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In September 2023, Philips Hue presented its smart home cameras, and the launch was accompanied by a contact sensor. Apart from price reductions and software updates, not much has changed since then and the Hue Secure portfolio has remained unchanged for almost two years. This could change this year. I can well imagine that Philips Hue will add further components to the Hue Secure system in the fall.
It’s always a bit unfortunate when announcements are not kept. When Philips Hue announced the Hue Sync TV app for LG televisions at the beginning of January, all televisions with webOS 24 as the operating system were still to be supported, including TVs from 2022 and 2023. Unfortunately, Philips Hue has not kept to exactly this point in the announcement.
In the coming weeks, a number of Philips Hue products familiar from Europe will be making their debut in the USA. The first of these is the Impress outdoor light, which can now be ordered in three different versions in the United States. I would like to introduce you to my favorite, which is already in use in my garden at home.
There is one thing that always bothers me about Philips Hue, and that is the really thick power supply units. This may not be a problem when used alone on a wall socket, but with power strips at the latest, the space problems really start. Especially if you want to place several Lightstrips or table lamps such as the Hue Play Lightbar or Hue Gradient Signe in a corner of the room.
The Connectivity Standards Alliance is not only responsible for the Matter smart home standard, but also takes care of the Zigbee protocol. This technology is used by numerous smart home devices to communicate with each other, including the Philips Hue Bridge and the numerous Philips Hue lamps. A new Zigbee function has now been officially announced: Ambient Sensing.
Philips Hue Secure was launched over a year ago with several camera models and contact sensors. Since then, we have been waiting for an essential function, as the system always had to be activated or deactivated manually. This has now changed – there is now a schedule function. This had already been announced in the past few days, as the update to version 5.33 of the Philips Hue app has already integrated the corresponding menu items into the official application.
In September, Philips Hue launched the second generation of its Sync Box. The Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K costs over 300 euros and, unlike most other Hue products, I have not yet tested it myself. Not only do I lack a suitable TV, but also a suitable HDMI device to really get to grips with the new Sync Box.
On Monday, I was already able to give you the first information about the new Philips Hue Sync TV app for LG TVs. Signify has now officially confirmed the expansion of the Sync app, which was previously only available for Samsung TVs. All LG TVs equipped with at least webOS 24 will receive the new app.
Almost exactly two years ago, Philips Hue presented the Hue Sync TV app for Samsung televisions at CES in Las Vegas. Since then, an integrated app has made it possible to synchronize up to 10 Hue lights with the current screen content of the TV, regardless of which input source or internal TV app is used.
Philips Hue’s basic idea for the Hue Secure cameras was pretty simple: they started with a closed system to only transmit camera recordings in encrypted form and thus offer a high level of data protection. Things are now a little different. Since December 2024, it has also been possible to access the live feed of a Hue Secure camera via the three platforms Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings – but then explicitly without encryption from device to device.
Fabian