SMART LIGHTING
COLOUR- CHANGING LED LIGHT STRIPS are hot favourites just now – after all, they can easily create the right ambience for any occasion. You can stick one behind the TV to reduce eye strain, put one under the false ceiling for mood lighting or use it on any other surface, thanks to the adhesive layer on the back of the strip. Yeelight is part of the Xiaomi ecosystem and one of the best smart lighting solutions I have come across in recent times. The two-metre light strip, which can be stretched up to 10m if you purchase extension strips, houses 48 multicoloured LEDs and the company claims that the number of colours supported will be 16 million. It comes with a 1.5m data cable, a connector (for turning the lights on/off or changing colour if the strip is not paired with the app and also for putting it in the pairing mode and connect it to the Wi-Fi network), a power cable and an adaptor. But what has surprised me more is its superb build quality that gives the product a premium feel.
Lightstrip Plus is Wi-Fi- enabled and smart speaker- compatible, which means it can be run by voice or via a companion app. Connecting it with the Yeelight app took me less than a minute as I was able to log in to the app using my Xiaomi account. Post that, the app instantly detected the light strip and connected it to the wireless network. However, there is no India server yet and I had to choose the Singapore one. After configuring the app, I was able to select from the preset modes of mood lighting – party, sunrise, sunset, birthday, dating night, romance, candle flicker and more. But what I liked most is the option to change colours via the colour palette in the app in sync with my mood. In fact, the Yeelight app is a neat one with a wide variety of options, including the colour picker, which allowed me to choose a hue either from my surroundings or the photographs stored on my phone.
Connecting the light strip to Google Home speaker was equally hassle-free. I only had to link it with the Google Home app and I was able to change colour with voice command. On the other hand, I had to select the Enable Skill button in the Alexa app for Echo Dot to discover the device and build a connection. But even after adding Yeelight to its list of devices, it failed to communicate and said Yeelight was unresponsive. Apart from this glitch, the price of this product may seem to be on the higher side. But given the build quality, app features and smart functionality, it will be worth every rupee.