George Jetson or Tony Stark? Rosie the robotic maid or J.A.R.V.I.S the sentient AI system from the Marvel universe? No matter which vision of the hyper-connected future you subscribe to, one thing is clear – smart home tech is here and now, and you no longer need a home-automation geek to get going!
We pick out some of the best smart home solutions to get you started and the first on our list is the Philips Hue Lighting.
Philips Hue Lighting
Philips, with its Hue lighting system, is without a doubt the first name you’d think of for smart home lighting. The premise is simple – you pick up the Hue Starter Kit for Rs. 16,995, which gives you three smart bulbs along with the necessary bridge that allows you to control them – and download the companion app on your mobile, and you’re all set.
When you’re ready to expand the system, you can add an bulb for Rs. 3,995, or pick up the portable Go light (Rs. 8,995), the Bloom ambient light (Rs. 6,750) or the Beyond ceiling/table lamps (Rs.38,995).
That’s a lot of cash for incredibly cool smart lighting but is it worth it?
Watch: Philips Hue Personal Wireless Lighting
What’s Good?
It’s incredibly easy to get started with Hue if you follow the steps in the Philips’ app, and once the bulbs are plugged in, the app lets you create schedules on when the lights come on or go off, and what color each bulb would individually take on (or collectively, if you’re looking to recreate the hues of a photo, for example) or what mood you’re going for (energised or relaxed).
The app is rather basic, but what really blows us away is its support for IFTTT (If This Then That), the popular recipe-based web service that lets you link different services together based on all sorts of conditions.
Think of the crazy possibilities – lights that are connected to your activity tracker and light up when you awaken, or lights that turn on when you’re approaching home. Or even maybe a dedicated light that goes on when you have a new email or a mention on Twitter.
If you’re even mildly interested in this sort of automation, the Hue system is really rewarding.
What’s Bad?
If you didn’t notice already, these things are pricey and despite Hue being exactly the kind of thing that will scratch that geek itch many of us have, it’s simply out of reach for most folks.
Even additional bulbs are so pricey, it almost seems reasonable to just buy another Hue Starter Kit if you need additional bulbs.
Usability issues exist too. Pairing new bulbs once you’ve set up the first 3 is a bit tricky, and even if you just use the included 3 bulbs, they are intended to be left switched on all the time (via the light switch) and controlled solely via the app.
If you do switch them off manually (or more likely, there’s a power cut), they will go back to the warm white color, forgetting your color presets.
Each bridge supports up to 50 light bulbs, so theoretically you can control every light in your house directly from your phone, but it’s worth noting that the bridge (base station), which works on the Zigbee protocol, has a range not much more than Bluetooth.
If you’re in a large house, or the base station is at one corner of the house and a Hue bulb at the other, the range may not be sufficient. Also, keep in mind that while the bulbs are bright enough, they aren’t exceptionally so – pushing out about the equivalent of a 50W bulb while in white light mode, and a little less when reproducing colours.
Why Buy it?
It’s a page directly from the future, so for that reason alone, folks with deep pockets with an inclination for tinkering around with home automation should certainly consider setting up Hue all over the house.
We’ll hand it to Philips - it’s incredibly addictive, and no one does it quite as well, whether you consider the range of bulbs or the third-party app support. It’s energy efficient too, so there’s that too in its favour. That’s if you can afford it.
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