Lighting is one of the easiest ways to get into home automation. In the search for a useful, reliable accessory, free of hubs, easy to install and compatible with our devices, we find the Eve Flare. A piece that turns home lighting into something more than a bulb we simply switch on and off. A luminous sphere that offers us stylish lighting, full of colour and deeply integrated into Apple’s ecosystem so we can adapt any corner of our home to each moment of the day, from a dinner in the living room to an evening on the terrace.
Design, portability and light quality: outstanding across the board
The design of the Eve Flare is as simple as a 25 cm polycarbonate sphere that lights up our room with its 90-lumen LED. With the same elegance in materials and design that we have already discovered in our Eve Room review or in the Omniablinds blinds, it is designed to create atmosphere rather than just illuminate an entire room. The matte surface helps make the brightness pleasant even at the highest levels, while the white finish means it pairs easily with our most varied furniture and fabrics.
The Eve Flare gives us a soft, enveloping light that turns any table, shelf or garden corner into a subtly elegant focal point. Any corner, literally, since portability is one of the product’s strong points.
The base hides a wireless charging system and even a handle that allows us to hang it from a branch, a railing or carry it from one room to another with one hand. The IP65 rating prepares it for splashes and light rain outdoors, while the built-in battery offers us more than 6 hours of continuous use away from the charging base. This gives us complete freedom in its placement without having to think about cables, only about lighting.
Although the charm of the product lies in its integration with Apple’s home automation, the Eve Flare includes two physical buttons on the underside: one to turn it on and off, and another to cycle through the several predefined colours, from amber to intense blues. A physical layer that allows anyone at home to interact with the luminous sphere without having to go through an iPhone or HomePod.
A lamp that strengthens our ecosystem and builds on our home automation
The Eve Flare integrates with our home automation directly and does not require any hub, as it works via Bluetooth and Thread. We simply scan the code on the base of the lamp and assign it to a room. From that moment on, we control it from the Home app on our iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple Watch, as well as through Siri requests to turn it on, adjust the colour with full precision or change the brightness.
Support for Thread technology makes the Eve Flare a very interesting element in a home with a HomePod mini or an Apple TV 4K acting as a border router, since the accessory network remains fully available even when we move away from the main Wi-Fi router. In addition, the other Eve devices we have connected, such as Eve Energy or Eve Light Switch, further extend coverage, so our luminous sphere joins in as a mobile accessory that benefits from all that infrastructure.
Lighting that goes far beyond simple bulbs
At the Eve store, we can get the Eve Flare for 99.95 €, or go a bit further with a double pack for 179.91 € or with the set of an Eve Flare and the Eve Motion motion sensor for 119.90 €, giving us the first pieces to create light scenes that react to movement in hallways, gardens or terraces.
Compared with other lighting solutions, here the value is focused on the versatility of the portable form factor and the integration with Apple and Siri, instead of chasing sheer raw power. The Eve Flare fits particularly well in homes where we already have a HomePod mini or an Apple TV 4K as an accessory hub and when we value well-crafted lighting scenes.
Those looking for a lamp capable of lighting an entire room from the ceiling will prefer other options, but the Eve Flare plays in another league: that of ambient light that accompanies and transforms a scene with a small adjustment from the Home app or Siri. The more-than-6-hour battery life, together with the placement flexibility it guarantees us and a discreet charging base on which to rest the lamp during or after use, means we can change the lighting of any room with great ease.
One of the best ways to get started with home automation or, conversely, to improve the lighting of our home automation setup with more care and attention to detail. A simple luminous sphere that, in its simplicity, stands out for its flexibility in lighting any room in our home.
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