Philips Hue Ambiance Bulbs Focus on Shades of White Light to Encourage Better Sleep Cycles

[MacRumors]

Philips is extending the capabilities of its Hue lighting system even further with the Philips Hue White Ambiance kit, which will give fans of the smart lighting system access to every shade of white light (via SlashGear). The new bulbs are a more robust version of the Philips Hue Lux system, which is limited to dimmable white light rather than the full array of colors available with the standard Hue bulbs.

The White Ambiance bulbs are billed as a natural companion to the day/night light cycle of the sun, encouraging users to wake up in the mornings and then dimming the light temperature to a low-level of light before bed. The low light mode is similar in theory to Apple's upcoming Night Shift feature in iOS 9.3, which cuts down on the amount of blue light users interact with in the evening hours to facilitate a better night's sleep.

In fact, the Ambience bulb supports anything from 6,500 K, the equivalent of cool daylight, all the way to 2,200 K, which is a warmer, almost golden light. Philips' light recipes are supported, which use different light temperatures to promote concentration, relaxation, or other moods.

To help with this, Philips is introducing a feature called "Routines" with the launch of the White Ambiance bulbs. Comparable to the alarms and timers of the current Hue app, Routines will allow users to customize instances that gradually increase white light levels ahead of a pre-set time in the morning, and dim lights as bed time draws near in the evening. It should be noted, as with the lower-cost Lux bulbs, the White Ambiance kit will not support the ability to change to any colors besides variations of white.

Philips will sell the new bulbs individually at a price not yet disclosed by the company, along with a starter kit that will come with a wall switch, two ambiance bulbs, and the new HomeKit-enabled Hue Bridge 2.0. It will launch "in the spring," with more information trickling out closer to launch day. The company also hinted that this fall it will be launching a line of lamps with the same white color spectrum capabilities as the ambiance bulbs.

Article Link: Philips Hue Ambiance Bulbs Focus on Shades of White Light to Encourage Better Sleep Cycles

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

It should be noted, as with the lower-cost Lux bulbs, the White Ambiance kit will not support the ability to change to any colors besides variations of white.

I find it a bit hard to imagine that the hardware is capable of being variations of white, but isn't actually capable of being any arbitrary color... I'd imagine the only difference between this and the ordinary hue bulb is just firmware.

 

[Sandstorm]

I find it a bit hard to imagine that the hardware is capable of being variations of white, but isn't actually capable of being any arbitrary color... I'd imagine the only difference between this and the ordinary hue bulb is just firmware.

Come on, are you serious? I'm certain these lights just have cold white + warm white LEDs inside and thats it. Changing the individual intensity between them software creates all the white light variations.

 

[ibwb]

I find it a bit hard to imagine that the hardware is capable of being variations of white, but isn't actually capable of being any arbitrary color... I'd imagine the only difference between this and the ordinary hue bulb is just firmware.

I think that possibly they could reduce the max luminance spec on some of the color channels (green, for instance). There isn't any need for a white-only bulb to produce a satisfyingly-bright green light, since it's always going to be mixed with the red and blue channels. By contrast the red channel probably needs just as much capacity since the low-K white points are very red.

That's just a guess, but the bigger outlook is that this is a really strong simplification and price-discrimination move for the Hue brand in general. The existing marketing and apps are too whiz-bang and complex, focused on dumb things like "ooh a beach scene", when in real-world lighting various shades of white are actually useful.

 

[ignatius345]

This sounds great. I have lamps with daylight-balanced 5000K bulbs I use during the day and others with warmer lights that I use more at night. It would be amazing to just have this all happen automatically every night.

 

[2457282]

I was a big fan of Hue. I bought 4 bulbs and a bridge a while back. Two in the bedroom and two in the living room. I actually have one in the bedroom that turns on at 6 am and that serves as my alarm today. However, I have been holding back on any new purchases given the (previous) lack of support for homekit and the fact that the home automation space seems to be a mess right now. Before putting any more money into anything I am going to wait to see if someone comes out as a leader in the space with a full range of solutions (lighting, security, temperature, locks, fire, water, kitchen, etc.)

 

[daftpunker909]

Come on, are you serious? I'm certain these lights just have cold white + warm white LEDs inside and thats it. Changing the individual intensity between them software creates all the white light variations.

Exactly - they do not have individual red, green, and blue package like the color hues. I also bet that, just like the GE "night" lamps, everything will look abnormally off-colored at night since they take out blue light, which will reduce the CRI (and the hue lights CRIs are pretty bad to begin with).

 

[wlossw]

Can anyone tell me why the HUE coloured bulbs are still 199$ for 3 and never go on sale? Considering white LED bulbs are super cheap now it's becoming a little ridiculous...

