Full blown Hue bulbs can have any color you like... but they specialize in having nice warm whites.
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Philips Announces New Hue Bulbs, Hue Bridge 2.0 With HomeKit Compatibility
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Full blown Hue bulbs can have any color you like... but they specialize in having nice warm whites.
I agree. If the SINGLE, SOLITARY thing you will do with this is save yourself a few steps (never ever using the rest of the functionality), then it's probably too early for you to spend the hundreds of dollars.
I was making a joke, but it sounds like something Apple should do with their own devices, too, haha.
I think you're confusing pigment primary colours (red, yellow & blue) with light (red, green & blue)
In contrast to most of the posters here... I'll say that I'm really pleased with this news.
If anything, this shows the POWER and flexibility that come with using a Hub.
I have hundreds of dollars invested in Hue light bulbs and now for just $40 I can make them all HomeKit compatible. That's a damn good deal!
Imagine if there was no hub and Philips had used a proprietary protocol for the bulbs... they came out long before HomeKit and therefore would have NO chance of being HomeKit compatible.
By keeping the lights simple and putting all of the processing in the Hub, Phiips have actually protected their customers from future changes in the home automation field.
I'll be buying one of these hubs IMMEDIATELY! Thanks Philips!
If anything, this shows the POWER and flexibility that come with using a Hub.
I have hundreds of dollars invested in Hue light bulbs and now for just $40 I can make them all HomeKit compatible. That's a damn good deal!
Imagine if there was no hub and Philips had used a proprietary protocol for the bulbs... they came out long before HomeKit and therefore would have NO chance of being HomeKit compatible.
By keeping the lights simple and putting all of the processing in the Hub, Phiips have actually protected their customers from future changes in the home automation field.
I'll be buying one of these hubs IMMEDIATELY! Thanks Philips!
This - if you need some more bulbs, it makes more sense to buy a v2 starter set and the new hub will work out at only $20. To be honest the $60 rrp is a joke.
I believe they said that a solution for HomeKit was in the works, but it requires a new authentication chip that Apple controls. Not something that can be retrofitted. Just like a WiFi access point, you gotta expect to upgrade to keep up with standards. (One reason why connected home things still suck. They're still for early adopters.)
I'm more excited for the updated bulbs than the new hub. The scene widget works very well for quick access already. But, I'd love to see some richer greens, a bit more brightness on the high end and a lower minimum dim. Looking forward to seeing bulb reviews.
Does this mean you can't make the light pure red or blue or green? Because I'd want to be able to do that too.
(Yes, I want to have it ALL WAYS. I'm greedy.)
I am in the same boat with Wink in two homes.
I ordered this new kit on Sunday evening from Amazon. It is due on Tuesday 10/6.
I own 8 GE Link bulbs in my main house. If this works, I will get another kit for the other house that has 3 GE Link bulbs.
I really like that you can control the bulbs in house without the need to use an Internet server.
I really hated that when the Wink server is down, nothing worked.
Well, for the discounted price you won't be buying one IMMEDIATELY since Philips is making existing users wait until November for some odd reason. 
It can do very vivid reds, somehow. I have my Crimson Tide scene set-up for that mood. It cannot do vivid greens (they're a bit yellowy and washed out) and blue/cyan colours are barely more than a cool white. You can get a very deep indigo/violet though, which even causes some pigments to fluoresce. I think some of the other Hue products may be RGB so you could fill in missing colours that way.
It is just because you don't want light bulbs to clutter your wifi network. Hue bulbs work on a completely separate network called 'zigbee' as opposed to wifi. You'll need special zigbee hardware in your phone, or a bridge between existing hardware and zigbee technology to do that.
Considering the expected life of these bulbs, 20 years...and the cost for the white only lights, $20. You'd have to have about 40 lights to control just to hit a thousand let alone "thousands of dollars". And that would cover you for a long, long time.
I think you have it completely the wrong way around. There shouldn't be 'ANY' smart technology contained in a light bulb in my mind. The old school KNX approach already got this completely right. The idea of putting technology in bulbs is great for anyone who want's to upgrade their existing house/flat with smart capabilities without rewiring anything.
The problem is that there really isn't a consumer facing solution for a regular BUS system which is still the main reason we don't see them implemented more often.
