It’s no mean feat to over-engineer a light bulb,
but that’s exactly what Philips has done. The officially lower-case hue
lighting kit comprises three screw-in lamps, a wireless bridge, and an iPhone
app that lets you change the color of the light produced whether you’re at home
or not.
This
is what's in the box: three Hue bulbs, a bridge, an AC adapter, and a length of
cat 5 cable.
This domestic version of the Black pool
illuminations is made possible by low-band-width ZigBee receivers fitted inside
each of the kit’s staggeringly expensive bulbs. The app presents a wide choice
of lighting presets, ranging from a simple Reading theme, which blasts white
light at full glare, to more exotic choices such as the blue-tinged Ski and the
orange-bathed Sunset. You can tweak the hue and brightness of each bulb
individually using a series of sliders, and you can switch individual lights on
and off at will. In the bedroom, you can set it to brighten your lights over
time to wake you up gradually.
The
Hue bridge with all status lights on. The central ring illuminates the button
used for linking the hub to the Hue app or other things.
Perhaps more impressive is the option to
take a photo with your iPhone’s camera and use colors sampled from it for each
bulb, allowing you to match the lighting to your interior decor, or someone
else’s if you prefer. However, the hue bulbs have a limited spectrum of colors:
don’t expect them to match the dark-brown leather sofa in your living room, for
example, or perfectly reproduce the subtle tone of the Farrow & Ball paint
on your walls.
However,
the hue bulbs have a limited spectrum of colors
Elsewhere in Philips’ system, style
overwhelmingly triumphs over substance. Although you can set the lights to
switch on and off at predefined times, you can only set one such alarm at once.
Bewilderingly, there’s no option to set up a recurring schedule for the lights
to come on and off every day, which effectively rules out one of the most
obvious uses: as a high-tech security light. You can manually switch the lights
on and off remotely over the internet, but this rather smacks of buying a dog
and barking yourself.
Elsewhere
in Philips’ system, style overwhelmingly triumphs over substance.
On the plus side, setup couldn’t be easier.
The lights react to commands from your iPhone in a heartbeat, and the 8.5 watt
LED bulbs are highly efficient yet - unlike earlier attempts at this technology
splendidly bright. The hue is also a terrific way to scare the life out of your
kids and pets.
The
hue is also a terrific way to scare the life out of your kids and pets.
Still, at $282.9 for the three-bulb starter
kit and $78.9 each for extra bulbs, it’s an impractical extravagance. DIY
stores sell colored LEDs with infrared remotes for around $24; they’re not as
bright, and you have to be in the room to control them, but then again you have
to be in the room to see them.
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Details
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Price: $282.9
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From: store.apple.com
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Info: meethue.com
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Pro: Controllable from your iPhone
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Con: Insanely expensive * Impractical
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