As for smart bulbs, there are tons of options available right now, with almost every manufacturer offering their own category. Despite having a lot of options, most smart bulbs tend to be a little on the weak side, with very few reaching over 1000 lumens.

Smart bulbs that offer high levels of brightness, such as the popular A19 LIFX LIFX color bulb, come with a price tag that can be a little hard to swallow at $ 60. However, progress is being made in this area, from companies like Novostella, which offers the best of both worlds. I recently had the opportunity to test the Novostella 13w LED bulb smart and I am very pleased to have connected bulbs that can light up a whole room.

It covers all the bases

Novostella smart LED bulb: features

The Novostella Smart LED bulb is one of the smart A19 / E26 bulbs around, capable of reaching up to 1,300 lumens. Despite the high brightness, the bulb still consumes energy, rated at only 13 watts when used.

Novostella offer can display industry standard 16 million colors and shades of white and is completely low. Color temperature settings ranging from 2700K to 6500K are also available through the smart control application.

The bulb connects directly to a home network via 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, without the need for additional hubs. Like many smart home accessories, the bulb does not work with 5ghz networks, which you have to consider if your router does not support separate channels.

Smart control is available through the Smart Life app, which is an application that works with a variety of accessories from various manufacturers. The application supports basic elements such as adjustable sliders, start / stop switches, timers and scenes.

With the Smart Life app, integrating voice control with Alexa Amazon and Google Assistant are just a few clicks away. The application also supports automation, as well as platforms such as IFTTT for convenient controls.

Finally, the bulb is suitable for indoor use, with no weather resistance on board. Novostella lists the lamp's lifetime at 50,000 hours and includes a one-year limited warranty.

Bright and beautiful

Novostella smart LED bulb: What I like

The smart light bulb of Novostella is bright, really bright, instantly illuminating the area around it when I turned it on. The 1,300 lumens of brightness were really pleasing in a smart bulb, as most of the ones I've tried over time have always been between 400-800, which isn't bright enough for some areas.

The colors in the light bulb were also bright and vivid, easily handling any color thrown at it from the Smart Life app. An exception to this is the greenery, which, for some reason, is a painful place for many smart bulbs, but I am positively impressed by the color reproduction of Novostella.

The color and brightness adjustment made by the Smart Life application almost immediately entered the light bulb. Navigating the Smart Life app was pretty easy, with tabs clearly marked at the bottom, which leads to things like scenes, programs and colors.

I like the way the app puts the main controls in front, with a large color ring around a bulb icon and the sliders separated by the navigation area. For an application that can be a bit overwhelming at first, with tons of different accessories available to select when pairing, the app has the right of real control portion.

The bulky base

Novostella smart LED bulb: What I do not like

Although the physical installation of the Novostella bulb is quite easy, the bulb base is quite bulky and heavy compared to traditional LEDs. In most cases, the bulb should fit in most lamps, but its size may prevent it from working with closed bodies or small lights in general.

As mentioned earlier, the Novostella smart bulb only works with 2.4ghz networks. Your mileage may vary, but some routers, such as my eero system, may cause a pairing problem because of it, using the same SSID for both 2.4 and 5ghz.

Addressing this issue before other accessories, I was ready for troubleshooting, using an old AirPort Extreme router that can separate SSIDs. There is no doubt in my mind that this limitation will cause frustration for many, which will probably lead to cases where people simply give up trying to associate it.

For voice control, the Novostella smart bulb works with Alexa and Google Assistant, but unfortunately Apple HomeKit is not supported. Siri shortcut support is nowhere to be found in the app, so if you rely strictly on Siri or a HomePod, voice control is simply out of the question.

Intelligent and bright

Novostella smart LED bulb: Bottom line

4
out of 5

Despite some of its flaws, such as the lack of 5.ghz support and HomeKit, the Novostella LED smart bulb is a great alternative to the more expensive deals available. At 1300 lumens, this bulb is one of the brightest around and matches its competitors in terms of color reproduction, at 16 million shades of beautiful and white colors.

The Novostella bulb also offers fast response times using the Smart Life app and, even if Siri is not around, having Alexa and Google Assistant support is good enough for most. If you are in the market for a light, affordable and knowledgeable bulb to achieve the 2.4ghz limitation, then this bulb is definitely worth a look.