A California-based company, the Nest labs (acquired by Alphabet. Inc.), has launched a cheaper version of their digital thermostat, Bloomberg reported. The company decided to introduce the new cheaper Thermostat in the market as the competition in home products is increasing.
New version of digital thermostat is cheaper than current version
According to the Nest, the price of a new model, the Thermostat E (E stands for Energy), is only $170, which is $80 lower than the current version.
The company introduced its 3rd generation thermostat in September 2015, and currently, it costs $250.
Nest used polycarbonate instead of aluminum on the edges of the thermostat to minimise its cost. It has a white colored wall with a polarized filter, which avoids bright lights catching the eye, according to the Wired. The new model works similar to the previous one. It allows users to adjust the temperature by simply turning the circular dial. It still has a feature to connect with users' smartphones and enables them to change the climate of their houses through their phones.
What is the new goal of the Nest?
The director of product marketing at Nest Maxime Veron said that the Thermostat and Thermostat E are identical to each other and work virtually same, but the new model is not a Learning Thermostat. He also added that people do not care much about its work, they just want right temperature.
According to the Nest, its thermostats saved around 14 billion Kwh of energy and also reduced the heating bills of the customers. The company is planning to save up to 100 billion KWh which would be sufficient for providing electricity to every house in the New York state for two years.
The Nest was founded by the Alphabet Inc. in 2014. The company is focused on increasing the sales of hardware devices.
The Alphabet is also working to launch its home security system and doorbell with a built-in video camera by next year, but meanwhile, the devices like Google Home and Amazon's Alexa are connected with the lives of people and continue to boom the ecosystem of the smart-homes.
The Thermostat E does not display time or weather like other models and only shows climate control on the screen which reduces its cost. It supports 85% of home systems, as compared to other expensive models which support 95%, and also works with heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, according to Bloomberg.
The new thermostat is going to blast the market on Friday, but the current version of $250 is still on sale.