In just over two weeks, it’s that time of year again: Black Friday is upon us. While this used to be a single big shopping day, the offers are now starting much earlier – including at Philips Hue, of course. You can now save big in the manufacturer’s official online shop.
In December 2022, Philips Hue launched its first automatically running scene: Natural Light. This scene uses different shades of warm to cool white light that are automatically adjusted throughout the day. “Start with bright, cool shades to energize you in the morning and end the day with a warmer, golden hue to help you relax in the evening,” Philips Hue writes about the Natural Light scene.
At the beginning of October, Philips Hue made its Hue Secure cameras cheaper and lowered the recommended retail price. And not too close, the prices were reduced by more than 30 percent in some cases. But that was not the end of the story. After a sale started a few weeks ago in the USA, there is now an additional 20 percent discount on Philips Hue smart cameras in Germany and Europe.
This afternoon, Philips Hue released another update for its app, version 5.29 is now available to download from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Unfortunately, this is still without the previously announced multi-bridge support that so many of us are waiting for. There are still two months to go, as the function is still due to arrive in 2024 – at least that’s what the manufacturer announced at the beginning of September.
AI has become an integral part of the technology world and artificial intelligence now has a hand in many things. Perhaps soon in Philips Hue too? This is indeed conceivable, at least in part. Philips Hue has been testing an AI Playground for some time now, which is designed to create a suitable light scene with a simple text command.
Last week, Philips Hue began distributing software version 1.122.2 for almost all of its lights. By now, you should all have received the new firmware – as the manufacturer released an update for the official Philips Hue app yesterday evening. Version 5.28 contains extensive new features, which I would like to introduce to you in this article.
Over the past few days, I’ve received more and more messages from you and when I was in the shower this morning, my switched-on Hue lights also flickered briefly. I immediately realized that this could only be the firmware update that some of you have already received. A look at the Hue app confirmed this: Almost all my light bulbs have automatically updated to software version 1.122.2.
I’m not really familiar with the Android world, but I could imagine that something like this has existed there for some time. With iOS 18, Apple has expanded Dark Mode and now also offers darkening on the home screen. To be more precise, app icons can be darkened. However, this still requires the help of the app developers in some cases, including Philips Hue.
On 3 October, Philips Hue released another update to its official application in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Version 5.27 is particularly interesting for owners of a current iPhone and iPad, as it integrates a new augmented reality function. This allows you to try out numerous Philips Hue products virtually within your own four walls.
The official Philips Hue online store is now also running one or two sales. For us in Germany, this is often not particularly exciting, as there are often quite attractive deals at other online retailers. But thanks to hueblog.com, some other countries are also reading along here – and things can look quite different here.
Fabian