Think of smart bulbs and it's probably the Philips Hue that will spring to mind. But the Hue isn't just a single bulb: it's a whole ecosystem of lights and works best when a living space is fitted out with several of the Hue solutions. That's all an expensive proposition, however, which is why Cube26, an Indian IOT company, decided to bring to market a simpler smart bulb which would be easy enough to take to the masses, seeing that it costs ₹1,699 for a single bulb, the Reos Lite Smart Bulb. It's Cube26's successor to their IOTA bulb and comes with the Reos rebranding.

Easy setup

That aside, when you unwrap it from its fancy cylindrical box, you'll find it's a large and plump milky white bulb. You may need an adaptor to fit it into specific holders and these are readily available. Once mounted and switched on, it's time to turn to your smartphone or tablet. Download the Reos Lite app on Google Play or iOS and, after making sure your Bluetooth is on, pair with the bulb. The app will 'find' the Reos Lite and you'll need to select it before doing anything else as there could be many Reos Lites in the house. You can name these separate lights to suit your home's layout. And now you're good to go.

Colours for everything:

From the app, you now have a lot of options to explore. You can set the light to any colour from the palette. You can also just switch between warm and blue light. Else, choose from a handful of presets to have the bulb flicker like a candle, become medium warm white for reading, flash in time to Jingle Bells, or cycle through colours and strobe for a party. You can also select your own sequence of colours to suit your whims and save those. You can also sync the bulb to pulse colours to music from the Reos music app.

More impressively, you can use the scheduler to have the light do something in response to an event. For instance, it could flash when your Uber or Ola arrive, or change colour when a certain someone calls or messages. You can even sync social media responses such as being tagged on Facebook, to a light action. The Reos Lite is supposed to learn as it's used and gets to know your habits better.

Considering the Reos Lite is supposed to be artificially intelligent, it's a little surprising that it doesn't seem to remember preferences. When you set the light a particular way and come back to it after a gap, the app will have de-selected it and will have you set your colour and intensity again. There are a few similar glitches using the Reos app.

Despite the annoyances, the Smart Bulb is not bad value for money. Features like setting the light to turn on at a particular time or using several bulbs to create different moods or a fancy light patterning for a party, are enjoyable enough for the rest of us to try out an Internet of Things product.

Love: Many colours, nice formulas for use

Hate: Annoyances in the app

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