The regular Hue (change to many different colors,) I'm with you about - I don't need deep red light or bright green light or purple light, except a few times a year (for parties, etc.)
But this one, I see the point of - changing the tone of color throughout the day can have a big impact on mood/sleep cycle. A cooler bluer light (not *BLUE*, but "more blue than normal,") is good in the morning to help wake up, and makes great light for reading. A warmer yellower light (again, not deep yellow, but more yellow than normal,) is a good all-around color for mid-day. A deeper slightly orange/red tinted light is good in the late evening to help the body prepare for sleep. (Exposure to blue light late at night tends to make it more difficult to fall asleep.)
I have Hue bulbs and lamps throughout my home, I don't use deep red or bright green or even purple. It's hard to explain without sounding pretentious, you need to not consider light an essential convenience to allow you to see in the dark and think of it as decor. I live in a 450 year old cottage and spent a lot of time designing the lighting, wih the Hue system I can make rooms look so much more inviting, more comfortable, I can light different areas and create different moods. Rooms look more interesting, our lounge is very dark, we have two very small windows, but with the lights and lamps I wash both of the windows and surrounding walls and ceiling wih warm yellow light in the daytime. Even on the darkest days it looks like the sun is flooding through the windows, everyone who comes in comments on how lovely and warm the room looks.
Bedrooms become more relaxing, lits face on in the morning to aid waking up - really helps in the middle of winter - and soft warm glows light my wife's way when she has to get up at 4am ready for work. They don't have the horrible impact of a bright white light, they don't shock your system, and they don't wake up anyone else, but they ensure she can see everywhere she needs to go. As she leaves they fade off again, except for the night lights that remain on incase anyone needs to get up in the dark.
My severely autistic some sleeps better as light fades in the evening and up in the mornings, the lamps and lights in his room also offer him calming effects when he is having a particularly tough day and melting down, and they can flash and stimulate him when is is listening to music and jumping on the bed.
The kitchen with its old deep fireplace where the range cooker sits was a dark and up inviting room, with clever lighting using strips it's now warm and interesting, the fireplace with its old bread oven shows off its character and reminds us why we love living in a house that's stood for over 4 centuries.
I have some lights in the garden and will be expanding it over the next few months to around 30 bulbs outside, it's a big garden and solar lights are just not good. Normal bulbs light it up but that's it, with colour it becomes a much more interesting place at night.
I use the lights in my kids rooms to call them for their dinner or when I need them, one press on the wall mounted Tap switch and their lights flash red and blue and don't stop u til they either turn them off or come downstairs. I can't be heard calling from one end of the house to the other so I used to have to wander off to find them. Lazy yes but it's a neat solution and they actually enjoy it. It's fun to call them down randomly just to annoy them too!
I will be buying a load of these bulbs as soon as they hit the shops, I will mix them up with some of the other lights to make it a bit more interesting, warm whites with a little colour here and there will really make rooms look good.
We used to decorate rooms fairly often, now most rooms are white or cream or fairly neutral and we paint with colours, it makes the rooms a lot more interesting and you can change your mind as often and as easily as you like.
Or you can have a white bulb hanging from the centre of the room that you can flick on and off. I'd not go back to that sort of lighting again.
I think I must be missing something here - 6 months ago in November when Philips launched the new v2 Homekit bridge I bought a pack that contained the new bridge with two white Hue dimmable bulbs. What's the difference between those and what's just been announced here?
Even better, the pack was £60 whereas the bridge, which you could only get on its own direct from Philips, was £50 so I ended up paying just £5 per bulb
It's the colour range, they were just white led's with some adjustment, these bulbs take in a much wider colour range from a cold fluorescent white through to warm yellow/white soft glows.
