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These smart window shades work sunup to sundown (pictures)

Somfy's Motorized Shades can do lots of tricks, but they'll lighten your wallet.

David Priest
David Priest is an award-winning writer and editor who formerly covered home security for CNET.
David Priest
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1 of 13 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Somfy's Motorized Shades are about as easy to install as normal shades, but they need with a few extra gadgets to take advantage of their smarts.

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2 of 13 Screenshot by David Priest/CNET

Setting up the app is a breeze, since it walks you through the process, step by step.

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3 of 13 Screenshot by David Priest/CNET

Once you've got everything set up, you can explore the app and play with your motorized shades.

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4 of 13 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

One of the extra pieces of hardware Somfy's Shades need is the battery tube, which houses eight AA batteries. The installation at the CNET Smart Home took a little ingenuity, since the window's molding was so shallow. Eventually, we used double-sided tape to rig this thing up behind the blinds.

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5 of 13 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

The MyLink hub is what connects your smartphone to the shades. It has five channels, so you can control up to five shades or groups of shades with a single hub.

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6 of 13 Screenshot by David Priest/CNET

The app features an intuitive design, so opening and closing your shades is a breeze.

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7 of 13 Screenshot by David Priest/CNET

You can also schedule times you want your windows to open or close, so waking up can be a more gradual and pleasant experience than what you'd get with a blaring alarm.

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8 of 13 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

We opted for cellular shades to help with insulation at the Smart Home. There are plenty of alternative fabric types, ranging from the affordable ($25) to the lavish ($300).

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9 of 13 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

The Remote controls the shades directly, and also features five separate channels for different blinds or groups.

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10 of 13 Screenshot by David Priest/CNET

The app features a simple setup with three primary functions: "Remote," "Scenes" and "Schedules."

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11 of 13 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

When you send a command from your phone, the MyLink hub translates that signal into a communication protocol the shades can pick up. Then, using an antenna by the battery tube, the shade picks up the command.

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12 of 13 Screenshot by David Priest/CNET

Scenes are one of the more complex ways to issue commands to your Somfy shades. These are groups of commands that can be initiated at the single push of a button, or scheduled.

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13 of 13 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

The Somfy myLink ($200) and the Motorized Shades ($300-$400) will set you back quite a bit. To see if its worth the expense, check out the full review.

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