Great for Scheduling
We have a multitude of ‘dumb’ appliances plugged into smart plugs in our home, but I hadn’t really considered the value of a USB smart plug before. Admittedly, it was difficult for me to think of an immediate use case, but I’ve since tried several things that I’ve found very helpful.The unit itself is extremely compact, which is great if you’re working with small spaces. In my case, I have a power strip with USB ports built into my desk, so that’s where I have mainly plugged it in. I haven’t tried it, but I’d imagine you could plug this into a standard wall adapter and it’d work just fine.Set-up was very fast and easy. Note that it requires a 2.4 GHz connection, as many smart home devices do. Many modern routers switch between these automatically, but you may sometimes need to switch manually for the device to connect.The plug uses the Tuya app (a well-known budget smart tech brand), and I was up and running in only a few minutes. The app is fairly bare-bones, but it functions well and is clearly labeled. Each port (one USB-A and one USB-C) can be controlled independently, as can scheduling. It’s worth noting that Tuya is a Chinese brand, and some people have concerns about privacy, so it’s your call. I have a lot of smart devices, so I set them all up on a separate network.I did hook the plug up to Alexa via the skill, and it worked, but I disconnected it shortly thereafter. As I’ve used it, the primary benefit of this plug for me has been to set up scheduling for device charging (tablet, wireless headphones), and, since it’s plugged into my desk, it’s within arm’s reach whenever I really need to use it. Unlike my lights or other appliances, I don’t really see myself needing voice control for this.This turned out to be a nice, affordable smart plug option. It may be a little more niche for most users, but anything powered by USB-A or USB-C can become smart with this, so the sky’s the limit!