The Ava Remote is a sign of what the perfect smart home controller could be

Last week, I visited the world of the professionally installed smart home. This is the promised land. Everything just works, your voice assistant doesn’t try to sell you toilet paper, and you can control your whole home with just one app. Of course, you pay a hefty price and have to give up lots of control for the privilege.

I was at CEDIA Expo 2022, the annual trade show of the Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association (think CES, but less weird stuff and more stuff you — or someone with more money than you — can actually buy). 

Here, I got to hold the almost perfect smart home controller: a sleek touchscreen, wrapped in a smooth anodized aluminum body with a tiny bezel and a nice pad to rest your thumb on. The Ava Remote could be the love child of an iPhone and a Logitech Harmony remote.