Looking At Hue Connected Lights

There’s not really a problem with light bulbs as they currently stand and yet after a short time with 3 connected Hue lights from Philips, it’s hard to imagine not having them.

The ability to change colors is one thing, but the true brilliance is simply being able to turn lights on or off from anywhere.

Having lights that connect to the internet, via a hub, is a glimpse into the connected home.

Installing the lights is like any other light bulb, except the hub which gets hardwired into the router. The hub is the connecting piece and what ties all the bulbs or other Hue pieces together. It’s how you’re able to group different lights, or control them all.

In hindsight it’s very simple, but every time you connect a new mobile app to control the bulbs in a new way, you are typically required to press the hub button as a way to allow permission. It’s similar to the experience of using Sonos speakers, another simple wireless (speaker) solution.

As far as use cases for the connected bulbs, it really depends on the user. Personally I’ve found two scenarios which having connected lights has become critical. The first is the slightly lazy case where the living room lights need to be turned off for the night, but the stairs are on the opposite side of the room. So instead of turning off the lights and walking through the dark, it’s incredibly handy to be able to head up stairs and turn the lights off at any point.

The other critical use is entertaining a 3 year old and a 1 year old. There’s few things more impressive than turning on some music and having the lights change color and pulse to the beat. Currently this requires a third party app to incorporate music, but that’s the beauty of what Philips has done with Hue. There are open APIs for developers to create things outside the official app so the possibilities will continue to grow.

For example, connecting Hue lights to your Pebble smart watch takes it to the next level. This is the type of thing which truly displays the next step in a connected world where things can be remotely controlled via your wrist. There’s also the web service IFTTT which can do fun things like change the color of the lights to match the weather or come on at sunset.

Is Hue worth the expensive price–$199 for the starter kit or $50 per bulb after? The first question to ask yourself where the bulbs will go and what need they serve. There’s a lot of interesting things to do with connected lights, but if there’s not some problem up front they solve, it might not be a good fit until they come down even more in price.