If the only advantage of a smart home is that you can control your appliances with your phone, it is fair to ask an awkward question: why do you have to unlock your phone and search for an app just to turn on the lights? Operation like that makes a smart home less convenient and less practical — the opposite of what it promises. Watch the demonstration above to see the alternative.
The phone-app paradox
The phone was supposed to be the universal remote. In practice, it is a locked door: pick it up, unlock it, find the right app, wait for it to load, find the right device, then tap. Multiply that small ceremony by every light, every appliance and every evening, and the "smart" home starts to feel like extra work. Voice control removes the queue entirely — you speak, and the home responds.
The language barrier holding Hong Kong back
One of the reasons the development of the smart home market in Hong Kong has been limited is language. Control has largely meant voice commands in English or Mandarin only — which, for Cantonese-speaking households, feels less humane and less friendly. A home you cannot talk to in your own language never quite feels like yours; technology that asks you to switch languages to switch on a light has the relationship backwards.
Today, appliances answer in Cantonese
That barrier is now gone: we finally have a way to control appliances in Cantonese. With Oolaa, voice control runs through Google Assistant with Cantonese support, so the home is operated the natural way — you speak in Cantonese, and your appliances respond. No unlocking, no app-hunting, no performing a second language for your own living room.
The hope behind it is the one this project started with: that controlling appliances in Cantonese can benefit the people of Hong Kong — and promote the development of the local smart home market into what it always should have been.
Key facts
- Phone-only control means unlocking a phone and hunting for an app for every action — even turning on the lights.
- Hong Kong's smart home growth has been limited by language: English- or Mandarin-only voice control feels less humane and less friendly to Cantonese speakers.
- Oolaa enables appliance control by voice in Cantonese, running through Google Assistant with Cantonese support.
- Voice removes the friction entirely — speak, and the home responds, with no phone in hand.
- Oolaa (Viewdex Limited): Hong Kong company, own factory in Shenzhen, 31,000+ installations across Hong Kong and Macau.
Frequently asked questions
Why is phone-only control a problem?
Every action — even turning on the lights — means unlocking your phone, finding the right app and tapping through to the right device. That friction makes a smart home feel less convenient, not more.
Why does Cantonese voice control matter in Hong Kong?
Cantonese is Hong Kong's everyday language. When voice control only works in English or Mandarin, it feels less humane and less friendly — one of the reasons the local smart home market has been limited.
How does Oolaa's Cantonese control work?
Voice control runs through Google Assistant with Cantonese support: speak in Cantonese, and your connected appliances respond.
Planning a residential, hotel, or commercial project in Hong Kong? Talk to the team behind 31,000+ installations.