Equipped with the AI engine and multiple environmental sensors, Ambi Climate 2nd Edition of Hong Kong-based Ambi Labs is a smart air conditioner controller that makes indoor climate adjustment intelligent and personal.
Equipped with the AI engine and multiple environmental sensors,
Ambi Climate 2nd Edition of Hong Kong-based Ambi Labs is a smart air conditioner controller that makes indoor climate adjustment intelligent and personal. With more than 1200 AC remote infrared codes in the control library, Ambi Climate can work with a window, wall-mounted or portable AC.
To make a difference, the AI machine learning of Ambi Climate takes various external factors into consideration, including temperature, humidity, sunlight, weather condition, and the time of the day, to efficiently boost comfort and save energy. Users can also report their personal feedbacks to the system, helping Ambi Climate to optimize AC control based on user preferences.
Solution application
Ambi Climate app version 2.0.5988
Designed for users’ direct operation, in-app preset modes and individual time schedules of Ambi Climate can help the control. For example, “Away Mode” controls a cooling, drying or heating threshold. Users can simply set a certain level for temperature and humidity, so the Ambi Climate can minimize energy usage by switching on the AC only when it’s needed to maintain the threshold.
For family members with different preferences, users can share the device access with family and friends. Each of them can build an individual profile, reporting their feedback and preferences on their comfort. If multiple users are present, the AI engine will adjust the air conditioner based on the last feedback given.
For homes that already incorporate smart home technologies, Ambi Climate can naturally blend in the original ecosystem. Through IFTTT integration, it can work with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple Siri, and Google Home.
Set-up & user experience
We found the set-up of Ambi Climate is really a breeze. Just plug-in to the power, connect, and play. Even smart home beginners can run it smoothly without reading the manual. In case of any problems, the in-app consultant can instantly help to solve the questions in real-time.
Schedule setting are also simple. The app interface for setting temperature and humidity preferences for certain schedule is intuitive for end users. The automatic adjustment into Comfort Mode is quite convenient for home application as well. One problem found during SMAhome test is that the Chinese app interface was found to be not sequential. Some of the Chinese interface will link to English pages.
To further control the indoor climate, the Manual Mode also work well with slight adjustment from smartphone. However, Ambi Climate needs to be placed close to the AC to remain its good function and rapid reaction to all commands and communication to the AC.
Performance in stability & reliability
Ambi Climate performed stable and reliable in our one-week usage. The daily timers and weekend schedule were accurate, nicely fitting the personal preferences of different users. Users can genuinely feel the power of machine learning and AI when the indoor comfort is automatically enhanced to the way they like.
The brightness, temperature and humidity data detected by Ambi Climate, as well as the weather information collected from the Internet are all stored in the platform. Users can easily refer to the historical data and AI analysis to optimize their energy usage, or make on-time adjustments to their schedule so that they can be suitable for the season change.
We cross-checked both the detected environmental data and those weather information collected from the Internet with some local weather reporting apps. The result turned out to be unalike. And when we check the analysis history from the same Ambi Climate with multiple smartphones, we also found different data on iOS devices and Android ones. This might confuse the users.
Our conclusion
Ambi Climate has made the user interface as simple as possible for home users to control and configure their indoor climate. We like the AI ability to take various environmental conditions into consideration, creating real comfort for home and users. In addition, the schedule works well with commands, making the so called “energy efficiency” a reachable goal for every home.
On the other hand, the unalike environmental data with local weather services might be reasonable, but when multiple users are looking for exact usage of their AC devices, some different data from the same Ambi Climate might confuse them.
With such intuitive control of home temperature and humidity, it might be a pity that Ambi Climate can only control ACs in current stage. Users are expecting more compatible devices to thoroughly maximize comfort and simultaneously keep efficiency. Some cut-down of the energy bills might be another favorable incentive to the home users.
*SMAhome works with Allion Labs to review the solutions. The review result may vary according to the application environment conditions and product versions.