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I'm here at the CNET Smart Home upstairs in the reading nook where we've decided to install some smart shades.
While there are quite a few options out there, we decided to go with Lutron Serena shades.
While they are a little bit pricy, they have some really cool integration.
Features.
First off, they are home kit compatible which means that you can use Siri to control them with your voice.
Siri, lower the upstairs shades.
Okay, I set all of the upstairs shades to zero.
But unlike some home kit compatible devices, these will also work with Android phones.
So, if you get the app, you can actually set it up with [UNKNOWN] to work with Alexa.
So, with Amazon Echo, you can also get good voice control.
Alexa, trigger bedtime.
Sending [UNKNOWN].
The smart shades that I have set up now are basically able to double as smart lighting and smart temperature control.
I can issue voice commands with Siri or Alexa But my upstairs Nest thermostat will also track the temperature.
So if it gets too hot the shades will automatically close to keep out some of the sunlight.
Plus aside from some of the basic offerings like being able to schedule the blinds or set up very simple triggers you can also take advantage of So if I decide to run out to the store for example, the shades will automatically close to keep out some of the sunlight and keep the temperature normal.
But, when I get back they open back up and the room lights up again.
I really like setting up the shades and just reading knocked up here because it's one of the spaces that I use the most of the smart home.
But I really won't be willing to commit to one type of shade for the whole C-NET smart home until I see some progress in a couple of areas.
In particular I'd like to see some of the prices drop.
For some basic shades like these they're about $350 a pop, that's just too much.
I'd also like to see some deeper in app interoperability.
Right now you can do some pretty cool integration, but that's only possible via third party apps, like IFT.
For instance, Home Kit sense are not the same as Lutron app scenes, so you can't actually activate scenes in the Lutron app using Siri, which is also a major problem.
Now I'm not totally committed to the idea of having HomeKit enabled shades in particular, but until another company or Lutron really decides to make these three big changes, then the upstairs reading nook or the CNet smart home is going to be the only area that has smart shades.
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