Today we examine an interesting new smart home product that’s sure to up your home security game. It’s called the Smart Cube Bluetooth Smart Lock, and it’s the only little lock you need to keep your cupboards, cabinets, and other storage areas locked up safe and secure in your home. If you’ve been looking for a smart solution to the problem of keeping your property safely stored in a location where you’ll always be able to find it, and one that doesn’t involve having a big, clunky, old-fashioned padlock visibly affixed to your doors and drawers, then the Smart Cube might just be the answer you’re looking for. If this sounds intriguing to you, read on for the full review and details of this “only available at Best Buy” product.
Please take a couple of minutes to check out my brief video overview of the Smart Cube Bluetooth Smart Lock. In it I give a close up look at the lock in its packaging, I demo how the lock placement guide works, and I show how the lock looks once it’s been installed:
Smart Cube Features and Specs
The Smart Cube is a small Bluetooth lock that’s quick and easy to install and provides an extra layer of security in your home against the theft of important personal items, as well as giving you easy access those items at any time without the necessity of a key. The main benefit of the Smart Cube is its ability to work with your smart phone through a Bluetooth connection and its own dedicated app. This allows you to lock or unlock the cupboard, cabinet, drawer, or any other door that it’s protecting remotely. The Smart Cube is also fully compatible with home automation systems such as Google Home, Amazon Echo, and Nest, and it can provide you with instant electronic notifications if and when someone tries to tamper with your lock.
Included with the Smart Cube are one CR2 battery, one Allen key to open the battery hatch, one alcohol wipe to prepare the surface you’re attaching the cube to, enough screws to secure both the cube and its locking bolt in place, and a handy little guide card that helps you to place the cube in the perfect position relative to the door you’re trying to secure. There’s also a ‘Protected by Smart Armour’ sticker that you may choose to affix to the outside of the protected door if you wish. The Smart Cube is capable of withstanding up to 125 pounds of pressure when locked, meaning it’s ready to protect your personal property when you’re not around to do so yourself.
Testing the Smart Cube
Testing the Smart Cube for myself was not without its difficulties. I found that the Smart Armour App (the app that controls the cube) did not want to cooperate with my Android based smart phone, leading me to get some troubleshooting help to continue with the test. Luckily the Smart Cube folks were extremely helpful and ended up sending along a replacement sample and letting me know that the Smart Armour App, which was still in Beta testing for Android phones at that time, was receiving a full release that very day.
So I waited a few days for the replacement cube to arrive and ended up installing it in one of my kitchen cupboards. I didn’t screw it down with the included screws. Instead, I just used the super sticky 3M adhesive that was already attached to both the cube itself and to the locking bolt. Had I been doing more than a simple test of the product, I would have fastened it down more permanently using the screws that are included in the kit.
In any case, I used my wife’s iPhone to test the lock and app once the replacement arrived, and I found that the iOS version of the Smart Armour App was more effective for me than the Android version. I was then able to get the lock up and running rather quickly. I believe that the Android version of the app, which was running a bit behind the Apple version in terms of its development, will be running a lot more smoothly by the time this review is live.
When you want to lock your drawer or cabinet, you simply shut the door and press the lock/unlock icon on your smart phone’s screen to lock the cube. It’s very easy to do, and it seems fairly secure.
The way the lock itself works is that once you press the icon, tumblers inside the cube turn so as to grab the locking bolt, thus keeping the cube and bolt firmly together and preventing the door they’re attached to from opening. And for the most part it seems to work quite well, although there was one instance where the cube seemingly unlocked all by itself. This was somewhat concerning, but it only happened once and I chalked it up to some sort of technical glitch. The Smart Cube is still a very new product, and I believe that improvements and app debugging were an ongoing process when I had the cube here for testing, so hopefully that was a one-off issue.
In any case though, I prefer to think of the Smart Cube as a great way to secure important possessions of the less valuable variety. If you’re looking to lock up expensive jewelry or luxury watches, you really want a heavy-duty safe for that, or a bank safety deposit box. However, if you’re just trying to maintain secure custody of your important tax documents, you want to store some tools or silverware safely in a secure cabinet, or you just want a safe place to store your precious photographs so that the kids don’t get ahold of them and scatter them all over the house, I think that the Smart Cube might just be an ideal keyless solution.
Final Thoughts
The Smart Cube is a small product with big potential. Although I had a few minor issues with it myself, I’m hopeful that everything will be smooth sailing from here on out. Once it is, I’d be happy to recommend the Smart Cube to anyone with possessions they want to protect. The Smart Cube may not be to everyone’s advantage, but for those with a love of organization and safekeeping, it could certainly be a handy and helpful little tool.
The Smart Cube comes in single and 3-pack configurations. Get yours are Best Buy Canada today!
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How can you post anything positive about this company and product? Review their Indigogo campaign comments and you will find that all the backers that helped to fund the development of this product were left in the dust. Those that contributed to their campaign never received the product promised. Look at the reviews on Best Buy and the comments on Indiegogo. This company is in direct violation of Indiegogo terms of use and legal obligations. Apparently, the CEO, Justin Zastrow, took the money for funding, developed the product, sent it to market and said forget the original backers of the project. Very unethical, and perhaps illegal business practice. We will see what the lawyers say. Do NOT buy this product, and I am surprised that Best Buy would even support such unethical business practices.
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