This is the fourth gateway to be released by Zemismart over close to the last three years, with the original HomeKit compatible hub being released back in October of 2021. This was superseded a couple of years later with a new model that from appearances, looks identical to this latest offering, but not before the company also released the Smart Matter Hub M1, their first Zigbee hub that included both a Matter Controller and a Thread Border Router (video HERE, review HERE).

Now, with the latest release, which in some ways combines aspects of all previous hubs, we get a Zigbee hub to work with Tuya devices, but instead of using Apple HomeKit, or the cloud-based legacy connections for Google and Amazon, it uses Matter. This essentially means this is a cut down version of the M1 hub, so it does utilise Zigbee for Tuya devices, and it can connect to all Matter compatible platforms, due to its Matter credentials, but it can’t work with Thread devices, or act as a Matter controller for the Tuya ecosystem, which would allow for third-party Matter devices to connect to Tuya. It does beg the question as to who this is aimed at though, but despite the omissions compared to the fully featured M1, the M6 does have an antenna that the company told me has a 330m / 1082 ft reach (without barriers) for devices connected to it, which sounds extraordinary.

Like recent previous models, the M6 continues the trend towards USB-C with a power port utilising this method, as well as an ethernet port for a wired connection. There’s no wireless option for the hub.

Despite the packaging stating it’s a Tuya Zigbee gateway, it is a ZemiSmart product, as is evidenced from the branding on the front of the hub. It is primarily designed to work with Tuya certified Zigbee devices, however.

The packaging states the hub model is the T1, which is at odds with the product itself, which is listed as the M6 on the underside of the hub, alongside the Matter QR code. As this is Matter compatible, Apple Home users, as well as Google, Amazon, SmartThings, and Home Assistant users can all benefit from it, with Amazon and Google with the most to gain from leaving the legacy cloud connectivity behind in favour of local control. For Apple Home users, the benefits are more apparent if you’re coming from the company’s original hub, but much less so from the M1 with its Thread Border Router and Matter Controller features.

The package comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable, and an ethernet cable, but no power supply, which is standard these days. The M6 is due for release soon, although we don’t have a confirmed date as of yet, but we’re told the M6 will be competitively priced, which is typically the case for ZemiSmart products, even with the release of a whole slew of products that use Matter, with either Thread or WiFi.

The post ZemiSmart to Release New M6 Matter Compatible Zigbee Hub appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

These are all available as single gang switches, but offer one, two, three, and four button options for both the European and US varieties. This is something not many companies offer for HomeKit compatible switches.

The two important things to note for any prospective user is that all of these switches require a neutral wire, something less common in the EU and UK, and these are Matter over WiFi switches, so no Thread here on this occasion. That does mean that the pricing is very competitive, however;

The EU switches are priced at between UK£18~24 / €21~27, depending on the variant chosen, with the US equivalent priced at between US$21~27. All of these prices do not include shipping of course.

All variants for both the EU and US models are available for immediate purchase from ZemiSmart’s own site.

The post New Matter Light Switches for The US/EU From ZemiSmart appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

This new controller allows you to connect basic RGB LED strips, or even ones capable of RBG and the white spectrum, typically referred to as RGBCW strips. In essence, you connect the separate wires from the strip to the ports on the controller, then connect a suitable power source (it’s not provided), and you can proceed to connect the controller to Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, SmartThings, or Google Home using the provided Matter QR code.

As it’s Matter enabled, this does mean that despite the controller being able to work with strips that can use cool to warm whites, Adaptive Lighting won’t work with the controller in Apple Home, due to Adaptive Lighting being an exclusive Apple HomeKit feature.

The controller also uses Matter over WiFi, so whilst you do need a Matter Controller for your preferred ecosystem, as it’s not using Thread, you don’t need to worry about having a Thread Border Router available.

LED controllers are not a new product, although they’re not as common as the pre-packed ones you can buy from companies like Hue, Aqara, and Nanoleaf, just to name a few. It is, however certainly one of the first Matter enabled controllers on the market.

Back to the power supply, and as LED strips are relatively low voltage devices, the Controller typically uses a transformer to bring the voltage down from 100~240V AC (depending on your location) to 12/24V DC. As each country has different legal and safety requirements for transformers, this is most likely the reason why one is not included, although they’re cheap enough to buy. The controller itself is currently selling on the company’s own website for just US$16.50 (plus shipping), but of course, you would still need to buy a light strip and the aforementioned transformer.

