No matter whether new bulbs from Philips Hue or smart lamps from other manufacturers. We always take a look at new accessories for your smart home.
The Philips Hue Play Gradient Light Tube is actually intended for installation under a TV that is already equipped with a Play Gradient Light Strip on the other three sides. However, the smart tube is versatile and also cuts a fine figure in the bedroom, for example. We've been using it in our son's nursery since we switched to a new bed (again).
In my opinion, the Philips Hue wall switch module is one of the best accessories for the smart lighting system. It solves the problem of ceiling lighting being disconnected from the power supply and turns the classic switch on the wall, where everyone knows how to operate it, into a smart switch.
The update of the Philips Hue app to version 5.6, which is expected before Christmas, is still a long way off. However, new firmware for the Hue Bridge has been released in the last few days. You may have already received version 1961135030. You can check this in the settings of the Hue app.
It's actually quite simple with Philips Hue, there are three different types of light. Products classified as Hue White only have white LEDs with a fixed colour temperature. White Ambiance uses cool white and warm white LEDs to create different shades of white. With White and Color Ambiance, in addition to the white LEDs, there are also coloured RGB LEDs so that a total of 16 million colours can be mixed.
I was able to draw your attention to this upcoming innovation back in September. Now Philips Hue has apparently started to slowly roll out the new functions. I have discovered the first comments from the community both on social networks and here in the comments. Specifically, it's about the Hue Smart Button and the Hue Dimmer Switch, both of which have been available on the market for some time.
A lot has happened around Philips Hue in recent weeks – and it's not getting boring. The Philips Hue Secure Contact Sensor released in September has now received a firmware update that adds a function that many Apple users have been missing. The latest update adds support for HomeKit to the Hue Secure Contact Sensor.
In my review of the Philips Hue Secure camera, I realised that video clips lasting a maximum of 15 seconds are recorded as soon as movement is detected. This was not sufficient in many cases and meant that events remained unobserved. Afterwards, Philips Hue even contacted me directly – it was a bug that would be fixed.
Philips Hue has not launched any new light strips this year. My favourite remains the Philips Hue Ambiance Gradient Lightstrip, which can display several colours and has quite small distances between the individual LEDs. However, at a price of well over 100 euros, the two metre long light strip is not particularly cheap.
Innr already made a name for itself a few years ago as a manufacturer of Hue accessories. Just like Signify, the Dutch brand had already brought out some exciting products before Philips Hue followed suit. Innr was also a little quicker when it came to smart plugs, but thanks to ZigBee they were always compatible with the Hue Bridge.
Earlier this week I published my review of the Hue Secure camera for you. The new cameras are perfectly integrated into the Hue system, but there is still room for improvement in some areas. Among other things, I found out that clips with a maximum length of 15 seconds are recorded when movements are detected.
Fabian