You can connect your Philips Hue lights, but if you want to use Lifx you need the Samsung SmartThings Hub, which is supported by Brilliant. There are a number of integrations you can use with Brilliant, but only the most popular smart home products make the cut. There is no HomeKit support yet, but the company says that's on the way in spring 2019. You will get some cool graphics when you ask for the weather though.Īlexa is the star of the show because of its built-in nature, but you can also control the Brilliant with Google Assistant. Alexa is built in – give it a command and you'll see a circle of light rotating as Alexa replies, but otherwise there's not much visually. The Home Hub obviously has Google Assistant, while Brilliant has Alexa.Īlexa works well here, but while you may have visions of an Echo Show slapped on your wall, this is not it. Both devices feature touch controls that give you access to your entire smart home, and both have built-in digital assistants. Oddly, the biggest competitor to the Brilliant Switch Control may be the Google Home Hub rather than any other light switch. The Brilliant looks like no other smart switch available, but that's because it doesn't function like any other smart switch. This got especially annoying during setup, where you have to use a keyboard to type. Light switches aren't exactly eye level, so I have to often crouch down to swipe and tap my way through the interface. If you're tall – around 6 feet tall, like me, for instance – using Brilliant can be a bit annoying. You can get them if you need to replace a double, triple or quad switch plate. The big difference between these and the regular One Switch Control is that they add touch-sensitive switches to the left of the display. Brilliant sells the Smart Control in one, two, three and four switch configurations. Let's circle back to that Two Switch Controller real quick. Oh, and if you use two fingers to swipe, you can turn off your entire room. If you get the Two Switch Control or one of the other configurations, you do get touch-sensitive grooves with the same abilities. It's simple enough, but it's more fiddly than just having a physical button. Here, you have to swipe up and down to power your lights – swipe up to turn on and down to turn off. Those switches you usually give a quick tap to turn the lights on or off, or maybe they have motion detection. There are photos that it cycles through in a slideshow screensaver, but you can also upload your own photos via the companion app.īecause the Brilliant is reliant on a touchscreen, it's different to use compared to other switches. You don't exactly expect to see a vivid colour display on your wall showing pictures every day.īut when you do, it's hard to deny how cool it is. It's not the greatest screen in the world, but it is eye-catching.
Brilliant smart home control panel 720p#
The big difference between Brilliant and other smart switches is its 5-inch 720p LCD display. It's not clear why it wouldn't add my Ecobee4, but it took four attempts over the course of a day before they started talking to one another. Because the Brilliant works as a hub, you can give it control of a handful of smart home products (as long as they're made by the biggest names in smart home). It was also a nightmare making it work with my Ecobee4. I requested it eight times, and all eight emails arrived 40 minutes later.
Brilliant smart home control panel verification#
You'll have to sign up for a Brilliant account, which took me around 40 minutes because the email with the verification number wouldn't come through. Once you've done all the installation, setting up the Brilliant is an exercise in frustration. It does need to be connected on the Brilliant, which gives you a little more work. It's a little simpler on something like the Wemo Light Switch, which doesn't require your grounding wire to be connected. The other issue is Brilliant's approach to using the wires. Firstly, it's difficult to tell whether the wire locks are open or closed I spent way too long trying to jam wires into closed locks. All you have to do is plug the wires into the unit and use a screwdriver to fasten the wires in with the built-in wire locks.
The Brilliant Switch Control comes in two halves: the display, and the unit that connects to all the electrical wires. Brilliant tries to simplify this, in theory, but in practice it's kind of a pain to do. You just tie the switch's wires to your wall wires with a wire nut, screw it back in the wall and you're good to go. The reality is that most lighting switches are pretty simple to install.
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