The post ZemiSmart Releases First Matter Over WiFi Led Strip Driver appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

The new device uses Zigbee 3.0, so if you’re using Apple Home, you’ll need to use it via one of the company’s own Zigbee hubs. This includes not only their original HomeKit hub (review HERE, video HERE), but also their more recent Matter compatible Hub (review HERE, video HERE) that’s not only a Zigbee hub, but a Thread Border Router, and a Matter Controller for the Tuya ecosystem. For power, the wireless switch uses a single CR2450 coin cell battery (not included), which should give around 2 years of service before needing to be replaced.

The design will of course draw comparisons to the Philips Hue Wireless Dimmer Switch, which features the same four button layout, and magnetic wall plate. However, the big difference between the two is that ZemiSmart state each button is exposed to Apple Home with the standard single, double, and long press actions. If you’re an owner of the Hue Dimmer, you’ll know that it only exposes a single press action to Apple Home, although to be fair, it can do a lot more with other Hue products, just not in the HomeKit ecosystem.

You can preorder the new ZemiSmart 4-button switch from the company’s own website for US$19.90 + $2.00 shipping (to the US), with delivery beginning thirty days from today’s announcement.

The post New ZemiSmart 4-Button Smart Wireless Switch Announced appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

One word of caution for our US readers, however; This is only designed for 220~240V AC @50Hz, so it won’t work with US voltage standards unfortunately. If you’re in the EU though, you’ll be able to use this bulb without any issues. The bulb itself comes in the very retro ST54 pear-shaped design that we first saw with Philips Hue’s own releases a few years back, although the original models were set to warm white. ZemiSmart’s offering, on the other hand, covers 2700~6500K, to produce both warm and standard ‘day’ light.

at only 7 watts, this is not going to be suitable for the brightest of environments, but it should be fine for counter tops in the kitchen, or even for stylish retro accent lighting, given that it’s dimmable of course. As this is a Matter product, if you’re also a fan of the Tuya platform, you can also add it, as long as you’ve got the ZemiSmart M1 Gateway, which is a Matter Controller (only for Tuya), as well as a Zigbee hub, and a Thread Border Router. You can check out our video of the hub below, and if you’re interested in buying one, you can purchase them directly from ZemiSmart’s own store for US$16.50 or the equivalent currency you use.

The post ZemiSmart Unveil Their First Matter Enabled Filament Bulbs appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

Whilst the aforementioned Matter-compatible hub with an included Thread Border Router is of interest to most people, if you’re only interested in using HomeKit, and looking for a slightly wider list of compatible devices, this would be the real successor to their original hub, as the Matter hub still doesn’t expose as many devices – Zigbee locks is one such category that the Matter hub has yet to support, apparently.

Ultimately, Matter will catch up of course, but it really depends on whether you’re willing to wait for that to happen.

What does this new 2nd gen hub offer over the original you’re probably wondering. Well, it’s still essentially a Zigbee 3.0 hub, as before, but with that addition of an antenna, the company claims the reach of the hub to child devices is a lot stronger and more consistent. The hub still requires an ethernet connection, but the power supply has been upgraded to use USB-C, and they’ve ditched the LED ring light, which was of no use anyway.

As this is not a Matter-compatible hub, connection to platforms like Google and Amazon is going to use what I refer to as legacy connectivity, via the cloud. This isn’t relevant if you’re a HomeKit user, however. You can pick up the new hub from ZemiSmart’s online store today for US$44.40.

The post ZemiSmart Release Second HomeKit Zigbee Hub appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

Additionally, the company is now open for preorders of their latest Matter over Thread product, the Matter over Thread Roller Shade Motor. Similar to a product by Motion Blinds, this is a semi-retrofit solution to making your dumb blinds smart, although, unlike Aqara’s Roller Shade Driver solution, this doesn’t need to control a beaded chain or stick to the side of a wall – it sits inside your existing roller shade tube, which has to be 36-38mm in diameter.

The tube motor itself contains a 5000mAh battery that can be recharged via a USB-C port at one end of the motor, offering 30rpm, and a rated torque of 1NM. There’s no mention of battery life between charges, but based on the numbers, it should last between 4-6 months before needing to be recharged.

