A night in the Xiaomi Smart Home: die-hard Apple fans test Xiaomi devices

I get to spend a night in the Xiaomi Smart Home, and I was terribly excited beforehand, because it is packed with really cool Xiaomi tech. I’m not there alone: my four closest friends, all die-hard Apple fans, are coming over for a summer dinner. For me, a home only becomes a home when the people who matter to you come to visit.

The room tour: so many Xiaomi devices

Before I cook, I show the apartment. A little game to go with it: count how many Xiaomi devices you can see.

• Entrance and bathroom: In the entrance area hangs a pinboard with photos from earlier events. Opposite is a fully equipped bathroom.
• Kitchen: a large open kitchen with access to the balcony and a small office corner. There you’ll find a kettle, a rice cooker, an air fryer and the Smart Cooking Robot. The newest highlight and the device I’m longing for is the Xiaomi portafilter coffee machine, which is unfortunately permanently sold out online.
• Living room: a suspension e-scooter that I’ve already tested and that is a lot of fun to ride, lamps, a smartwatch, a vacuum cleaner that also mops, a projector, a smart TV and a cordless vacuum cleaner with various attachments.
• Bathroom and sleeping area: toothbrush, shaver, hair dryer, radio and body scale. Also the Xiaomi 15 Ultra with the Photography Kit, the Redmi 14C, headphones, power bank, router, smart camera, straps for the smartwatch, robot vacuum and mop, Redmi Watch 5, Smart Band 9 Pro, outdoor camera, massage gun and a cordless screwdriver. I didn’t know Xiaomi had a cordless screwdriver.
• Office corner: a robot vacuum and mop that changes the water automatically, an automatic food dispenser for cats and dogs, the photo printer (the photos on the wall come from it), the current tablet with keyboard that I also use at home, an extremely thin monitor, a fan heater, plus a speaker, router, amplifier and a mini speaker.
• Dining room: a huge TV and an air purifier.

The beauty of a smart home is that you control all the devices in one app, the Xiaomi Smart Home app. You can set up routines there: the air fryer or the coffee machine starts at a certain time, the lights go on and off, the robot vacuum sets off.

After that, the first thing I do is make myself a coffee with the portafilter machine. Dosing is always the problem, and my first coffee was really strong.

Preparing the dinner

I’m making a watermelon salad with feta and mint, a summer recipe and, for me, an insider tip. The main course is chicken breast with green asparagus and potato wedges. I actually wanted to use the Smart Cooking Robot, but with that quantity and the many ingredients it wasn’t that easy. So the potatoes go in the oven and the chicken breast in the air fryer to make it crispy.

While cooking, I think of my guests. I’ve been friends with two of them for over 10 years, and with my best friend for about 23 years. I’m grateful for such close friendships over such a long time.

Apple fans test Xiaomi

While I keep cooking, my friends look around the smart home and try out devices. They start the Smart Cooking Robot with recipes like butter chicken, and test the fan at 30 degrees, the hair dryer and the scale. One of the guests says he still has his iPhone 13 and that nothing has happened since. Maybe he should try something new.

After dinner we play a game that I’ll show in the second part of the video. I didn’t know which devices Xiaomi has in its lineup, and my friends certainly don’t either. They wouldn’t have thought there was a Xiaomi cordless screwdriver.

The evening comes to an end

It got to be 2 a.m., and I didn’t get to bed until 2:30 a.m. I slept really well and stayed well away from the devices. In the morning there’s one more coffee, and then I unfortunately have to pack my suitcase again. My time in the Xiaomi Smart Home was over faster than I could blink, but I will come back.