[doublepost=1516886806][/doublepost]
Brilliant today introduced the Brilliant Control, designed to replace an existing light switch and provide homeowners with a range of smart home controls.
Brilliant Control has a 5-inch touchscreen with swipe-based lighting, music, and climate controls, and homeowners can interact directly with other smart home devices, such as the Nest thermostat, Sonos speakers, Philips Hue lights, Ring doorbells, and the Honeywell Lyric. It also works with IFTTT and SmartThings and Wink hubs.
In addition to touch capabilities, the Brilliant Control has both a built-in microphone and speaker for native voice control and Amazon Alexa services. The idea is that users can control their smart homes without taking out their smartphone, which Brilliant co-founder Aaron Emigh described as "clumsy."Nevertheless, Brilliant said it will offer a free companion app for iOS and Android.
The control features 720x1,280 resolution, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to interact with other smart home devices, a video camera with a physical cover for added security, motion detection, and compatibility with existing security systems. Brilliant told MacRumors that HomeKit support could be added later if consumer demand is strong enough.
Brilliant Controls cost $199 each and are available for pre-order beginning today. The first 1,000 customers will receive an early-bird price of $149. Two, three, and four switch models are also available for $249, $299, and $349 respectively. Shipping is expected to begin in late summer 2017.
Alternatively: Best Buy has the iPad mini 2 on sale for $215. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy.
Article Link: 'Brilliant' Aims to Replace Your Home's Light Switches With Touchscreens
I find 99% of these comments hilarious and question how many of you actually use home automation lighting. If you don't then this probably isn't the article for you. The first choice you need to make when choosing smart lightning is do you want the switch smart or the bulbs. I have a mix of both because noting is perfect to this day. I love Philips Hue reliability and options of products but battery powered switches doesn't cut it for me. To have the ability to have a switch that will control a Smart Bulb without cutting power to it is cutting edge because there is not a physically wired switch on the market that can do that. I'm ecstatic about getting my hands on these switches. In addition, they have more integrations at launch than any other switch I've seen. I think the Lutron Caseta product is solid but they took over a year to have SmartThings control. I'm in for quite a few of these and can't wait to receive them next month.
As for the intercom, I can see how it would not be used by everyone but it's not a primary feature of why to buy it. If they add integration with home audio equipment beyond Sonos which I love then it will be a one stop shop for entering the room and have it set to how you want it (i.e. lighting, music, heating and hopefully viewing your nest cams since there is integration. People talk about mounting iPads but the switching back and forth between different apps just isn't very user friendly.