communicate with your TV and display a message on the big screen telling you when it's preheating. The TV tells the electric car charger to add juice to the car. That way, you'll be ready to go as soon as the casserole is warm for your family potluck.
Matter is a smart home standard designed to allow connected devices from different brands to work together with little effort. At least that's the goal, and big-name tech brands like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Samsung are all working on it.
Since its official launch in the fall of 2022, Matter has slowly but surely expanded its repertoire, both in terms of supported device types and features. Matter 1.3, announced today, adds to both.
What's new in Matter 1.3?
The latest update allows EV chargers, water management devices, microwaves, ovens, cooktops, fume hoods, and washer/dryers to work with Matter, making them the first supported device types since the release of Matter 1.2 last fall. A total of 19 types were added. Each new device type supports sending notifications and remote control of basic functions such as oven and countertop temperatures, where regulations allow.
Matter 1.3 also adds new functionality to existing device types. Scenes allow you to control multiple gadgets with a single command. For example, if you say “good night” to your selected smart speaker, it will lock the door, turn off the lights, and close the blinds. Smart TV and Media Caster updates will allow more notifications from other gadgets to appear on your screen. The device can also report energy usage, so you can know how much power your lamp consumes using a compatible smart plug.
The remaining updates primarily apply to developers. However, improvements in command batching are expected to allow the device to respond to scenes more quickly. The extended beacon period also streamlines the setup experience, allowing you to add devices to his Wi-Fi network in one step and without worrying about timeouts. The process is taking longer than expected.
work in progress
It's important to note that the added device types don't necessarily mean your smart oven will immediately work with all your other smart home gadgets. Adding compatibility is just the first step. Next, device manufacturers must adopt and implement the standard, and then companies that currently support Matter must apply the latest updates.
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For example, only a few robot vacuums and air purifiers currently support Matter, even though the category was included in the Matter 1.2 update, which is over six months old. Additionally, the big brands that helped launch Matter, such as Amazon, Apple, and Google, have yet to add support for Matter 1.2, let alone Matter 1.3, so even those that support Matter are missing many features. Not earned. As we noted in our review of the first Matter-compatible air purifiers, third-party adoption of the Matter 1.2 standard has been slow, so buyers will have to wait to take advantage of the full Smart Home integration features. .
Additionally, Matter doesn't yet cover some popular smart home device types, such as security cameras and video doorbells, and it lacks advanced features such as scheduling for many of the categories it supports.
The idea behind Matter is a truly interoperable smart home. In theory, you could buy a smart home device from any brand you like, control it with the app or smart speaker of your choice, and have it work seamlessly with the other connected gadgets you own. Our latest update continues to move towards that dream, and we're grateful to see this progress, even if some parts are moving more slowly than we would have liked.
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