Our smartphones are pretty smart. They can do a lot of things right from our pocket.

What if we took everything that makes a smartphone smart and put it in something else?

That's basically what Sony has done: it has taken the idea of connected devices to the next level and put the guts of a smartphone into a light bulb. The device is called the Multifunctional Light, and it does much more than your average light bulb.

For example, the Multifunctional Light is able to communicate with a range of other appliances around the house, such as air conditioners and thermostats. It can even talk to the TV using infrared to turn it on when it senses that the user has entered the room. All of this, you guessed it, can be controlled from your smartphone, even when you're away from the house.

It's kind of similar to the Amazon Echo, which has slowly but surely been taking over households in the U.S. as a hub for the smart home. Sony obviously wants a bite of the smart home pie. Unfortunately, the device is currently only available in Japan and will be released there in the first half of the year, so we're probably a long way off from it being available anywhere else in the world. Pricing for the Multifunctional Light hasn't been released just yet.

Via: The Verge