7/28/2023 0 Comments Nanoleaf shapes controllerEach screen in the Nanoleaf app seems to cram more information into frame than is necessary, and common tasks like adjusting the mix of colors in a scene feel needlessly tedious. The only rub is that you'll need a HomeKit hub (an Apple TV, an Apple HomePod, or a dedicated, always-on iPad) in order to use them.Īll of that helps to keep the panels feeling fresh and highly customizable, but it isn't nearly as intuitive as I'd like. That's up to three automations per panel, something smart home geeks can have a lot of fun with. If you're an Apple HomeKit user, you can also activate "Touch Actions," which let you trigger other HomeKit-compatible gadgets with a tap, a double tap, or a long press. I cranked some Bowie and had a field day trying out different presets to find the ones I liked best - and if you want, you can create your own presets with the exact colors and animations you prefer. Ask for your favorite playlist with one of those Rhythm presets running, and presto, you've got your own little disco going. Sure enough, the feature still works like a charm, particularly if you've got a stereo or a smart speaker parked nearby. The processing all happens right there at the wall, with no need to send audio to the cloud - that keeps latency nice and low, and it's good for your privacy, too. The feature uses a microphone built into the controller bar to translate sound into light patterns that dance across the panels in different ways depending on what preset scene you're using. The first thing I did after sticking a total of 10 hexagonal panels onto my bedroom wall was to make sure that Rhythm mode, my favorite Nanoleaf feature, still worked as well as before. Screenshots by Ry Crist/CNET Killer features and a clumsy app There's a lot to play with in Nanoleaf's app, but it's overcrowded with options and unintuitive to use. For comparison, a single 60W incandescent light bulb would add a little under $60 to your bill over the same span. In fact, if you ran all 7 panels in the Hexagon starter kit at full blast for a full year, 24/7/365, it would only add about $13.45 to your energy bill. At 2W per panel, the Hexagons hold to Nanoleaf's tradition for efficiency, which dates back to its days selling 3D-printed, super-efficient LED light bulbs. Meanwhile, you connect a separate, 42W power supply into another side of the panels to keep up to 21 of them powered. That controller also houses the system's Wi-Fi radio and the microphone it uses to sync the lights with whatever you're listening to. Instead, you connect a tiny, unobtrusive control bar with physical buttons onto any side of any of the panels you like. Speaking of those square-shaped predecessors, the Hexagons ditch the ugly touch buttons that marred the clean design and usability of the Canvas panels. That makes it easier to tessellate the things across your walls than it was with the smaller, square-shaped Canvas panels - and unlike those Canvas panels, the light isn't sectioned off into odd-looking quadrants (although the corners are admittedly a little bit rounded). Each one is nice and big, enough so to fit your whole hand with fingers outstretched. The Hexagons are also Nanoleaf's best-designed light panel yet. I'll also add that the Nanoleaf app's Layout Creator, which lets you arrange your panels in the app and then see how they'll look on your wall using augmented reality, is a nice, helpful touch during setup. It's still obviously more of a hands-on process than simply swapping a light bulb, but it's leaps and bounds better than before, and less likely to rip up your walls when the panels come down. With the Hexagons, you get new, plug-style connectors that snap into the backs of the two panels they're joining. Before, they looked like dual-sided Lightning plugs that would slide straight into little slots on the edge of each panel, sort of like the pegs that hold Ikea furniture together. The connectors that link each panel together are different now, too. That means you can take a panel off the wall separate from the mounting plate from there, the sticky tab is much easier to remove with the panel itself out of the way. With the Hexagons, each panel now pops in and out of its own little sticky-tab-equipped mounting plate. Nanoleaf used to ask you to apply sticky tabs to the back of each panel and stick them straight to your walls, which makes it a pain to rearrange them. The biggest change is the way you mount them.
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