The Qube Smart Bulb and Qube Smart Light Strip with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi have arrived to make smart home lighting more cost-effective. These color lights may have been “just another smart light” to add to the list of existing ones, if not for the significantly lower price Qube offers compared to similar products. Smart bulbs generally go for upwards of $50 or more, while lighting strips can be found for up to $30 a meter – Qube offers their bulb for $29 ($24 on their site as a pre-launch special), and people can pre-order the smart strip starter kit for $24 on Indigogo. Let’s see what the Qube Smart Bulb and Qube Smart Light Strip have to offer us.
The Qube Smart Bulb has some interesting features, but just the much lower price than any of the recognized name competition should be more than enough to get everyone’s attention.
We have been in touch with Qube, and they have promised a unit (hopefully two), once full volume shipments begin in March, so that we can offer a full product review of the smart lights.
Editor’s note:
We have received multiple complaints that folks that signed up for the crowd sourcing, of this product, have not received their lights. I reached out to Qube’s PR firm, who said they were no longer handling the account. They said they would try to get me a contact at Qube, but apparently were not able to do so.
Qube Smart Bulb
The Qube Smart Bulb is a smart colored light that uses Bluetooth Low Energy to connect your bulb to your smartphone or smart Bluetooth-emitting wearables (such as the Apple Watch, Fitbit and Jawbone) to determine where you are in the home with great accuracy, tracking your location to the very room you stand in. This feature is called Qube Sense, and it can be used to customize your lighting when you enter the room. With 16 million colors, you’re sure to find a hue that complements your décor and your lifestyle. The bulb is easy to install, with three simple steps: screw the bulb into the socket, download the app and connect to the network.
Qube Smart Light Strip
One of the coolest aspects of smart lighting is the smart light strip, such as the Qube Smart Light Strip. You can customize the look of your home, stringing the strips along the underside of your kitchen cabinets and lining the inside to give a really cool aesthetic to the room. These particular light strips are 1,600 lumens and are an affordable option for decking out a whole room, as the starter kit costs a mere $24, with the extensions costing less than that.
Features the of Qube Smart Bulb and Qube Smart Light Strip
In addition to the previously mentioned Qube Sense, the Qube’s free app (compatible with iOS, Watch iOS and Android operating systems) has a host of other cool features to control your lighting solution. Get notified when you receive a message or phone call with the Qube Notifications feature, which also works with IFTTT, third party apps and other devices to create automation commands. Qube Moods allows you to choose from presets, such as Party, Sunset, or Reading moods, or customize your own. A nice feature for both the Qube Smart Bulb and Qube Smart Light Strip, called Qube Schedules, is being able to sync your lights to your alarm and have them imitate the light produced by the rising sun. You can also schedule your lights to turn on or off at a specific time with this feature. As mentioned before, you can turn your lights off or on from anywhere – this feature is called Qube Remote, and connects to your home router to allow you access at any time. Like other smart lights, both the Qube Smart Bulb and Qube Smart Light Strip can mimic your lighting patterns while you’re away, making it appear as if you were home with the Qube Security feature.
Availability and Pricing
