First it was our walls getting smarter with the addition of audio features, such as in the case of the iDevices Instinct wall switch. Now, smoke alarm maker First Alert brings similar audio capability to our ceilings with the Onelink Safe & Sound, a smart smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector with a high-fidelity speaker and Amazon Alexa built in.
Since the product also has noise reduction microphones integrated, there is no need for other Amazon Echo speakers in the home to take advantage of the voice activation features and deliver on the broad range of spoken Alexa natural language queries and audio services.
As one might expect, the alarm can announce the occurrence of smoke and carbon monoxide events through its speaker, much the same on that front as the Nest Protect Smoke + CO Alarm. But the First Alert Onelink Safe & Sound goes far beyond the simple alerts of its Nest competitor by including the capability to deliver quality music from any of the multiple audio services supported by the Amazon Alexa ecosystem. Alerts can also be configured to display in the First Alert mobile app.
First Alert also says Onelink Safe & Sound will support Apple HomeKit, meaning the Apple Home app and Apple Siri digital assistant and will be able to control the various smoke alarm functions. The Siri assistant is not built into the smoke alarm, so you will have to use another Apple iOS or MacOS device with Siri enabled to issue voice commands. Also coming later in 2018 to the Onelink Safe & Sound will be Apple AirPlay 2 support, which will add more audio and music playback options.
First Alert says they plan to release the Onelink Safe & Sound later in Spring 2018. It is expected to be priced at $249.
