Mui Board Review: The Wooden Smart Home Controller with Matter Support

The Silent Revolution of the Mui Board: Why Your Smart Home Needs Less Screen and More Soul

One of the strangest things about the "home of the future" is how much it looks like an office. We have screens on our refrigerators, screens on our walls, and screens in our pockets that we must constantly unlock just to turn on a lamp. Most smart home hubs are loud—not necessarily in volume, but in aesthetic. They are made of glossy plastic, they blink with blue LEDs, and they demand your attention with a barrage of notifications.

I first encountered the Mui Board as a prototype at CES back in 2019. At the time, I thought it was a beautiful concept that would never actually make it to a living room. A smart home controller made of a solid plank of wood? It felt too poetic for the cold, hard world of consumer electronics. But after years of refinement, the Mui Board has finally arrived as a finished product, and it is a masterclass in what designers call calm tech. It doesn't want to be the center of your life; it just wants to be part of your home.

The Sensory Experience: When LEDs Meet Walnut

The first thing you notice about the Mui Board—and mine is the walnut version, though light cherry is also available—is that it doesn’t look like a gadget. It looks like a high-end floating shelf or a piece of minimalist wall art. There are no visible buttons, no glass panels, and certainly no camera lenses. It is just wood, sanded to a silky, matte finish that invites you to touch it.

The magic happens the moment you run your fingers across the surface. This isn't just a wooden cover over a screen; the wood itself is the interface. Thanks to capacitive touch technology, the board senses your hand and wakes up a hidden matrix of dot-matrix LEDs. These lights don't sit on top of the wood; they shine through the veneer. The result is a soft, glowing display that looks like it is vibrating from within the grain.

There is something deeply satisfying about the tactile feedback of the Mui Board. Unlike the cold, sterile drag of a finger across a smartphone screen, interacting with the Mui feels organic. You swipe to adjust the volume of your Sonos speakers or tap to trigger a "Goodnight" scene. The lights have a warm, amber hue that feels much more natural in a dim living room than the harsh blue light of a traditional tablet. It turns the act of controlling your home from a digital chore into a brief, pleasant sensory moment.

Future-Proofing with Matter: A $599 Investment in Peace

I’ll be direct: at $599, the Mui Board is a luxury. You could buy four or five traditional smart tablets for that price. However, you aren't just paying for a piece of wood; you are paying for an entirely different philosophy of living. More importantly, you are paying for a device that is actually built to last in a rapidly changing tech ecosystem.

The biggest technical upgrade to the production version of the Mui Board is its support for Matter. For the uninitiated, Matter is the new universal standard that allows smart home devices from different brands to talk to each other seamlessly. Because the Mui Board is Matter-compatible, it acts as a bridge between your Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings devices.

This is a critical detail for a high-end product. Nobody wants to spend $600 on a wall controller only for it to become a paperweight because a specific software ecosystem changed its rules. Matter ensures that the Mui Board remains a functional hub for years to come. Whether you’re adjusting a Philips Hue bulb or a Nest thermostat, the Mui Board handles the communication in the background, leaving you with nothing but a clean, simple interface.

The Ultimate Gift Guide: Who belongs with a Mui Board?

Because of its unique price point and aesthetic, the Mui Board isn't for everyone. It is a niche product, which actually makes it an incredible gift for the right person. If you are looking to impress someone who values intention over convenience, here is who this board is for:

The Minimalist Architect: We all have that friend whose home looks like a page from Architectural Digest. They hate wires, they hide their TV in a cabinet, and they definitely don't want a plastic Google Nest Hub ruining the lines of their entryway. The Mui Board is the only smart home controller that actually adds to the decor rather than detracting from it.

The Digital Detoxer: This is for the person who is trying to reclaim their home from "the algorithm." Using the Mui Board allows you to check the weather, set a kitchen timer, or adjust the thermostat without ever picking up your phone. It removes the temptation to check your email or scroll through social media just because you wanted to dim the lights for dinner.

The Ultimate Housewarming Gift: If you are looking for a "wow" gift for a couple moving into a new home, this is it. It’s a conversation starter that serves a daily purpose. It’s functional art that manages to be both high-tech and high-touch.

The Trade-Off: Simplicity vs. Complexity

It is important to manage expectations: the Mui Board is intentionally limited. If you are a power user who wants to view live security camera feeds, scroll through complex Spotify playlists, or manage fifty different smart routines from a single dashboard, this will frustrate you.

The interface is minimalist by design. It shows you the time, the weather, and a few key controls for your most-used devices. You can write "digital memos" to family members that appear as glowing text on the wood, which is charming, but you aren't going to be browsing the web on this thing.

Availability also remains a bit of a hurdle. While the company has moved past the "concept" stage and is shipping units, they are often produced in batches. You won't find this sitting on a shelf at a big-box retailer. You have to seek it out, which, in a way, adds to the feeling that you’re owning something special rather than a mass-produced commodity.

The Verdict: A Beautifully Simple Way to Control Your Home

After spending time with the Mui Board, it’s hard to go back to "regular" smart home hubs. It’s proof that technology doesn't have to be aggressive to be effective. It can be quiet, it can be made of natural materials, and it can respect the boundaries of your home life.

The Mui Board is a bold bet that there is a segment of the population willing to pay more for less. Less clutter, less blue light, and less digital noise. For $599, you are buying a piece of functional art that brings a sense of Zen to the modern, connected house. It is a refreshing breath of fresh air in an industry that usually prioritizes "more" over "better." If you value your home’s atmosphere as much as its connectivity, the Mui Board isn't just a gadget—it's a sanctuary.