Philips is a company which is known for their Lights internationally and a couple of years ago they released the Philips Hue, which is finally available here in India now. Philips Hue is smart RGB LED Mood Light, which is connected to the internet. To get started with Philips Hue, you have to start with the Starter Kit, which we have with us right now.
The Box
Philips Hue is impressive right from the box. There is a dial that you can rotate and the colour of the Hue on the Box changes. Opening up the box, you have three Philips Hue bulbs, the hub, power and ethernet cables.
Setup
Setting up Hue was incredibly simple. Screw in the Hue to the socket, connect the bridge to your router via Ethernet cable and download the official App, which is available for both iOS and Android.
The bulbs are 9W each and provide a maximum brightness of 800 lumens with white light.
Also, another thing to consider is that the Bulbs are of Edison screw type which is not available in Indian homes. Chances are, the existing sockets are Bayonet. So you’ll have to get the Edison to Bayonet converter to use it and the cost of that is negligible. Check out the video below on how to convert the Philips Hue Bulbs to be used in India:
The App
The core part of Philips hue is it’s App. You can set your own scenes which are presets. To build a preset, you’ll have to upload a photo from your gallery and choose the colours from that. Also, the official app does have accompanying apps for both Apple Watch and Android Wear.
Additionally, you can sign up for MeetHue, which will let you control your lights from anywhere in the world as long as you have the internet. You no longer have to be connected to the same network.
Usage
For everyday usage, the Bulbs can be automated with changing variables. For example, you can Sync the bulb with Sunrise and Sunset or sync it with time. Philips Hue is the perfect Mood light where every aspect of it can be automated. Excepting for the setup part, I used a whole range of third party apps to get the lights going. One of the coolest integration is IFTTT. You can set your Hue to react to pretty much anything. Have it change colour when you have an unread mail or change it to Blue when you have a new notification on Facebook.
There is a second version of the Hub which is HomeKit compatible. HomeKit is Apple’s API, which will let Smart Home devices to integrate into the iOS ecosystem. The new version of the Hub was just released in the US, which would let you control your lights with Siri. You can tell Siri to “Turn ON lights in the Kitchen” or “Turn off all the lights” when you leave home. You can switch the Hub to HomeKit enabled one once they release it in India without having to buy new bulbs.
Conclusion
Philips Hue is clearly the light of future. It makes things so much easier with control and automation. But the price right now is high. It costs about Rs. 16,000 for the starter kit with the hub and three bulbs and an extra bulb would cost Rs. 3,500. You’ll need at least three lights to illuminate a single room completely. The cost goes up when you have to set it up for your whole house. But that cost is nothing if you’re in the market for premium lights and comparing with them, Hue would be a lot better. You can get the Philips Hue starter kit right here from Snapdeal.
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