As this is Matter enabled, it’ll work with all four smart home platforms, and due to the Thread protocol, you only need to ensure there’s a Matter controller and a Thread Border Router in your home to allow it to connect and function as intended. Luckily, all current Apple Home Hubs (Apple TV4K (3rd gen & 4th gen/128GB), HomePod Mini, and HomePod (2nd gen) can act as both a Matter controller and a Thread Border Router, although if you don’t have the latter, ZemiSmart’s own M1 hub can fulfil that role too.

You can preorder the motor directly from ZemiSmart’s own store now where it’s offered at US$79.80 (40% off), but you can obtain an extra 15% off that price using the code ZMVIP15 from now until the end of Nov 24th (PST). The shipping date of December 25th has also been announced, so whilst it won’t make it in time for a nice present, you can still get a bargain for the new year.

The post Preorders Start For ZemiSmart Matter over Thread Roller Shade Motor appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

Additionally, the hub can act as a Thread Border Router for the company’s Thread devices, which will also be exposed to all of the aforementioned platforms, which includes their recently released Matter over Thread curtain motor system, and the roller shade motor that uses Matter over WiFi.

The hub itself is powered via a USB-C port and connects to your home network using an RJ45/Ethernet port, as is the case with the company’s first HomeKit-compatible hub.

According to ZemiSmart, although the hub itself is Matter compatible, it cannot act as a Matter controller, so you would still need a Matter Controller for your platform of choice (HomePod/Mini, Apple TV, etc).

Although it will work with any Thread-enabled device, the Zigbee hub portion will only work with ZemiSmart and Tuya Zigbee child devices.

You can order the new hub from Amazon.com or ZemiSmart’s own website today, for US$49.90.

The post ZemiSmart Release First Matter-Enabled Hub With Thread Border Router Functionality appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

The information we have so far on the new Zemimart M1 Hub is that it uses Zigbee to allow certified ZemiSmart (and possibly Tuya) Zigbee devices to be exposed to Matter. It also contains a Thread Border Router for Thread devices, even though the company only have one Matter over Thread device on their books at present, namely their new Curtain motor and track system. It’s also a Matter-compatible hub of course, although it’s unclear if it’ll also act as a Matter controller.

Like their current HomeKit-compatible Zigbee gateway, this will only connect via ethernet, for a wired connection, so no WiFi option is available, but as it’s Matter compatible, in theory, it shouldn’t require the Tuya app, although it may still be required in order to add devices to the hub, as is the case with other Matter compatible hubs including Aqara’s M2, for example. It should still have the ability to add the gateway directly to your Matter ecosystem of choice – Apple Home, Samsung SmartThings, Google Home, or Amazon Alexa, although it should be noted that at the time of writing, neither Google nor Amazon currently supports Matter hubs.

There’s no hint of a price right now, but given the vastly improved connection options compared to the current hub, it’s likely to be more expensive. You can check out our latest video of one of ZemiSmart’s first Matter over WiFi devices, the Smart Roller Shade Motor.

The post New Zigbee/Thread/Matter Hub Surfaces on CSA Website appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

Matter Beta Rollout For Aqara M2 Begins

Onvis Prepare for March Release of Thread Motion Sensor

Aqara Unveil Four New Products For the Chinese Market

Aqara FP2 Presales Launch in China With March Release

Zemismart List First Matter Devices For Purchase

Multi Feature Smart Outlet With Matter Launching Soon

Updated TP-Link/Kasa Matter Smart Plug Surfaces

ZemiSmart Releases First Thread/Matter Curtain Motor

Meross Releases its First Contact Sensor

Aqara Video Doorbell G4 Now Available in Amazon Stores

Nanoleaf Essentials with Matter Preorders Start

Ezviz Move Towards Matter and HomeKit Integration

Ikea Dirigera Update Adds HomeKit Support for Air Quality Sensor

Aqara Video Doorbell G4 Receives Fixes Via Update

REVIEWS

Aqara Ceiling Lamp L1-350 (review)

Aqara Smart Video Doorbell G4 (review)

YOUTUBE

Aqara Smart Ceiling Light L1-350

Yeelight Cube Smart Lamp with Matter

Aqara Smart Video Doorbell G4

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