NEWS – Masonite has designed what has been called the world’s first smart door. It starts with a high-end door and adds a video doorbell, a smart lock, motion-activated LEDs, and a door sensor. Plus, it’s hard-wired, so you never have to worry about batteries. Sounds fabulous, doesn’t it? It does! It’s the M-Pwr line of smart doors, and they are available at Home Depot.
Trust me here: You’re going to want to pass on this one. Why would I say that? First, look at the price. They start at $4,000 and work their way up to $7,000! Second, the smart parts of this door require three different apps to manage! The Ring app manages the doorbell and camera, the Yale app the lock, and the M-Pwr app the door itself. What a disaster! I guess Masonite has never heard of interoperability or open standards like Thread and Matter.
I love the idea of this door, but I hate the implementation. Hopefully, however, Masonite will spark a new set of smart devices, where several gadgets work together to accomplish something useful.
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I haven’t forgiven Masonite for the siding that came on our house 30 years ago. They should have called it ‘painted cardboard’. Or ‘starter siding’.