Philips hue good sign or bad?

[steve knight]

I got them for my blind wife she loves the colors. she syncs them to music. but most of the time they are just light bulbs. so I use the GE link bulbs as they are only 15.00 but they sometimes stay on and need an extra tap to turn off. but that may be the smartthings hub controlling them.

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Only way to really fix the user experience would be to give the product to apple and say fix this for us please. Why? Cause hue have had years to sort it and they haven't been able to.

yes that will work kind of like maps and siri.

 

[steve knight]

Maybe they will get it right, but what I think is that they are flooding the market with these 'starter kits' and trying to cash in on the sales. That might make them rather tone deaf on fixing any issues. They can say 'It must be OK. Look at how many units we are selling'...

but unlike apple you can use another app with them. my smartthigns hub controls the hue lights it is more programmable

 

[steve knight]

The working app is out

 

[Zxxv]

Well, assuming that people are running around after the power goes out, having it somehow let you know that the power is back on is good.

However, I think what is happening is that they must use a relay that is normally closed, and when when energized, opens. As long as power is there, the other circuitry can control the relay, and it works fine. Yank power, and the relay snaps closed. Now drop some power, and, you get the booming voice from the heavens "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"

If I'm right, there wouldn't necessarily be an easy way to fix it... Phillips *could* argue that it's a 'safety feature'. Like did you know that it it's against electric code to have the lighting and the outlets in a room on the same circuit? You would hate to trip the breaker and have the lights go out too...

Next response...

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It does seem that the carping about the software is spot on.

I damn good product can be ruined by crappy software. I wonder if the people that write the software even work with the team that did the hardware.

Maybe they will get it right, but what I think is that they are flooding the market with these 'starter kits' and trying to cash in on the sales. That might make them rather tone deaf on fixing any issues. They can say 'It must be OK. Look at how many units we are selling'...

You really Dont own a set of these lights do you.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

You really Dont own a set of these lights do you.

I thought I had made that pretty clear. No, I do not own them. I wanted to buy one, when they first came out, but you have to buy the kit with the hub. Spending $200US for a 'kit' that includes a 'hub' isn't what I was wanting to do.

I do have two of the Philips remote controlled 'ball lights', for 'mood lighting', and they have some 'peculiarities' themselves.

 

[steve knight]

I think a hub is a good thing it centralizes control and keeps it simple. I have 44 items on my setup. Hue lights and the hub ge lights sonos speakers dropcam cameras motion detectors temperature monitoring and door locks all controlled by one main hub. What apple wants to do but I doubt will ever manage. I have 20 or so bulbs on my hue hub three different types. It is a good setup

 

[Zxxv]

I thought I had made that pretty clear. No, I do not own them. I wanted to buy one, when they first came out, but you have to buy the kit with the hub. Spending $200US for a 'kit' that includes a 'hub' isn't what I was wanting to do.

I do have two of the Philips remote controlled 'ball lights', for 'mood lighting', and they have some 'peculiarities' themselves.

The point is the argument you put out is of someone who doesn't own the bulbs. Buy them. Experience what I write about. you'll stop justifying their operation like you've been doing.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

The point is the argument you put out is of someone who doesn't own the bulbs. Buy them. Experience what I write about. you'll stop justifying their operation like you've been doing.

You seem to think that I was defending their operation. I was only trying to brain storm in my own head why they would have released such a product.

At heart, I believe that intelligent people design everything. To think otherwise is pretty depressing. That doesn't mean that there aren't badly designed products. Yea gads, there have been TONS! But I fall back on the words used in the movie Real Genius: Is it a design flaw, or an execution flaw.

Hue seems to me to be an execution flaw. I was discussing it with my partner in crime, and we both agreed that it was an amazing idea, but the execution of that idea was fatally flawed. We have again shelved any plans of adding hue to our already cluttered existence, no matter how reassuring it might be for others inflicted with hue to know that someone else has joined their ranks.

My experience with Philips products isn't without issues. I have a Philips TV that needs a firmware upgrade, and it won't take it. No matter what I've tried, it won't update. Another execution problem to add to the pile.

 

[Zxxv]

You seem to think that I was defending their operation. I was only trying to brain storm in my own head why they would have released such a product.

At heart, I believe that intelligent people design everything. To think otherwise is pretty depressing. That doesn't mean that there aren't badly designed products. Yea gads, there have been TONS! But I fall back on the words used in the movie Real Genius: Is it a design flaw, or an execution flaw.

Hue seems to me to be an execution flaw. I was discussing it with my partner in crime, and we both agreed that it was an amazing idea, but the execution of that idea was fatally flawed. We have again shelved any plans of adding hue to our already cluttered existence, no matter how reassuring it might be for others inflicted with hue to know that someone else has joined their ranks.

My experience with Philips products isn't without issues. I have a Philips TV that needs a firmware upgrade, and it won't take it. No matter what I've tried, it won't update. Another execution problem to add to the pile.

Yea it seemed you were sticking up for their poor implementation. I wouldn't even try to rationalise it look at the reviews in the App Store. You'll see one that really sums it up. It'll be applicable to you as your partner in crime will suffer the same experience. Hue is not set up to work with multiple people as a home automation light solution. I can't trmemebrr the name of the user but looking through them you'll surely find enough to say hue haven't solved the problems users want adressing.

Maybe when homekit finally arrived with apple tv as the hub someone will release a light solution that works as users want.

My advice at the moment is to wait unless you just want a pretty light show in your room then buy. If your looking for automatic lighting its a hmm experience. How much hmm you can tolerate is individual

 

[Wiesenlooser]

I wish that they would update the bulbs itself. They were the first and their age is really starting to show. Other LED Bulbs have better colors and are brighter by now.

 

[steve knight]

There are plenty of ways to access hue. But once you add color you loose brightness hue seem as bright as my ge bulbs. But hue is really only for color if you want home automation there are cheaper better ways.

 

[Zxxv]

I find them bright enough. In the daytime they add enough to a room and at night I don't run bright bulbs. I use very dim and red tones. It helps me realise its night not day. I find I move to sleep easier and better. I also like to enjoy the night.