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SOMA Smart Home Smart Shades Electric blind control review

Can these controls for blinds put smart homes in the shade?

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soma smartshades
soma smartshades

While the vast majority of smart home accessories centre around lights and thermostats, other products are starting to feel the smart home love. Soma is one of the first to bring window blinds and shades to a variety of smart home platforms.

Soma Smart Shades will turn a set of roller blinds into something you can control with your smartphone. It is basically a little motor that you thread the roller around and mounts to the wall. This little motor is then controlled via your phone via Bluetooth. This makes set up really simple.

The adapter is compatible with any blinds with a sidewinder chain. It also supports curtains are maximum of 2m wide and 2m high.

You have to download an app. Once started, the wizard takes you through everything. The blinds can then be controlled via the app, although you may want to set up a schedule. The app will also tell you the battery levels, although as the device comes with a solar panel to recharge the battery, there is little need to power up via the mains as the battery will last around two months..

In action, the motor is slow but this isn’t really a problem. The blinds will work with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s HomeKit. These all work really well in tests. However, you will need the £99.99 SOMA Connect to enable both Apple HomeKit and Amazon Alexa voice control.

You can buy the Soma Smart Shades at https://www.somasmarthome.com/ or https://www.somasmarthome.com/collections/soma