Finally some much needed smart appliance love for those without central air conditioning (and it’ll keep you cool): the Quirky Aros. Backed by GE, the New York-based start-up Quirky has combined the traditional window A/C unit with some very modern technologies to create the Nest (smart thermostat) of window air conditioners at a particularly reasonable price. On the surface, the Aros is an 8,000 BTU window A/C unit (rated to cool 350 square feet) with an almost Apple-like exterior (it looks as good as any window A/C unit I could imagine). Throw in touch capacitive buttons, Wi-Fi, and an iPhone and Android app for adjusting remotely and you’ve got your smart window air conditioner. The smartphone app doesn’t just let you control the temperature remotely…
The Aros takes advantage of GPS data and can enable and disable itself based on when you arrive and leave based on location with its “smart away” feature. Hooray for automation! Aros doesn’t stop there. It also takes into account your budget, weather, and usage patterns to recommend a schedule and temperature for programming.
Pricing on the Aros is equally impressive. For context, equally rated and infinitely uglier window A/C units range from the low $200s upwards of over $500 in some instances. The Aros, with all its smarts and features (and design), retails for $300 on Amazon (Prime eligible) and is available for pre-order now with plans to ship in early May.
See it in action:
Introducing Aros from Quirky on Vimeo.
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This is a domain all the smart phones can value in to. Smart home automation.
“An almost Apple-like exterior.” Almost. Even if Quirky Aros were pitching hydrogen bombs, I’m not sure “almost,” as it seems distant in the extreme, really gets the job done.
Because walking over to the window and pressing a button is SO HARD.
@Lance Live in NY for a summer & paying your own AC bill. It’s not that pressing a button is hard, it’s coming home to a stifling hot apartment.
Also, my cat isn’t able to push buttons so being able to push the button for him from my office is a nice feature.
If you have never purchased a window AC unit or if you are considering trading up to a smart one there are a decent number of things to consider, like noise level, design, and even installation. Not something to jump in to… until it gets hot and muggy anyway.