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The best smart lights of CES 2022

Simon Sage
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CES 2022 is rapidly drawing to a close, and in the midst of it all were a few new smart lights that caught our eye. Let’s see what’s new from the show and what you might want to include in your next smart lighting upgrade.

GE Cync

GE Cync lights set up in gaming room.

GE’s lighting brand Cync unloaded 11 new smart bulbs, covering all the form factors you could ask for, including filaments, candelabras, and globes. It pledged to support Matter in the future, too, which is good news for playing along with your other smart home devices. Expect to see these on store shelves at Lowe’s, Best Buy, Target, and Amazon in March, with price points starting at $12. You can read up more about Cync’s other announcements, including smart thermostats and security cameras.

Sengled

Sengled health monitoring bulb

Defying any notion of “stay in your lane,” Sengled has made a smart bulb that proposes to keep tabs on your health. Using short-range radar, this bulb can report on sleep quality, heart rate, and body temperature. You can even pair up multiple bulbs to build a map of the room. Outraged fitness band manufacturers were too flabbergasted to provide comment.

Related

Abode

Adobe color bulb on a black background.
Adobe

Abode used CES to mark the launch of its first color LED bulbs. The standout feature with these is a subscription service that gives access to a range of advanced automation features. That way. you can set multiple layers of conditions for the lights to be activated, set blackout periods, and tie in with other Abode smart home products. On that note, you should read up about its new security camera.

Twinkly Dots

The Twinkly Dots can spruce up any room.

Gamers have a new option for their streaming setup with the new Twinkly Dots string lights. In addition to checking off the usual boxes for Google Assistant, Alexa, and Siri control, the Twinkly Dot lights also play nice with Razer Chroma and Omen Light Studio. With a USB-powered option and the ability to mirror on-screen action, these are shaping up to be a fine backdrop for your next Twitch session.

Govee

Govee Hexa cube wall tiles installed above bed.
Govee

Govee is upgrading its hex wall lights to have a cool cube effect on them. With three separate sections per tile and independent LED controllers throughout, you can generate some pretty cool combinations. The Glide 3D Hexa wall panels should be coming out this summer.

Tapo

Tapo L535 light bulb on a white background.
Tapo

TP-Link’s smart home brand is making its American debut with a host of products. On the lighting side, it has a light strip and a bulb, both of which are HomeKit-compatible and have music sync functions. The real value-add here is the wide range of supporting accessories on offer, including a dedicated smart home hub and a wireless control button.

Nanoleaf

Nanoleaf Lines lights installed on the ceiling in a bedroom.

While Nanoleaf didn’t launch any new lights, it did announce a healthy upgrade to its Elements, Lines, and Shapes series so that they provide Thread border routing with HomeKit. This way those fully entrenched in the Apple ecosystem can properly enjoy the benefits that a low-power mesh smart home network can offer.

That’s a quick pass at what’s new in the smart lighting world, but there’s loads more CES 2022 coverage to check out!

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Blink Wired Floodlight Camera offers heaps of features and an affordable price tag
The Blink Wired Floodlight installed outside.

Blink, an Amazon-owned company that produces a wide variety of smart home gadgets, today announced the Blink Wired Floodlight Camera. The affordable device clocks in at just $99 yet manages to offer 1080p video capture, 2,600 lumens of LED lighting, motion detection, and several other premium features.

While Blink’s catalog is comprised of several indoor and outdoor cameras, this is the company’s first true floodlight. Previously, homeowners needed to purchase a Floodlight Mount for the Blink Outdoor Camera, and even then they would only benefit from 700 lumens of LED lights. The Blink Wired Floodlight Camera, meanwhile, is a standalone product that doesn’t require a secondary purchase -- pick it up for $99, and you’re ready for installation.

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Apple finally activates HomePod Mini’s hidden temperature/humidity sensor
Black HomePod mini on a side table, in front of an Apple TV

Apple recently revealed its second-gen HomePod, which is set to become the company’s flagship smart speaker in 2023. Featuring the S7 chipset, spatial audio, Matter compatibility, and tons of fancy room-sensing tech, the device is certain to be a hit when it launches in February. It’ll also feature a temperature and humidity sensor. Oddly enough, so does the existing HomePod Mini -- except Apple has only just activated the feature.

Apple has kept the temperature and humidity sensor deactivated for years, although now, with the launch of a new HomePod around the corner, the company has finally gone ahead and turned on the instrument in its existing Home Mini lineup. Once your HomePod Mini receives the update, you’ll be able to use it to track both the temperature and humidity in your home, then use that information to create various automations through Apple Home.

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Apple reportedly working on a new iPad-like smart home display
Someone holding the 12.9-inch version of the iPad Pro (2022).

Apple recently announced a new HomePod with support for Matter, but it seems the company might have bigger smart home plans for the rest of 2023. According to the latest report from Bloomberg, Apple is allegedly working on an iPad-like device that could directly compete with Amazon’s Echo Show and Google’s Nest Hub Max.

Details on the rumored product are scarce, but it seems the device would feature a touchscreen and function similar to an iPad. Magnets would allow it to be mounted to a wall, and HomeKit would give it access to all your smart home products. It’s unclear at this time if the device would feature a stand, allowing it to sit on your countertops like the Echo Show and Nest Hub. What is clear, however, is that Apple wants to gain a stronger foothold in the smart home market -- and this could serve as a great alternative to using the HomePod Mini as a HomeKit hub.

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