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Nanoleaf has always been proud of its smart lights breaking the rules, from the earliest light panels to the shapes and the most recent Elements series. Oops, even Nanoleaf's 120-sided "Essentials" A19 bulb can dance to its own beat. Nanoleaf now has a new product: Lines, which is a modular smart lighting product with a backlit, one-foot-long "line light" that can emit up to 16 million colors and snap into a hexagonal connector. Allows various customizable designs.
Unlike Nanoleaf's previous smart lighting products, Elements light board, the lines are not low-key or subtle. Although the monochromatic "wood look" Elements are designed to blend into your restaurant decor, the colorful and eye-catching Lines actually begs to be used with RGB-equipped gaming equipment, which allows you to stream on your Twitch and even mirror the screen. s color. Although the handsome Elements look great when they are not glowing, the Lines are not. They are a bit distracting when the power is off.
This review is part of TechHive's coverage of the best smart light bulbs, where you can find reviews of competing products, as well as a buyer's guide for features that should be considered when purchasing this category.
I have been testing Nanoleaf Lines for about a week and they are great to use. Installed above the external 4K display of my MacBook, the easy-to-install Lines look great, and they are easy to control and arrange using the Nanoleaf app and Apple's HomeKit platform. (Nanoleaf Lines is also compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant.) Lines can also pulsate with music, you can combine Lines device with other Nanoleaf lights.
But Nanoleaf removed a key feature of the Elements and Shapes panel from its new Lines series: touch sensitivity, which means you won’t be able to amaze your guests by triggering the HomeKit smart plug through light games that support touch or by tapping a line. . In addition (like Nanoleaf's other smart lighting products), Lines are not cheap.
The Nanoleaf Lines Smarter Kit will be on sale at the end of November at a price of $200 (pre-orders have already started). It contains nine "light lines", each of which is about 11 inches long, 0.78 inches wide, and about one-third deep.
About a foot long, the "light" feet in Nanoleaf's Lines Smarter Kit are very light.
Each one weighs only 0.08 pounds, and the light (or "bar", whatever you choose) feels very light. Of course, this lightweight design is the result of Nanoleaf's aforementioned decision to abandon the touch sensitivity function in the Elements and Shapes light panels. I will discuss the consequences of this omission later.
There are also nine hexagonal mounting connectors in the box, which act as compact hubs for up to six light wires; once you have connected the appropriate number of light wires, you can snap the nine covers onto the mounting connectors; 10 Mounting board, each mounting board has a double-sided pull strap and a pair of screw mounting holes.
You can connect up to six "light wires" in each installation connector. After the connection is completed, you can use the connector cover to fix these wires.
The 10th mounting connector doubles as a controller, with its own snap-on cover, with clickable power and control buttons, and a fixed cable connected to the slim power connector containing the Thread border router. In turn, the power connector is connected to a second cable, which terminates in a thick wall wart.
The tenth mounting connector in the Nanoleaf Lines box doubles as a controller with a fixed cable. The cable connects to a thin power connector, which contains a Thread border router.
In addition to the Lines Smarter kit, there is a $70 expansion package that includes three light wires, three mounting connectors, and three mounting plates, but no power connector or PSU.
Going back to the light itself, each light has two light zones that can emit different colors at the same time; it supports up to 16 million colors, and white color temperatures ranging from the very warm 1200 Kelvin to the cold 6500K. Each light can emit up to 20 lumens, which means that the nine-piece Smarter Kit can only produce up to 180 lumens-not that bright, because a single A19 bulb usually emits about 800 lumens. So no, Nanoleaf Lines are not meant to illuminate your work space; on the contrary, they are all about style and mood.
Each individual "light line" has two areas, which can display different colors at the same time.
Although the Nanoleaf Lines power connector has its own integrated Thread border router, the unit does not use Thread to connect; instead, it connects via Wi-Fi (2.4GHz only). The Thread border router is currently only used to connect Nanoleaf Essentials lights that support Thread, including Essentials A19 bulbs and light strips, without the need for Apple HomePod mini (it is itself a Thread border router). Nanoleaf said that future updates will enable Lines' Thread border routers (and routers in the controllers of the Elements and Shapes panels) to connect to any device that supports Thread. (Read this article to learn more about Thread and how it is integrated into Nanoleaf products.)
Lines, Elements and Shapes will also support Matter, a new smart home standard that is expected to (eventually) combine Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit platforms.
Before you start installing Nanoleaf Lines on the wall, you should decide on a design. The kit includes a series of charts to inspire some ideas, or better yet, you can try the layout assistant in the Nanoleaf app.
The layout assistant can easily try various sizes of designs, and you can view the appearance of Nanoleaf Lines on the wall with the help of a viewfinder that supports AR.
