Gadget Guide – Home Gadgets

Krystal Starkey

Feel like your home could be smarter?

We’re always looking at ways to make life easier and these new home gadgets do just that.

Fully charged

Groov-e Artemis | £34.99 from Currys and groov.e.co.uk/artemis
Working from home never looked so good with this stylish two in one desk lamp and phone charger. It charges any wireless-enabled device (most of the newer models are now,) and it comes with a touch-sensitive light bar so you can set your brightness in the room with long-life energy-saving LEDs - the future is here, and you can buy it for £34.99. We’ve set the light up at YLL HQ, it’s fab for when staff need to charge their phones and adds a glowy ambience to the production team’s workspace. 10/10.

Sparkling Carpets

Bissell PowerClean | £149.99 from major electrical retailers and bisselldirect.co.uk
Coming in at just 5.6kg, this lightweight carpet cleaner is sleek, easy to move, and makes light work of everyday carpet stains and messes. It’s the perfect size for smaller living spaces due to a reduced footprint for improved storage. When the job’s done, the easy-to-remove tank makes it quick and easy to put away until the next time you need it. Mim, who has two lovely, but admittedly hairy, french bulldogs, put the cleaner to the test on her living room rug, it came up a dream, and she couldn’t believe how much dirt and hair was removed. Strong thumbs up from YLL HQ.

Burglars Beware

Somfy One+ & Smoke Detector | £383.79 from shop.somfy.co.uk
Make your house a fortress with this all in one security system. Featuring a full HD camera, 90DB siren to scare off any intruders, and a motion detector (don’t worry, you introduce it to your pets so that they don’t set it off) and an action privacy shutter means you’re protected without your privacy invaded. This kit also comes with a high tech smoke detector that connects to your security camera. It has an 85DB siren and sends push notifications to your phone when it detects smoke. Krystal put the Somfy One+ and Smoke Detector to the test at home and found it straightforward to set up and easy to access from her phone. Thankfully, she hasn’t had to face an intruder yet - but she enjoyed scaring her partner with the voice over function.