---
title: Looking Back 2016
date: 2016-12-31 13:09:02
permalink: https://lesterchan.net/blog/2016/12/31/looking-back-2016/
author: Lester Chan
excerpt: "Looking back at 2016, my biggest change was moving into my new house on 14th May, which I made smart with Fibaro, SmartThings, and Amazon Echo. I travelled three times, to Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Munich."
categories:
  - Blog
tags:
  - "2016"
  - "2017"
  - looking back
---

Looking Back 2016, I moved into my new house on 14th May 2016. That is probably the biggest change in my life so far.

I managed to make my house into a smart home with Fibaro, [SmartThings](https://lesterchan.net/blog/2016/05/30/samsung-smartthings/) and a couple of [Amazon Echo](https://lesterchan.net/blog/2015/08/28/amazon-echo/). You can read about my journey [here](https://lesterchan.net/blog/2016/06/21/the-start-of-my-smart-home-journey/) and [here](https://lesterchan.net/blog/2016/07/14/using-mco-touch-panel-with-storage-water-heater/).

Only traveled three times this year, to Bangkok in February, Hong Kong in September and Munich in November.

Got a 256GB iPhone 7 Plus in Jet Black to replace my 128GB iPhone 6s Plus in Gold. Replaced my Nexus 6P with [Huawei Mate 9](https://lesterchan.net/blog/2016/11/21/huawei-mate-9-review/) as well.

I always wanted a Sonos and I finally got it during Amazon’s Black Friday sales. I bought 3x Sonos PLAY:1. It is about S$100 cheaper for each PLAY:1 even if you factored in shipping cost.

**[What I Said In 2015](https://lesterchan.net/blog/2015/12/31/looking-back-2015/)**

> For 2016, I hope [Mac mini](https://www.apple.com/sg/mac-mini/) will get a major refresh so I can buy it along with two Dell 27″ monitors.

The Mac mini didn’t get an upgrade this year. All the hardware attention is on the new MacBook Pro. I hope this will change in 2017. I really need a new desktop Mac and nope I am not going for Hackintosh.

> For the Dell monitors, I am aiming for the Dell UltraSharp 27 Monitor – U2715H. Hopefully, by mid of next year, the prices would have dropped.

I managed to get 3x [Dell UltraSharp 27 InfinityEdge Monitor (U2717D)](https://lesterchan.net/blog/2016/02/22/dell-ultrasharp-infinityedge-monitors/) for my new house at S$764 each.

## For 2017

I am guessing 2017 will be the year of wireless mesh Wi-Fi system with Eero, Google Wi-Fi, Luma and Orbi already on the bandwagon. We will probably see more mainstream brands like Linksys, D-Link, TP-Link, Netgear and Asus on board. I am already using Eero (next blog post) for my house. I really hope to get a Mac desktop computer in 2017 and I can’t wait for iPhone 8 (or whatever you call it).

I probably want to travel more, especially to Japan, since I have not been to Japan before.

**I would like to wish all my readers, visitors, and supporters a very Happy New Year 2017! 2017 will be an awesome year for us!**

**Looking Back 2016**

>