 

[ppenn]

Does anybody have experience with competitors and cheaper products in this space? I'd like to dive in at a reasonable price but honestly Hue seems like the the most convenient option at this point.

 

[zorinlynx]

If they can get these out the door for $25 or less then this is what will push me into upgrading the rest of my home to HUE lights.

I have a few HUE lights in my bedroom, but $60 is way too much for the color bulbs, and the inexpensive $15 "white" ones are always warm white. I like being able to have different color temperatures depending on mood.

PLEASE let them charge $25 or less for this. At the MOST, $30. This is good stuff; I'm happy with the Hue bulbs I have, but want more at a reasonable price.

 

[calderone]

If they can get these out the door for $25 or less then this is what will push me into upgrading the rest of my home to HUE lights.

I have a few HUE lights in my bedroom, but $60 is way too much for the color bulbs, and the inexpensive $15 "white" ones are always warm white. I like being able to have different color temperatures depending on mood.

PLEASE let them charge $25 or less for this. At the MOST, $30. This is good stuff; I'm happy with the Hue bulbs I have, but want more at a reasonable price.

I understand wanting them to be cheaper, but honestly considering how long these last I can't imagine that 2-3 years later you will be thinking "Man I wish these were $40 or $50." I surely am not.

 

[zorinlynx]

I understand wanting them to be cheaper, but honestly considering how long these last I can't imagine that 2-3 years later you will be thinking "Man I wish these were $40 or $50." I surely am not.

See, that would be logical and rational. But we're not always logical and rational beings, and spending $60 on a single light bulb is something that's hard to justify.

 

[gman36]

Glad I just returned my white starter kit for the color starter kit just so I could adjust the color temperature....

 

[RMo]

Can anyone tell me why the HUE coloured bulbs are still 199$ for 3 and never go on sale? Considering white LED bulbs are super cheap now it's becoming a little ridiculous...

They aren't.

They are $199 USD for a 3-bulb pack of Hue (White and Color), plus the Hue Bridge that you need to make it all work with your network and the apps. The Hue White and Color bulbs themselves are about $60 each, which is comparable to other color-capable "smart" LEDs like LIFX. Hue White bulbs are much less. I'm not sure what the list price is, but Amazon currently has 1 for $23 or a 2 pack for $30. This is a bit more than some "regular" LEDs but not outrageous for a smart bulb--comparable Philips bulbs range from about 1/3 to 2/3 of that price.

 

[rdlink]

I was a big fan of Hue. I bought 4 bulbs and a bridge a while back. Two in the bedroom and two in the living room. I actually have one in the bedroom that turns on at 6 am and that serves as my alarm today. However, I have been holding back on any new purchases given the (previous) lack of support for homekit and the fact that the home automation space seems to be a mess right now. Before putting any more money into anything I am going to wait to see if someone comes out as a leader in the space with a full range of solutions (lighting, security, temperature, locks, fire, water, kitchen, etc.)

Personally, I wouldn't recommend buying Hue at all anymore, unless colors are important to you. You're better off with Lutron Caseta, which is based at the switch, and allows you to use virtually any bulb.

 

[The-Pro]

Does anybody have experience with competitors and cheaper products in this space? I'd like to dive in at a reasonable price but honestly Hue seems like the the most convenient option at this point.

I am looking at other Zigbee smart light bulbs that still work with the hue bridge.
What bugs me is the incredibly bad colour accuracy the hue bulbs have.
Blue is more like a purple blue, and green it cant do at all, it tried but fails miserably.
I Read a review about a LIFX bulb, which has double the amount of LED's and it has great colours. They are priced about the same and are supposed to work with the hue bridge.

Other cheap RGB bulbs are often bluetooth and therefore dont work with homekit and of course are more of a hassle to control then bulbs linked to your home wifi where you are constantly connected to anyway.

I was sceptical of reliability of hue but im actually very suprised.
I have the colour starter pack, plus a hue lux w/ light switch, a hue tap switch and 1 LED stripe.
So far, 3 months down the line, I had to reprogram the hue tap but everything else has worked flawlessly. The bulbs, as I mentioned above dont have the best colours but they do white light, warm white, reds and very well. The LED stripe has great colours but isnt really bright enough in my opinion, and shedding out 60 for every 2m is a bit crazy. Im looking at using the wireless adapter from the philips stripes and using them with other LED stripes. There are reports on this online.

 

[2457282]

Personally, I wouldn't recommend buying Hue at all anymore, unless colors are important to you. You're better off with Lutron Caseta, which is based at the switch, and allows you to use virtually any bulb.

I think you missed part of my point. Caseta is just a light switch connected to an outlet adapter. this only solves one problem - lighting. But for every problem, I will need another bridge with another solution and another app. No thanks! I will wait until there are leaders in the home automation that can solve multiple or all home automation needs with one bridge and one app.

