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The concept of “smart” homes is not a new one and major tech companies are working hard to provide us with a lot of smart devices and systems that will keep everything in our houses connected through the Internet and operable through smartphone applications, and if we are not mistaking, Samsung made some efforts to offer the world smart washing machines, Android powered refrigerators and smart light bulbs, among many other means of saving energy, time, money and effort in managing our household. Smart home appliances are the next best thing in the smart world we live in, but it is Philips (among others) who is pioneering these concepts and turns them into reality and into entertainment.
Enter the Internet connected light bulbs, the same LED bulbs you have been using for years and which are energy – friendly, but with the added perk of being Wi-Fi connected and able to control via your smartphone. The Philips Hue Light Bulbs come in a starter pack of three bulbs and a Wi-Fi bridge. After connecting the bridge in your home Internet network, install the bulbs and add the Hue application to your smartphone. Then get ready to be amazed! Of course, the simplest way you can use these Internet connected light bulbs is to “order” them when to go on and off, depending to your needs, dim the light with a push of a button or schedule their functioning also via the smartphone app.
But there is more than the eye can see to them and this is the cool factor: they don’t come attached to the “hue” label for nothing: the app and the bulbs allow you to switch to various color ranges of whites (from cold to warm) and even adjust the full specter of color, turning the bulbs into real disco lights, as they can provide strong hues of violet to hot red to even turquoise and emerald hues. The bulbs can do more than just turn your living room in a disco for you to impress the party guests, but have other utilitarian uses as well.
However, the question that begs an answer right now is whether or not these Internet connected light bulbs are worth their price: the starter kit comes with a retail price of $199 and it’s not only three bulbs you need in a house. Fortunately, there are other companies which already are providing smart bulbs at lower prices, but how many of them can actually flash when you receive a new notification on your smartphone?
