If the whole advantage of a smart home is controlling your appliances from your phone, ask yourself this: why should you have to unlock your phone and go hunting through apps just to turn on a light? Operated that way, a smart home system stops being convenient or practical at all.
The barrier was language
One reason Hong Kong's smart home market has developed slowly is language. Appliances could not be controlled in Cantonese, our mother tongue — voice control meant giving commands in English or Mandarin. Operating your own home in a second language feels off: it lacks humanity, and it lacks warmth. A house you have to address like a foreign call center never quite feels like yours.
Voice is supposed to be the most natural interface there is. But that is only true in the language you think in. For Hong Kong households, that language is Cantonese — and for years, Cantonese was simply not on the menu.
The light switch sounds like a trivial example until you multiply it. A home has dozens of small interactions a day — lights, and the appliances around them — and every one that requires a phone in your hand is a small tax on the idea of a smart home. Voice removes the tax. But only if the voice can be yours.
Cantonese control, at last
Today, finally, there is a way to control appliances in Cantonese — you can see it working in the demo above. I will be honest about what working on this taught me: I felt, deeply, how much of a minority dialect Cantonese has become. I asked around. Even when I put the question to Hong Kong's leading technology companies, their answers left me puzzled. I asked product managers at mainland technology companies, and their answers were no more certain. Even the manufacturers themselves did not know whether it could succeed.
That uncertainty is itself the story. A language spoken by millions in their own homes had become an edge case — something the industry filed under "maybe later," while everyone waited for someone else to solve it.
Why we kept going
My hope is that this way of controlling appliances in Cantonese can benefit people, and help Hong Kong's smart home market develop. When the language barrier falls, the rest of the technology finally has room to grow: a home you can talk to, in the words you would use with family, is a home whose smart features will actually be used — by grandparents and children alike, not just by whoever set up the app.
That is the direction Oolaa's smart mirror work has always pointed: technology that adapts to the people in the home, in their own language, rather than the other way around.
Key facts
- Phone-only smart home control misses the point: unlocking a phone and hunting for an app just to switch a light is neither convenient nor practical.
- Hong Kong's smart home adoption was held back by language — voice control worked in English or Mandarin, not in Cantonese, the local mother tongue.
- A way to control home appliances by voice in Cantonese now exists; the demo video in this post shows it working.
- Even major technology companies and manufacturers were unsure Cantonese control could be achieved — which is why it took so long to arrive.
- Oolaa (Viewdex Limited): Hong Kong company, own factory in Shenzhen, 31,000+ installations across Hong Kong and Macau.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Cantonese voice control such a big deal for Hong Kong homes?
Because Cantonese is the mother tongue. Controlling your home in English or Mandarin feels impersonal, and the lack of Cantonese control was one reason Hong Kong's smart home market developed slowly.
What is wrong with controlling appliances from a phone?
If every light switch means unlocking a phone and finding the right app, the system is not convenient or practical — voice is the more natural interface, in the language you think in.
Can I see Cantonese voice control working?
Yes — the demo video at the top of this post shows home appliances being controlled by voice in Cantonese.
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