I bought a smart kettle that has become quite dumb, but I keep it

When I first embarked on the epic journey of finding a kettle for my apartment, I had no idea that the road would be so dangerous and complicated. You see, I have no previous experience with electric kettles – where I come from, you just boil some water in the oven and drink your Arabic coffee, hot cocoa or tea.

This new world of plugable kettles was new to me, and I thought I’d get a smart one so I’d drink hot water when I got out of bed. The possibility of saying “Hey Google, turn on the kettle” while snoozing was like a dream. It turns out that heat and electricity are not a joke and many manufacturers do not believe that your kettle will actually have water in it before you turn it on remotely, especially if there is no sensor to detect the water level before the kettle gets too hot.

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Sadly, I have my Mi Smart Kettle Pro (About. € 40 or £ 40) I spent half an hour searching for the power button on the Mi Home app before I realized it, remote on / off is not a feature of this particular kettle. Still, I filled it with water so I decided to let it go. Seven months later, I still have that kettle – and that’s not because I’m too lazy to return it.

The reason is simple: for the price (I got it on sale on a Black Friday of € 30), it even loses a mile to the dumb kettle competition. It looks very clean and compact, it is a stainless steel kettle with proper separation, so you will not get burned even if you touch it despite the water boiling inside. It shuts off automatically when you remove it from its base or when water boils or it is completely empty.

However, what sets Mi Mi Kettle Pro apart is its semi-smart features. The LED screen indicates the current temperature of the water. There are two buttons, one for boiling water at 100 ° C and the other for heating up to one of five predetermined temperatures. The app lets you pick them anywhere from 40 ° C to 90 ° C and you can set it up so that the temperature stays up to 12 hours.

All I have to do is fill the kettle and press a button to get 70 ° C water for my tea and 75 ° C water for my hot cocoa or instant coffee for many hours (I apologize for causing anger to all coffee fans). It just doesn’t matter the temperature I pick it up. You can’t lose the combination of features for the price.

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Also, I realized that there is some pickling to fill the kettle every morning and wait for the water to warm up. A voice command from the bed will not feel the same. And who will add water if the kettle is empty? I still have to get up.

Despite my conviction, I kept my eye on the connected smart kettle market. So far, I don’t see anything that would require me to upgrade directly from Mi Smart Kettle Pro. The choices are extremely limited and there is nothing that ticks all the boxes. (Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like BT aint for me either.

Some models do not integrate with Google Assistant, others are made of glass and not properly disassembled like this Corex ($ 95) For example, and some have a maximum capacity of 800ml this Cosori ($ 78) The best option seems to be from the famous smart light brand Govee, which is now Below 50 Thanks for a $ 30 coupon. It has a small capacity, but the discount price is realistic. It is available in the United States, but unfortunately not in France where I live

Honestly, having a Bluetooth chip in a product that seems like a huge waste is only useful a few times – you should keep your hot water for a period of time after setting up your five preferred temperatures, you don’t need to open the app again. Perfect example of over-engineering for its sake.

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But while similar features cost more in a regular kettle, well, I’ll keep the “smart” one. Xiaomi will probably immerse in a future version and release a completely remotely controlled one, but until then, semi-smart does it.