Gadgetory

toronto-based smart lighting startup nana leaf is back with new LED light panels for your wall dubbed nana leaf canvass the new square shaped color changers feature touch sensitivity a built-in microphone to sync them up with whatever music you're listening to and voice controls with Siri Alexa and the Google assistant you can add up to 500 panels to a single set up 25 / power supply and a nine panel starter kit costs two hundred and fifty dollars now that is obviously not cheap but it's also not much more than you'd spend on say four bulb starter kit from philips hue for the money you're getting a very distinctive set of smart lights for out-and-proud smart home setups they're not for everyone but they are undeniably unique the approach is similar to the first set of triangular shaped LED light panels they'll stick them to your walls with double-sided tape and link each one together using little connector chips one of the panels in the starter kit features built-in buttons for quick control of the lights but you can also sync them up with your home's Wi-Fi network to automate them or control them on your phone or with voice commands now let's start with what I like about these lights I honestly wasn't sure how I was gonna feel about the new design that splits each panel into four quadrants to help evenly disperse the light but seeing it close-up I really like it actually it's kind of a nice marbled effect and the square shaped panels also look a lot less alien than the triangular ones did I also like that rhythm mode one of nano Leafs best features is now built in by default no extra mic accessory needed on the downside the new touch controls which let you push a panel to create a ripple effect seem a bit like an underwhelming gimmick here at launch and I hate the sticky tabs that nano leaf gives you to help put these things up on your wall the way the panels are designed it makes it so there's really no good way to get them off of your all without damaging paint velcro tabs like the ones that come with life x tiles would have been a whole lot better if I were buying nano leaf canvas from my home I'd be sure to pick some of those up along with them something else you should know the connections on the back of each panel aren't in the center of each side that they are with the triangles that lets you stagger the connections for better design flexibility which is nice but note that they aren't the same on each side that means that you'll need to put some extra thought into how you're going to arrange them before you start sticking them to your walls fortunately Natalie's app has a really cool layout assistant that helps you figure things out on your phone there's even an augmented reality feature that lets you preview how your configuration will look on your walls before you put anything up all in all if you're a fan of Nana leaf or of color changing lights like these then there's a lot to like here Natalie's canvas can jazz up a party wake you up with an artificial sunset in the morning sync up with your razor chroma compatible PC games or just add a fun funky aesthetic to your home whether or not that's worth 250 is up to you