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I visited a ‘smart cottage’ that tracks my phone to warm up & switch lights before I get home – and I’m obsessed
You can also unlock the home via the app, which means you can give friends and family access from afar.
WELCOME to the modern cottage, where a thatched roof is replaced by a blanket of solar panels, and the lights switch on before you get home thanks to GPS tracking.
This off-grid tiny home is ready to live in straight off the lorry, and it's cheaper than a lot of the houses you'll see on the market today.
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It's been built by LG, the Korean tech powerhouse that might have made your TV or washing machine.
While the jump from appliances to homes might seem chasmic, when you step into this 44.4m2 abode, it makes perfect sense.
The so-called LG 'smart cottage' can track your phone GPS to trigger certain functionalities when you're nearby.
This could be switching the lights on, the heating, the TV, or even the washing machine.
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These functionalities can even be triggered by time or the weather.
So if there's been a cold snap, and the temperatures drop, the house can automatically warm up to your preferred climate through the Smart Routines feature in LG's ThinQ app.
You can also unlock the home via the app, which means you can give friends and family access from afar.
Each home comes fitted with an LG induction cooktop and light wave oven, refrigerator, washing machine and tumble dryer, water purifier, StandbyME TV, HomeBrew coffee machine and CordZero vacuum.
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You even have a choice of LG's Tiiun plant-growing box or wine cellar.
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I visited the Duo+ house, one of four LG cottage styles, which is a two-story with the solar panels package.
You step in off the mini porch into a sleek kitchen-living space with stunning wood panelling and warm mood lighting.
The walkway to the shower room and toilet has been turned into a mini-utility room with a wash-tower and sink, as well as hidden storage cubbyholes in the stairs.
Tucked away in the roof is the bedroom, with an a-frame style slanted ceiling.
Pre-orders for one of these futuristic homes opened in late October for Koreans, the only market in which these properties are currently available.
However, there is scope for them expanding into the US and beyond.
Prices range from the 26.6m2 single-story Mono £111,000 ($143,000) to the £217,000 (£280,000) Duo+.
While they far exceed the price of some flat-pack tiny homes you might find on Amazon, each cottage comes with a selection of 14 LG appliances, all installed for you.
Once you click 'buy', it takes two months for LG to build the cottage (out of recycled materials, I might add) and deliver it to you.
It then takes just two days to get the property hooked up to the mains and plumbing, which LG also helps with.
The stylish cottages are certainly compact - but for an adult already squeezing into a London house share, it feels pretty roomy.
They're probably not quite ready to move a family into, but LG has plans to produce more spacious models in the future.
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Having a home that can 'talk' to your phone and all its internal appliances feels effortlessly futuristic.
But the next plausible step for LG's smart cottages will be to integrate with artificial intelligence (AI), which really will feel like one big step into the future sci-fi novels told us about.
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