Novostella Smart LED Bulb Review

Pros

• Great range—white light from 2700K – 6500K
• Includes 16 million dimmable colors and 8 lighting scenes
• Reasonable price point

Cons

• No setup instructions included in the box. We had to go online to find them.

Novostella Smart Bulb Design

The design of the Novostella smart bulb is simple and easy to use. It is designed to be used anywhere you have a standard bulb.

It has a white body with faceted sides and a smooth translucent top. The base screws into any typical A19 or B22 housing.

The Novostella offers:

• Color changing LED
• Dimmable light output
• App control
• Voice control via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant
• Scenes
• Timer

How bright is the bulb?

This bulb could be compared to a 120W traditional light bulb. That is quite a bit of light output for most uses. If you want a softer light, the output can easily be adjusted in the app.

Max light output is around 1300 lumens and takes 13W of power.

Automatic vs. Manual Settings

Once you adjust the output, it will start at whatever level you specify until you change it in the app or through the use of a scene.

Do you need a hub?

No.

The Novostella does not require a hub for connectivity. You can have one or 100 in your home and each bulb can be configured and managed with the app.

Set them to work together as a scene or configure each bulb differently for a more unique usage.

The Novostella smart bulb comes as an A19 or B22 bulb with compatibility for Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.

Versitible Colors

Using the app, you can select from 16 million custom colors on a standard RGB color wheel. You can also specify simple white and yellow light also.

Color temperature can vary on this bulb from an ultra-white 6500K light to a warmer 2700K light output. The lower the K value, the warmer the light.

True blue sky daylight falls around 10,000K while the warm glow of candlelight is much lower, around 1,000K.

It’s a little hard to capture with a photo, but you can start to see the difference below. White light is shown on the left and warm light shown on the right.

Setup

This bulb works as soon as you install it into the housing, but to tap into the custom options and connectivity features, you’ll want to walk through the full setup using your smartphone and the Novostella app.

Here’s the rundown.

The app is compatible with iPhone or Android devices and allows users to adjust settings on the bulb. To get started, follow the steps below.

• Step 1: Remove all packaging and install the bulb in the desired location.
• Step 2: Then, download the app to your smartphone and follow the prompts to connect your phone to the bulb.

Our setup experience was a bit of a mixed bag. First, they didn’t include any instructions in the package (not sure if that was a mistake or not). But in any case, we had to go online to find install instructions.

To get it to connect to the app took a bit of work. It took use several tries to get the bulb to enter setup mode. Overall, it took 15-20 minutes to get the bulb setup.

Novostella sent us this setup video, which we found helpful. We’re including it here in that hope that it can help you too.

1. Light Output

Using the app, it’s very easy to quickly adjust different parts of the light output like color, saturation, and brightness.

The RGB wheel in the app makes it easy to adjust the color by simply dragging your finger to select the desired color. Saturation and brightness can also be adjusted by sliding your finger to the left or right.

These changes happen in real-time as you adjust the add so it’s easy to see what you’re doing and make sure that the settings are right.

Need to make a change while you’re away?

You can make changes in the app anywhere you have a wifi connection. This allows you to turn lights on or off or change the output at the push of a button.

2. Scenes

There are 8 different scenes. These scenes come as presets, but you can easily adjust the scene to meet your individual needs.

Using presets, you can customize moods like:

• Bedtime: Dimming the lights before bed
• Wake Up: Turning certain lights on when you wake up
• Cook Dinner: Turns on the lights in the kitchen and turns off lights where you don’t need them
• And more: Customize a unique scene to fit your needs and lifestyle

These scenes can be paired with any other Novostella products to respond to the same prompts for a unified and cohesive scene environment.

3. Timer

The timer function allows you to schedule lights to turn on or off at a set time every day or on an alternate fixed schedule.

You can schedule the light one day a week, every day, or somewhere in between.

Should You Buy the Novostella?

Ok, so all things considered, should you buy the Novostella LED smart bulb? I would recommend the Novostella if you’re looking for the following in a smart LED bulb:

• Lots of options: This bulb has 16 million color options, dimmable light output, and a range of color temperatures (2600-6500K).
• No hub needed: Some smart bulbs require a central hub to communicate with the app (and other bulbs). With the Novostella bulb, you won’t have to worry about purchasing a hub, as each bulb can communicate directly with the app.
• App control: The app is easy to use and has some good features like voice control, setting up scenes, or setting a timer for automatic adjustments.

Click here to learn more or to check the price for the Novostella smart bulb.