The Layout Assistant allows you to use the drag-and-drop interface to arrange the light lines (you can edit the number of lines that must be used), and you can view the appearance of your design on the wall through the magic of AR. If you are not creative, you can use the random button to create randomly arranged light lines.
Once I decided on my own mode, I started the installation process, one of the light cords had installation connectors connected to both ends. As I mentioned before, you can use the peel and stick tape attached to the mounting plate (the mounting connector comes with a snap-in plate) or use the mounting holes to install the connector (you must provide your own screws); The peel and paste method is selected. After installing the first light wire, I started to connect more light wires and added more installation connectors as I proceeded. I also carefully left the power connector and connected cables at the bottom of my installation. Finally, I buckled the connector cap on each installation connector, plugged in the power supply (it is large enough to block the adjacent power socket), and then the light wire turned on.
In general, the entire installation process only took about half an hour. The finished Lines installation feels very sturdy, partly because the lines themselves are very light; in fact, even with peeling and sticking tape, I don’t (and still don’t) worry about the lines falling off the wall.
If you really want to rearrange or remove the wiring, you can do so by pulling the mounting connector directly from the wall; doing so will leave the mounting plate. You can then unscrew the board (if you screw into the wall) or (if you use the peel and paste method) you can pull the exposed part of the tape directly. I tried this process myself with a spare mounting connector and managed to remove it without leaving any tape and without pulling any paint from the wall.
To remove the mounting connector, pull it directly from the wall, leaving the mounting plate (pictured) behind. After that, you pull down on the exposed strap to remove the adhesive.
To connect Nanoleaf Lines to your home Wi-Fi network, you need to point your phone’s camera at the QR code on the power supply; one is for Android phones and the other is for Apple’s HomeKit platform. I had to go through this process several times (I used the beta version of Nanoleaf's iOS app), but within a few minutes, Lines was up and running on my Wi-Fi network.
Nanoleaf Lines have many features of Nanoleaf Shapes and Elements lights. For example, you can choose from a variety of dynamic lighting scenes from "Cozy Blaze" and "Fiesta" to "Starry Sky" and "Tuscany Sunset". You can also create your own static or dynamic lighting scenes, or download more from the Nanoleaf user community. The lighting scene of Nanoleaf looks fashionable and great, and it has never turned to tacky towns, which is really a feat.
Similar to Shapes and Elements, Nanoleaf Lines has an integrated microphone that allows its lights to pulsate with nearby music sources. Like its standard and dynamic lighting scenes, Lines also has a series of music scenes, including "Beat Drop", "Cotton Candy", "Hip Hop" and "Jalapeno Heat".
With the help of Nanoleaf desktop application, the line can also change color to match the PC or Mac monitor. You can even use Nanoleaf’s Screen Mirror function (also applicable to Nanoleaf’s Shapes and Elements light panels) to synchronize Lines with traditional TVs, but only if you use the Nanoleaf desktop to stream videos from your laptop to the TV application. Install.
You can combine Nanoleaf Lines with other Nanoleaf lights (including Shapes, Elements, and Essentials lights), and you can also create lighting plans; that is, the Nanoleaf app does not support random holiday patterns for fooling potential intruders.
As I mentioned before, Nanoleaf Lines are not as sensitive to touch as Shapes and Elements. This means that you will not be able to swipe or tap the lines to (for example) change the brightness, switch lighting scenes, play light games, or control other smart home devices. This is disappointing (my daughter likes to click and swipe on our Shapes and Elements light panels), but at least you can still control the lights using the controller connector, which provides power, brightness, scene changes, and music activation The clickable button of the mode.
The Nanoleaf Lines controller connector provides clickable buttons for power, brightness, changing scenes, and activating music modes.
When closed, the lines look a bit like (as I have already said); in order to solve this problem, Nanoleaf is planning to provide a snap-on "Skins" protective cover for the line light itself. The black and pink colors will be available in December. . In December, "Flex Connectors" were also launched, allowing you to bend the Lines design to corners or even to the ceiling.
In addition to HomeKit, the Nanoleaf series also integrates Alexa, Google Assistant, Samsung SmartThings and IFTTT.
Just like its Elements and Shapes light boards, Nanoleaf's new Lines are definitely unique, and with its stylish and colorful lighting scenes, Lines will definitely attract attention during your Zoom call or Twitch session. Lines is also easy to install, can work seamlessly with HomeKit, Alexa and Google Assistant, and has a built-in Thread border router to control Nanoleaf's Thread-enabled Essentials lights and other Thread devices. They are of course expensive, and they lack the touch function of Elements and Shapes light boards, but the unique Nanoleaf Lines are certainly good at their work.
Nanoleaf does this again with the modular color "lighting line" used in conjunction with HomeKit, turning your walls and even ceilings into light shows.
Ben has written about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. Ben became a contributor to PCWorld in 2014 and joined TechHive in 2019, responsible for smart home and home entertainment products.
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