Although Samsung has been in the smart home game for a few years now with its SmartThings ecosystem, its lineup has mostly relied on being a central home automation hub that integrates with third-party devices like plugs and lights to automate your home. Until today, the majority of the brand's IoT products were sensors that would act as triggers, but the company is now expanding it with a smart camera, plug, and bulb, which give it a complete range of smart home products.

SmartThings Cam

Samsung's new security camera is an interesting contender in its segment, as it has a Full HD sensor with a 145-degree wide-angle lens, night vision, and HDR imaging. Like most of its competitors, it features motion sensing and can recognize humans to avoid triggering unnecessary alerts. It also allows you to set a custom monitoring zone to notify you when something moves in that specific area, which is useful to check if your pet is sleeping on your bed while you're away. Plus, the Cam features two-way audio to let you speak to visitors even when you're away. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a battery and will need to be hard-wired, which might be a dealbreaker for some. It's also not weather-proof and only meant to be installed indoors, so forget about using it to keep an eye on your front door. It can be easily wall-mounted, though, so you'll be able to keep a watch on an entire room without much hassle.

In terms of cloud storage, the Cam comes with a free membership that offers 24 hours of video footage online for up to four cameras. A premium subscription lets you extend these figures to 30 days of cloud storage and a total of eight cameras for $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year. As this is a SmartThings product, it can also act as a trigger for home automation tasks, such as turning on your lights when you walk into a room. The Cam is available starting today for $89.99, which makes it quite an affordable product given its features.

SmartThings Wifi Smart Plug

Samsung has also announced a new Wi-Fi plug that connects directly to your router. Like most intelligent sockets, it can be programmed to turn on and off at specific times and works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and of course, Bixby. It also supports up to 15A and will be able to work with slightly larger appliances such as portable heaters and fans. Its main advantage is how easily it connects to other SmartThings products like the Cam, letting you turn a device on when motion is sensed in a predefined zone. Lastly, its compact size leaves the second socket free so you can connect another appliance at the same time. At $17.99, it's reasonably priced against the competition, especially given it's made by a major brand.

SmartThings Smart Bulb

With this bulb, Samsung is releasing a direct Hue competitor. While it's simpler, it's also much cheaper, as it only costs $9.99. In terms of features, we're looking at a modest dimmable and programmable white light that works with most voice assistants. Just like the plug, it integrates with SmartThings routines to turn on and off based on preset triggers, such as when you leave the house.

Because it uses the Zigbee protocol to communicate with its base, it would typically require a SmartThings hub to function, but you may not need one if you have a Samsung TV, SmartThings WiFi router, or an Amazon Echo Plus or Show. Unfortunately, there's only an A19/E26 model available for now, and no color options have been announced. Other variants could be in the making, though, as Samsung seems to be targeting Philips' ecosystem with this bulb.

With these products, Samsung is upping its smart home game and has some solid arguments to convince people. Not only are these devices easy to integrate with other SmartThings-compatible products, they're also affordable and offer respectable features compared to the competition. If you're interested in getting any of them, they're already available at select retailers in the US, including Best Buy. There's also a special discount when buying two Cams simultaneously, for a total of $160.

Buy: Best Buy (Cam, Plug, Bulb)

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