The Aqara Cube T1 Pro is a new control device for smart home devices that aims to simplify the user experience. It is equipped with motion sensors and touch sensors to allow you to activate certain smart home devices with simple gestures or taps, without the need for complicated voice commands or accessing an app on your smartphone.

The new device costs just €22.99 and can be integrated into Smart Home systems, including compatibility with Apple Home and Amazon Alexa. The device is recognised as a controller with six buttons, one for each side of the cube (which are also marked with dots, like dice), as well as six motion sensors for recording gestures. Basically, you can set 12 different commands on this remote, which can control either individual devices or entire scenarios that activate multiple devices simultaneously.

Of course, integration requires an Aqara Hub, which is a Zigbee 3.0 device, so it has high compatibility with many smart devices already available on the market. Incidentally, Aqara’s M2 Hub is the first of its kind to receive support for Matter, the new smart home standard. Possible motion commands are press, twist, turn, touch or shake. So you can set it so that when you turn the cube in one direction it does something, and when you turn it in the opposite direction it stops that activity, just like a tap. Or you can increase the intensity of the light bulb in one direction and decrease the intensity in the other.

As opposed to remotes with lots of buttons, which can be complex and intimidating, or voice commands and mobile apps, this type of remote could easily be integrated into a home where not all users are very tech-savvy.