 

[usarioclave]

Hue generally doesn't go on sale itself, but you can usually use coupons etc to get the price down. I got my latest set of hue bulbs + bridge 2 with the discover-it + apple pay bonus offer. Staples usually has 20% off coupons, etc as well occasionally. You can use CC reward points (and those sort of things) to shop as well.

 

[Fofer]

They aren't.

They are $199 USD for a 3-bulb pack of Hue (White and Color), plus the Hue Bridge that you need to make it all work with your network and the apps. The Hue White and Color bulbs themselves are about $60 each, which is comparable to other color-capable "smart" LEDs like LIFX. Hue White bulbs are much less. I'm not sure what the list price is, but Amazon currently has 1 for $23 or a 2 pack for $30.

$15 for one at Best Buy: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/philips...hite/4374300.p?id=1219740708206&skuId=4374300

 

[lk400]

Come on, are you serious? I'm certain these lights just have cold white + warm white LEDs inside and thats it. Changing the individual intensity between them software creates all the white light variations.

This is most likely. I live in Japan and these kinds of lights have been common for quite some time. My main light has this function, and uses yellow and cool white LEDs only.

 

[SPGDesign]

If you want something that's based at the switch, so flexibility with bulbs, and also includes a number of other key smart home features, you can check out NuBryte Touchpoint from Lucis - www.nubryte.com.
Full disclosure - I work at Lucis, and we haven't been on the market long but are working on a number of exciting projects to make it a widely integrated system. I'm a fan of the Hue system too though and they've made great progress since Gen 1.

 

[steve knight]

I replaced all the GE bulbs wit the cheap hue ones. not too worried about the color I like daylight but they work and thats what I need. I use a hue light strip as a wakeup bulb slowly ramped up over a half hour then other bulb s come on and ramp up till the yard all on when it is time to get up. I use iconnecthue for this it programs the hue app to do it.

 

[0098386]

My only problem is they claim to last 5-10 years, but I worry that they wont be supported by software in that time. So because of that I'm really interested in buying a smart lock for my front door, smart lights, etc, but I just can't until I see what Apple and these companies do to futureproof this stuff.

Imagine getting a smart lock and not being able to unlock your door because an Apple firmware update broke the app.

 

[calderone]

My only problem is they claim to last 5-10 years, but I worry that they wont be supported by software in that time. So because of that I'm really interested in buying a smart lock for my front door, smart lights, etc, but I just can't until I see what Apple and these companies do to futureproof this stuff.

Imagine getting a smart lock and not being able to unlock your door because an Apple firmware update broke the app.

Don't live in fear. If you want it, get it.

 

[rdlink]

I think you missed part of my point. Caseta is just a light switch connected to an outlet adapter. this only solves one problem - lighting. But for every problem, I will need another bridge with another solution and another app. No thanks! I will wait until there are leaders in the home automation that can solve multiple or all home automation needs with one bridge and one app.

Actually, I think you're the one who is missing the point. If you're waiting for a "leader in home automation" to surface and handle all of your needs under one label you're going to be waiting for a long, long time. And you're going to be disappointed that you did. The fact of the matter is that you shouldn't want one vendor to bring "everything" because nobody is going to do "everything" well. HomeKit is the "one app" you're looking for. With HomeKit you have a platform neutral hub. It requires anyone who designs a product under its umbrella to do so within standards that are secure and consistent. If you knew of what you speak you would know that you can handle all HomeKit devices across all brands with one app. And it doesn't even need to be the app of the manufacturer of the devices. In fact, you can do 95% of your interaction with HomeKit devices with Siri and voice commands. The other 5% is setting up scenes and programming things like recipes and geofencing commands. I use a third party app called Home, so I never open the Hue, Ecobee, Caseta or Schlage apps.

I can bring my choice of thermostat, (Ecobee) my choice of lighting, (Hue & Caseta) my choice of locking/security (Schlage) to the table, and have them all work together effortlessly. I have systems with separate hubs when it makes sense, such as Lutron and Hue, and systems with self contained hubs when it makes sense, such as Ecobee and Schlage. If another HomeKit product comes out later that does what any of these devices do better I can move over to it if I want, without having to throw out the rest of my system.

While you're waiting for that "leader" who can handle "all of your home automation needs" I and others will be enjoying the conveniences that HomeKit is affording us now.

Also, you should research a little better before you make statements. Caseta is a series of devices, including outlet light switches and built-in wall switches. I fully expect it to gain more devices as time goes on, but it handles the big issues of lighting and other switched electrics (i.e. ceiling fans, fireplaces, etc.) right now. And frankly, that's about 80 percent of home automation, anyway.