In an ideal world, the 'bridge' (or however you want to call it) would be the only piece of technology your lighting system needs. This would give you complete flexibility on bulbs and lighting solution while you could easily upgrade your system by simply exchanging one piece of hardware.
It's the complexity and costs involved with programming that puts people off from investing into something like an AMX, Crestron etc. ...system. Philips' approach of making the programming fun and easy already goes into the right direction and the smart bulbs are a nice idea for people who slowly want to make their home a little bit smarter step by step.
What we would really need though is a powerful bridge device combined with 'dumb regular bulbs' that enables a regular person to interact with their EIB/KNX system without any programming skills.
(But maybe I am thinking too practical here. At least I don't want my light bulbs to be expensive and smart. I want them to be stupid and cheap. My light system on the other hand should be able to handle any sort of mood/scene I can envision)
HomeKit integration isn't just about Voice Control...it's about controlling everything from one place.
Philips today announced its first HomeKit-enabled product, debuting the Hue Bridge 2.0, an updated version of its original Hue Bridge. With the Hue Bridge 2.0, its line of Philips Hue lights are able to work with Apple's home automation platform, allowing all existing and future Hue bulbs to be controlled with Siri voice commands.
Commands like "Turn lights red" can be used for specific colors, while commands like "Set the lamp to 30 percent" can be used for dimming. Lighting scenes that have long been available in the Philips Hue app can now be turned on using Siri. With HomeKit integration, an entire household of lights can be manipulated with a single command.
While most HomeKit apps support other HomeKit products, the Hue app will work differently. It can be used to control the Hue line of lights and set up light-specific scenes, but it is not able to incorporate other HomeKit products. Hue lighting scenes will be made available in other HomeKit apps, however, so it is possible to group the Hue lights with other products, using one command to do things like unlock a door and turn on the lights at the same time.
The new Hue Bridge 2.0 looks similar to the existing Hue Bridge, but it is square like the Apple TV rather than round. Along with the new bridge, Philips is also debuting a new set of lights. The new Hue bulbs are somewhat brighter at 800 lumens instead of 600 lumens.
The original Hue Bridge will not be updated with HomeKit compatibility as it does not have the necessary hardware, but Philips plans to continue to support it with software updates. Original Hue Bridge owners will need to purchase a Hue Bridge 2.0 to access HomeKit, but will get a discount of $20 on the product.
The new Hue Bridge 2.0 is priced at $60, but customers who own an existing Hue Bridge can get it for $40. The full lighting kit with new bulbs and the new bridge is priced at $200. All new Hue products are available beginning October 6 from Apple retail stores, Best Buy, and Amazon.
Article Link: Philips Announces New Hue Bulbs, Hue Bridge 2.0 With HomeKit Compatibility
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Yes, but is there any Homekit "place" (i.e. app) that is better for controlling the lights than the existing Hue apps (both the Philips one and 3rd party apps)?
I can see some potential in Homekit if it can integrate all kinds of IoT devices in the future (although I'm not sure it will succeed given Apple's lackluster efforts so far), but what are the benefits right now?
The current bulbs don't sue RGB Leds in the normal sense. The reason they don't do this is with that, you don't get good whites. They use more muted colors so when you mix them, you get much better color rendition when creating the whites and I have to say, they pretty much nailed it. The white levels are amazing. You can have stark white (like the old CFL's/Daylight bulbs), you can have that super orange colored light from the old incandescent bulbs, or you can have a more natural daylight color. Lots of options for white that are amazing.
The color spectrum on the bulbs is more muted. You don't get pure green/red/blue. It's more lime/magenta/indigo. All are great and all create great scenes. If you're wanting pure red - green - blue - these are not for you. If you're looking for great whites and color that's soothing and creates ambiance, these are your bulbs!
I really love Hue products and plan to add more.
Seems to be on their own website (Philips Hue) an starting from Nov 1. Still unclear on specifics.
The original Hue Bridge came out in 2012, and HomeKit only really started this year. You expect 3 year old hardware to be compatible? I feel like they are being pretty generous with a 30% discount.
Yes I do since they advertized that way
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People need to stop acting like you are raping their mother when you say something even remotely negative about a product / company, people are entitled to their opinion and it is not like I was bashing Philips, as said earlier I like the company and their product.....
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