Honeywell has announced a new thermostat called the Lyric, which will compete with Google's Nest for control of the smart thermostat market. The Lyric's main selling point is its ability to connect to and interact with smartphones.
The Honeywell Lyric makes use of geofencing to automatically set the temperature. It connects with the user's smartphone to track its location. When the phone leaves the house, the Lyric turns down the heating or cooling, bringing the home to the set temperature when the user returns. Like Google's Nest, the thermostat can also be controlled manually from its touchscreen display or from the accompanying smartphone app.
The Lyric's display turn on automatically when its proximity sensor detects the user's approach, displaying the current temperature and the temperature it is set to. It also casts a blue glow on the wall behind it when it is cooling, an orange light when heating and a green light for when it is in energy-saving mode. The press of a button can display the outside temperature and weather, or set the thermostat to away mode for a predetermined amount of time.
Whereas Google's Nest is advertised as a thermostat that learns from user's routine in order to save money, Honeywell argues that its users don't always have a routine. The Lyric is designed to adapt on the fly, changing the temperature whenever it detects the device leaving the house.
The Fine Tune feature is one area where Lyric raises the bar above Google's Nest. It uses temperature, humidity and weather to calculate the ideal setting. The Lyric also provides what Honeywell calls Smart Cues. These can inform users when they need to change the filter of their air conditioner, or when the heating or cooling system may require repair.
Honeywell has a long history in the thermostat industry, having invented the first thermostat to use the Lyric's round design in 1953. It also has a 39 percent market share, far more than any other thermostat company. However, the Lyric may still have difficulty outperforming Google's Nest in sales. Whereas the Nest has a retail price of $249, the Lyric costs $279. The Nest is available through Google and other online retailers, while the Lyric is currently in the hands of many heating and cooling contractors, and won't begin retail distribution until August.
