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Philips Pulls Defective 1.7.1 Hue App Update After Crashing Reports [Update: Fixed]
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I've had Hue for awhile now, and I've been looking into home automation quite a bit lately. But this whole episode has me reconsidering that. I'm not too fond of the idea that I could spend hundreds of dollars on sensors and whatnot, just to have it all stop working overnight because of some bungled update.
Its not that bad, it's just the Hue software team must be high or something when they release these messed up updates. It will get much better when "Apple homekit" properly launches because than you have to rely a lot less on the individual apps from the different home automation products but rather integrate it into ios 8 and Siri.
How the ******* are they supposed to test APPLE's update process, that APPLE manage and Philips have NO CONTROL over?
I wouldn't know how they would test stuff. Its not my game
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Now when a timer/alarm comes on the widget doesn't know the state.
example
kitchen light comes on each day
open iphone
swipe notification centre down
tap kitchen light widget to turn light off
widget changes its image to say OFF
tap widget AGAIN
light turns off
took me all of 30 seconds to test this
background app refresh is on for hue
so more moves touches needed. Not how I would have designed it. And some posters wonder why people moan about the hue team.
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test again.
- switch light on via safari/ hue web portal
- wait 5 minutes to see if iPhone widget knows the light is on
- check notification centre on iPhone early to see if its updated its state = no
- check notification centre on iPhone after 5 minutes of waiting = state not updated
- tap kitchen light widget, does light turn off = no
- widget has changed to say off
- tap widget again = light turns off
How much could I have charged for this? how much does the hue team earn? what are they smoking... can I have some.
Now my guess is when apple take control of this the apple TV acting as hub will know the state of the light and if you tap the widget to turn the light on/off it will do it instantly with no additional presses.
ok tested again with half hour wait,
kinda lost why the bridge doesn't know the state of the light and why it doesn't toggle on/off via the widget. Hopefully apples home kit will fix this less than desirable user experience
- kitchen light turned on via safari which also simulates it coming on via a alarm
- iphone notification center widget never updates it state after waiting 30 minutes
- the hue bridge does not contain or recognise the state of the kitchen light because touching the widget does not turn it off, the app is not sending a code to the bridge to tell it to go off, tapping the widget just turns the widget to say off, then tap it again to turn the light off
kinda lost why the bridge doesn't know the state of the light and why it doesn't toggle on/off via the widget. Hopefully apples home kit will fix this less than desirable user experience
I think you might be misinterpreting what's going wrong. I haven't tested it myself, so I could be wrong, but it sounds like the widget is making all the errors, not the bridge.
When you turn the light on via Safari, the widget isn't informed and thinks its still off. When you tap the widget it sends an 'on' signal because it thinks the light is off. Nothing happens because the light is on already. Then the widget changes to say 'off' because it rightly thinks the light is now on and is expecting you to want to turn it off.
If the above is right, then there's only one problem, and that's that widget doesn't update when something else changes the state of the lights.
nah im not misinterpreting a poorly implemented experience. Like I said I was using safari to turn on the light because it simulates the light turning on via a daily schedule/alarm.
The end user experience is ill thought out and B grade.
also if you have two devices you turn the light on with one device say an iPad, same user experience occurs, iPhone of other user doesn't know what is what, so more button presses involved.
This sort of thing makes apple look like junk. B stock junk.
So you criticise Philips based on a process they have no control over (Apple's app update process), and then criticise Apple over a problem with Philips' app itself. FFS
So you criticise Philips based on a process they have no control over (Apple's app update process), and then criticise Apple over a problem with Philips' app itself. FFS
Yep cause Steve Jobs attention for detail brought me here. If I wanted a b stock experience id have bought android. So your comments are wasted on me as unlike you I don't tolerate B team standards.
It' is NOT an iPhone/iPad/Mac problem.
I'm not tolerating B team standards, I just make sure when I criticise, it is directed at those who are causing the problems.
In the case of the app store upgrade process, that's APPLE.
In the case of how the Hue app itself performs, that's PHILIPS.
Good for you. I was clear about my issues/complaints and they are connected wether you want to see it or not.
I agree that the on/off functionality introduced in the widget is ill considered. I'm betting that it all stems from the fact that there's no way to poll the lights for their current state (I've peeked at the Hue API to confirm this). It's the same reason you can't have the lights revert to their previous state when they are turned on by a switch.
Regardless, if you wanted the "Apple experience," so to speak, from smart bulbs, then you should have bought Apple smart bulbs. What's that? Apple doesn't make smart bulbs? Then it doesn't make much sense to blame them when your smart bulbs don't work the way you expect. If you buy a BMW, does it make much sense to blame them because your garage door stopped working?
Regardless, if you wanted the "Apple experience," so to speak, from smart bulbs, then you should have bought Apple smart bulbs. What's that? Apple doesn't make smart bulbs? Then it doesn't make much sense to blame them when your smart bulbs don't work the way you expect. If you buy a BMW, does it make much sense to blame them because your garage door stopped working?
Apples platform. Apples party. If they lower the standard of what's axceptable it's their fault.
I think he explained it a little wrong. He is right in the people closest to the product are running on a different version and that is not a trust issue. That is software development for you. The ones closest are generally speaking about one version if not 2 version ahead of release. This is because after code for a release is done branch and moved to regression the devs move on to working on the next version. Their minds are no longer focused on the release. As far as they are concerned they are done minus bug fixes from qa.
Now for development we get confused on what features are released when and what bugs are in the release that has gone out the door big time if they are fixed just after a release as at that point they gave been fixed for a while as far as we are concerned.
Long of the short the people closest are about 1-2 version ahead of what customers have as they are running on development builds.
Are you sure? I can change scenes with a Hue Tap and see those colour changes reflected in iConnectHue the next time I run the app.
The hue app seems to be different to the widgets in notification centre. When opening the app sure the lights are labeled and shown in their correct state.
What you're suggesting is that Apple should insist on performing their own full QA testing of every app and update that gets submitted to the App Store. I don't think you realize what a monumental undertaking that would be. Even if every employee at Apple dropped everything and dedicated 100% of their time to this I dont think they would have enough staff to do it. And regardless of how much money Apple has, I don't think they would be able to hire enough qualified QA engineers to do what you're suggesting. What we would end up with is a system where it would literally take YEARS for each and every app and update to get approved.
Of course, these are the sorts of things that reasonable people are are capable of realizing on their own. But nothing you have said so far leads me to believe you're a reasonable person.
haha the old insult at the end play. Bravo bravo for stooping so low
/s
what I'm suggesting is better quality control. Thats all. Hue have settled for a 2nd rate user experience. Does apple know ? someones told them atleast.
I won't close with an insult. Only say i have repeated myself a few times, in different ways in an attempt to get you to understand. I won't do it again.
better then the apple solution just wait till there is a update. my wife is still waiting to use airplay after 8.0 screwed it up for her.
This entire product is aimed at the first world. So why point out that a problem with it is a first world problem? Do you think it makes you cool or something?
when you use the widget to turn a light on the widget changes to say off, so next touch turns it off. If you turn light on, close notification centre and say put your iPhone down, when you go back the off lable is gone, so two presses to turn the light off.
I don't know why the light bulbs state can't be kept in the bridge like the timers? (this would allow way more control and function) maybe hue cheaped out on the solution/bridge?
oh well guess to look on the bright side there is room for improvement
I don't know why the light bulbs state can't be kept in the bridge like the timers? (this would allow way more control and function) maybe hue cheaped out on the solution/bridge?
oh well guess to look on the bright side there is room for improvement