This year has no doubt came and went very quickly. I don’t know about you, but it blipped by like an Avengers reverse snap! So here we are, back at holiday time. It’s that time we’re all looking for some gifts for our loved ones, and even some for ourselves. So on the Smart Home front, what do we recommend this year? Well, just go with a theme that “matters” this year, and plug intended, this year’s recommendations are all Matter-certified devices. Matter-certified devices, hope to bring true choice to our current fragment smart home space, so here are a few top picks to either add to or start your smart home space with.
Nanoleaf Smart Holiday String Lights
Right on cue, and perfect if you pick this up earlier to use during December is the Nanoleaf Smart Holiday String lights. What would a smart home be without some smart lights in the mix? With the Smart Holiday String Lights, you can use this indoors say around your tree, or equally outside to decorate your home for the passerby to see. With 250 addressable LED lights, a crazy amount of customizations you can do, and being ability to react to music, you could have a full-on light show wherever you place these for the holiday season. And because there are 16 million colors you could choose, these don’t have to be limited to just the Christmas season. You can use these all year round. Spooky oranges for Halloween, lucky greens for St Paddy’s Day, pinks for Valentine’s Day, and more.
Plus since it is Matter certified, the Nanoleaf Smart Holiday String Lights allows for use with the major smart home ecosystems like Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Samsung SmartThings. The Nanoleaf Smart Holiday Strings Lights run for $89.99, which isn’t bad considering you can effectively use them throughout the year for a variety of occasions.
Nanoleaf Matter Essentials A19 Smart Bulbs
Coming right back to Nanoleaf, you need to check out their Matter-compatible smart bulbs. When you think about it, most smart home build-outs or when you decide to dip your toe into the smart home arena begin with some lights. With the Nanoleaf A19 Smart Bulbs, you get a relatively affordable (priced at $14.99) smart bulb that is Matter certified, has the ability to change colors (not just tunable whites only), and is controlled by all the popular home systems. These are the perfect way to get your loved one into the early phases of smart home ownership, or a way to add on to your own with something that is more friendly to the system you currently have in your home.
Google Home Nest Hub (Second Gen)
Not much has really changed with the Google Home Hub line in some time, and there has been some controversy with it losing some features. However, if you live firmly within #TeamGoogle and looking to grow or start to build out your smart home, you’d do well adding this inexpensive device to your collection. Running about $99.99 (but routinely sells for less during deals or sales), this device can display pictures, your doorbell, broadcast announcements throughout your home, and allow you to control your devices via voice. On the Matter side of things, this device acts as a Matter controller and Threads router. You’ll need this as you onboard new Matter devices to your home. Add a couple of these around the house, and you’ll be able to control and use Matter devices anywhere within the home.
TP-Link’s Tapo Smart Wi-Fi Light Switch
While smart bulbs may be the way to go for a single lamp or light here and there, if you have major fixtures that contain several bulbs; this can really add up over time. In these situations, the best way to go is the leave the bulb dumb, and make your fixture smart at the light switch source. To do this, you’ll want to replace the switch that controls the fixtures with a smart switch. This will allow you to still manually control it at the wall, but also unlock the ability to control it via app, voice, smart routine, and more. With the Tapo Smart Wi-Fi switch you can do that. This device will set you back about $29.99 regularly, but can easily be found with sales and deals for less.
As it is also a Matter-certified device, you’ll be able to use it no which camp you decide to go with. My general rule is if a fixture has 3 or more bulbs in it, I rather make the switch smart than replace that many bulbs.
SmartWings Shades
You know, this is one area of my home that I want to do, but just haven’t embarked on it yet. You know why, cause shades and good quality ones aren’t cheap! Haha, just regular non-smart shades can cost you a pretty penny once you try to cover multiple windows and multiple rooms. Now we’ll add a smart competent to it as well. But if you are looking for some, and want something that is matter-compatible, you’ll want to take a look at SmartWings. They have a good selection of different types of shades, and customization options for them. Once you find something you like, you can simply select the matter module for the shades and order them. Prices range from $160 ish to about $329 (per window). Shades don’t come cheap, so if you are in the market for some, why not get some you can add some smart automation to open and close for you!
Well, that is this year’s top picks, but let us know, do you have some other gadgets in mind. Share with us in the comments, any ideas of items you are looking to pick up this year!
