A couple of months, we learned Johnson Controls had teamed up with Microsoft to create the GLAS, an interesting room thermostat featuring Cortana. The Redmond giant shared more details about the smart thermostat in a blog post today, revealing that it will be available for pre-order in March 2018.
Unlike the Harman Kardon Invoke speaker which is powered by a customized version of Linux, GLAS runs Windows 10 IoT Core. Just like other smart thermostats already in the market, it can continuously monitor air quality and humidity in your home and intelligently adjust temperature to save energy.
In addition to using the OLED touchscreen display for direct controls, GLAS also lets you use voice commands to adjust temperature, learn about the current weather forecast and more. “Cortana can help you manage your calendar, inform you of traffic, answer questions, and more, so all of this information is on display in one place to help jumpstart your day before leaving the door,” Microsoft explained.
Because it’s always connected to the Internet, GLAS can also adapt to your schedule and adjust temperature when you’re not home. It will also be possible to tweak the temperature from anywhere by using the GLAS smart thermostat app for iOS, Android and Windows 10 or a web dashboard.
You can learn more about GLAS, with its suggested retail price of $319, on Johnson Controls’ website. It will be interesting to see if the Cortana-powered smart thermostat can compete with similar products that work with Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri.
