Philips Hue has released app version 4.2 for iOS and Android. And as of now, the timers are back. They are well hidden: You can find them in the “Automations” section and have to scroll down quite a bit – the timers have made it into the app as the penultimate function.
I could tell you stories now that would make you lose your faith. But now I’m not quite sure how serious Philips Hue is about keeping its new products secret. After all, they have just put some of the new products online in their own American shop. To be more precise, it’s about the new generation of lamps that are supposed to offer a brightness of up to 1,100 lumens, which is almost 40 per cent brighter than the previous Hue lamps with a brightness of 806 lumens.
A normal Philips Hue lamp achieves 806 lumens. We have become used to this in recent years. We already know that this will soon change, because a month ago I was able to reveal new Hue bulbs that also manage up to 1,100 and 1,600 lumens. But that’s not the only change we can look forward to.
Actually, it sounds pretty great: you can easily expand the Ambilight of your Philips TV with Philips Hue light sources. You don’t even need the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box to do this, instead you just click through the TV menu a bit and you’re ready to go. What sounds so simple, however, currently seems to be causing big problems again.
One of the biggest criticisms of the current Philips Hue app for many users is the tile view. What still looks quite pretty with the scenes and is also quite good to use thanks to two rows, is a big cramp with the lamps. Here, only one row is used for the display and on many smartphones there is a lot of unused space, yet you can only see three bulbs without having to scroll horizontally.
FabianLeave a Comment on Hue app still without timer: iConnectHue as an alternative Switch off lamps automatically after a set time auf Deutsch lesen Switch off lamps automatically after a set time
In addition to the criticism around the widgets, one thing can be read again and again in reviews and comments around the new Philips Hue app: users would like to see the timer function back. Shortly after the launch of the new app, already more than one and a half months ago, Philips Hue promised to bring back the functionality with a future update.
The subject of widgets has kept the Hue community very busy in recent weeks. Not without reason, because the widgets, which were popular with many users, have been virtually eliminated without replacement on the iPhone and iPad. Siri shortcuts and the corresponding iOS widgets are to serve as a replacement. A workaround, because only these can perform actions directly from the homescreen without having to open the Hue app.
It should only be about a month and a half until Philips Hue presents its new products. Usually, the International Funkausstellung in Berlin has been the usual time in the past years. This is supported by the fact that Philips Hue will also participate in this year’s digital keynote of the Smart Home League, which will take place on 2 September.
I announced it quite a while ago, now it is finally available in the App Store and also in the Google Play Store. The latest update for the Philips Hue app, which at least fixes a few small things. In the new version of the app, you can finally dim lamps directly in the room view again – to do this, you simply hold your finger down on a switched-on lamp for a long time and can then move your finger up or down to adjust the brightness.
Along with the launch of the new Philips Hue app in June, our favourite manufacturer has announced a new feature that will be unlocked with a later update: Dynamic Scenes. In this article I would like to keep you updated with all the information around these new possibilities. What do you have to look out for?
Frederick