Internet connected devices around the home, such as smart lights, heaters, and sound systems, are typically controlled by apps on your phone.

Enter the flics, small silicone buttons the size of a 20-cent piece that you can stick on your wall or in your pocket and control smart devices with a click instead.

Each flic button is paired with an Android or iPhone, and pre-defined actions — such as light-dimming or location-sharing — are set up using its controller app.

However, I'm not convinced. The buttons are pitched as an easy alternative to taking out your phone all the time and using apps to control devices. But I don't see this as a problem to be solved, at least not for people who are constantly on their phones anyway.

There are single action flics ($26) designed for one task, and triple action flics ($45) to control three things with either a click, double click, or hold. For example, press the button once to turn up heating, twice to play music, and hold to switch on the game console.

But the more tasks you have, the more flic buttons you'll be accumulating. At least apps on my phone are all in one place and I won't be misplacing them, or having to remember which button does which set of actions. Was it two clicks to turn on the lights, or was that the sequence to play the Ramones at full volume?

As we navigate through this intelligent automation space, flics will become redundant. For example, a flic button in the car can activate phone functions such as navigating, texting or hanging up on calls, but my car's steering wheel can accept and end calls, and rather than pressing a button I use voice recognition on my phone to activate navigation and texting apps.