The well known smart home brand Meross, who were amongst the first to announce a Matter enabled smart plug, have released an updated model for North America. This comes around a year since the original was launched.
As might be clear from the images above, the main difference, at least externally, is the form factor. The Original model was of a design that didn’t allow two of them to be placed together in a dual wall outlet, which even then was odd, given that prior to this, Meross did have a smart plug like the ‘Mini’ variant above. Now the new model reverts to this slimmer design, whilst removing the LED lit power button with a simpler blank one. Whilst this improvement is a welcome one, the two things that could stifle sales is the lack of Thread, which many clamour for in a smart home device. It’s also worth noting that this form factor already exists for a Matter over WiFi smart plug, from a company called Linkind, who also make smart bulbs, and more.
The insides have also taken on an update, with the new model supporting energy monitoring. Whilst this is good news in these energy-conscious times, this feature is not currently supported in Matter, and so it falls upon the Meross app to show these details. If and when energy monitoring becomes part of the spec for Matter 1.3, Meross has stated they’ll expose this feature to Matter.
Never the less, this should solve a problem that came with the original model being a tad bulky. It’s just a shame we’re still not seeing any indication that Meross are willing to take the plunge into Thread, which Onvis has already done with the three variants (EU, UK, US) of their smart plug.
You can find more details on the new Meross Smart Plug Mini on Meross’ own website, and you should be able to pick one up once they becomes available in Meross’ own online shop, with stock coming to Amazon.com soon after.
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