Coway Airmega Pedestal Fan P50 Review: Anti-App
Key takeaways
- WIREDControlled by remote, touchscreen, or voice with no app or Wi-Fi required.
- Coway, maker of some of our favorite air purifiers (which I will note are also app-free), agrees with this, which is why its first stand-alone fan, the P50 pedestal fan, eschews app-based controls.
- That distinction goes to the Airmega Aim, a combination air purifier/fan that looks like a little projector and is really not a serious contender for larger spaces or rooms that need a lot of airflow.
Why this matters: a development in AI with implications for how people work, create, and decide.
Courtesy of Amazon$130 at Amazon Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Rating:7/10
WIREDControlled by remote, touchscreen, or voice with no app or Wi-Fi required. Stable design makes it difficult to tip over. Extremely quiet. Easy to move around with a built-in handle. Can add or remove pole segments to adjust the height.TIREDVoice control works only with a narrow range of commands. Remote doesn’t come with batteries and has no on-board storage. Wind speed not impressive if you need major air movement.I’ve tested nearly 45 fans for WIRED over the past two years, so I can say this with some authority: Your fan doesn’t need an app. If the app helps connect the device with your smart-home ecosystem to enable voice control, that’s fine, but a fan is supposed to blend unobtrusively into the background of your life, not take up any remaining scraps of real estate on your phone or in your brain.
Coway, maker of some of our favorite air purifiers (which I will note are also app-free), agrees with this, which is why its first stand-alone fan, the P50 pedestal fan, eschews app-based controls. Turn the fan on or off, change the oscillation, or adjust the speed up and down with either your voice or the remote—no need for a phone or Wi-Fi. It’s a solid concept from a brand that’s proven its mettle in reliability and build quality, but after living with this fan for the past two weeks, I’m not sure its marquee feature is actually its main selling point.