Light up your life with the Sylvania Smart+ bulbs, now available for pre-order

By Lulu Chang August 7, 2017

Sylvania — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Bringing light into your life may have gotten a bit easier with the introduction of the Sylvania Smart+ light bulbs. After much anticipation, the smart home company has announced that its A19 Full Color Light Bulbs are now available for pre-order, with delivery anticipated for September. So if you are looking to get into the fall mood with the right mood lighting, this may be the right bulb for you.

The Sylvania Smart bulb claims to be the first light bulb capable of being controlled directly by way of Siri and Apple’s Home app, without the need for a separate hub or smart socket, or even a Wi-Fi router. Simply screw the Bluetooth-enabled bulb into any light fixture in your room, sync it with your iPhone’s Home app, and take control.

“We are proud to break new ground with Apple to bring to market this first of its kind product,” said Aaron Ganick, head of Smart Business Americas, for Ledvance, Sylvania’s parent company. “Apple is known for innovative products that are simple and intuitive to use, while making our lives better. HomeKit is no exception. Our new HomeKit-enabled Sylvania Smart+ products are perfect for those who have heard how great it is to have a Smart Home but aren’t yet ready to tackle the installation and maintenance responsibilities of a larger system.”

Like other smart bulbs and smart hubs, the Sylvania Smart bulbs can be controlled individually or in groups as part of scenes. Using Siri or the Home app, you can turn the bulb on or off, dim it, adjust it from a cool white to a warm white, or to a slew of other colors as well. Plus, you can set the smart bulbs to certain schedules, so your home is bright and cheerful when you come home from a long day at work, and knows to turn things down as bedtime approaches. You can even tell Siri, “I’m on my way home” to set your lights to a certain brightness.

HomeKit-enabled Sylvani Smart+ lightbulbs will be available online and in stores later this year and are currently available to pre-order for $45.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…

Smart Home

How to use smart ambient lighting

The Govee Immersion Kit enhances on-screen content.

Ambient lighting is most simply thought of as "indirect lighting." It’s lighting that isn’t focused directly on an object and is used to add to the available amount of light in a room. You can use ambient lighting as part of ceiling-mounted fixtures or floor lamps to brighten or even out the light in a room. Ambient lighting can also be placed behind an object and used to bounce light off a wall or the ceiling. Think of it as the lighting that takes your room from plain to warm and inviting.
Benefits of smart ambient lights
While adding ambient lighting to a room can help transform it from simple to extraordinary, smart ambient lighting is definitely the way to go. The main reason is that smart lighting can be programmed to look precisely how you want it and turn on when you want. Not only can you control the brightness and intensity of the light, but also the color.

You can light up the back of your TV set and have it change color depending on your programming. You can also take things a step further by combining the system with a voice assistant and have several pre-set routines that change the lighting in the room with a single command. “Turn on horror movie lighting,” is just one example of how it could accent movie night.
Setting up ambient lighting

Smart Home

Can your smart home save you money on homeowners insurance?

Nest devices grouped together on a counter.

Smart home devices provide more than just convenient assistance -- they also help us complete tasks more efficiently and protect our homes. And now, they may actually be able to save you money on your homeowner's insurance.

Homeowners insurance protects or aids you if an incident happens. Yet the best days are when nothing goes wrong, and life is easy for everyone. Smart home devices can be your first line of defense against things that could cause your home harm.

Smart Home

Is it feasible to go all-in with one smart home ecosystem?

Nest mini next to a HomePod mini next to an Echo Dot on a table.

Take a minute and think about how much all the smart devices in your home cost: Your smart display, speakers, TV, plugs, cameras, and any other devices you have. Most, if not all, only have a one-time fee, although some add a subscription on top of it. Does the number surprise you?

Now take a second to think about if, instead of having all those various devices, you chose items only compatible with, say, Apple Homekit. How much does that cost rise? There's also a non-financial price in the form of the other things you're giving up, such as not having a smart display. Let's take a deep dive into the costs of only choosing smart home devices compatible with one ecosystem.
HomeKit