Originally, I had considered complaining in my little personal blog this weekend that Black Friday, the shopping day of the year, feels like it’s lasting two weeks this year. But honestly, this is nothing new; it’s been like this for the past few years. The actual Black Friday is not until November 28, but you’ve been able to shop at Philips Hue at a special price since November 13.
This week, the Connectivity Standards Alliance, which includes Philips Hue manufacturer Signify, made a sweeping announcement. In addition to Matter 1.5, which I told you about yesterday, Zigbee 4.0 was also announced. As you know, Zigbee is the wireless protocol that Philips Hue has been using for more than ten years.
Black Friday is just around the corner, and Philips Hue is naturally getting in on the action. After some very interesting deals launched in the manufacturer’s official store last week, Amazon.com is now getting involved too. Even though we have completely different offers in Germany, I would like to present some highlights from amazon.com
Philips Hue introduced its first Hue Secure cameras just over two years ago. Since then, there has been a first hardware upgrade with 2K resolution and a brand new product in the form of the Hue Secure Video Doorbell. However, Apple Home is still not supported as a smart home platform.
I noticed this “negative” aspect particularly on Halloween night: in the dim light, many visitors did not press the bell button on the Philips Hue Secure Video Doorbell, but instead pressed the camera lens. This is, of course, more than inconvenient. Now Philips Hue has responded, as Hueblog reader Marcel noted in our community.
Last week, the Philips Hue OmniGlow Lightstrip was launched in Europe. It is available in lengths of 3, 5, and 10 meters. The new premium light strip is also already on sale in the US, but so far only in the shortest version. One question has kept cropping up over the last few days: where can the Hue OmniGlow Lightstrip be shortened?
With all the new light strips from Philips Hue, I currently have no idea where to put them. Be glad you don’t run a blog about Philips Hue, or you’d have to deal with problems like this too. Where, for example, should you install a 10-meter-long Hue OmniGlow Lightstrip? That’s exactly what I ordered this week.
The seven-meter version of the Hue Festavia Globe was already released in the US in September, while the longer versions were not actually supposed to be released until December. But now the time has come, just like in Europe: All three lengths of the Philips Hue Festavia Globe can now be ordered from the manufacturer’s online store.
Another two weeks have passed, which means it’s time for a new update to the Philips Hue app. Version 5.55 of the official app is now available for download from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. What’s new? Among other things, there are new features for the AI assistant in the Hue app, which can be found directly on the home page.
After its early launch in the US, the Philips Hue OmniGlow Lightstrip is now also available in Germany and other European countries. After my first test, I can say quite clearly that it is by far the best light strip that Philips Hue has built to date. This thing is amazing; even the competition from Govee looks old in comparison.
Fabian