Philips Hue has a new line-up for CES 2021, with a fresh outdoor light to make dull walls more interesting, along with a long-anticipated way to make dumb light switches smart. The Philips Hue Wall Switch Module finally settles one of the last big frustrations about the smart lighting system, and is joined by a 2021 update of the Hue Dimmer Switch remote.
What's old is new again, and the Philips Hue Iris table lamp returns with a welcome 2020 upgrade. Brighter, more flexible, and more competitively priced, the new Iris taps all of the features Signify has added to the Hue platform in the six years since the original table lamp launched, now with a $99.99 price tag.
There has been a rise in outdoor smart security cameras and outdoor smart lights but not all of these products are created equal. Most will naturally promise weather-proofing, considering they're always exposed outside, though you have to carefully read the fine print to be sure. You'd expect that big brands already have that down to a "T" but even these big boys accidentally slip up. That's the unfortunate case for Philip's outdoor Hue lights whose power supplies apparently have a literally shocking defect.
Signify has a new light to brighten things up behind your TV, with the Philips Hue Play gradient lightstrip delivering its first with individually-controllable color segments. Designed to be used with the Philips Hue Play HDMI sync box or the Sync PC app, the new LED strip is no longer locked to just one consistent color, and comes with mounting kits to make it easier to fit to the back of a TV.
The classic Philips Hue Iris lamp is making a return, with a new and upgraded version of the remotely-controllable smart lamp promising more flexibility and a sleeker design. Joining the rest of the Signify range - and controlled, as you'd expect, through the Hue app or via various integrations with smart home assistants - the new Hue Iris now goes even brighter than before.
The appeal of smart homes and smart appliances isn't just the fact that they connect to the Internet. It's the fact that they connect to Internet-based services and features, like remote control from phones or voice commands makes them the ultimate modern convenience. Unfortunately for owners of Philips' first-generation Hue Bridge, that convenience is finally coming to a close with Google pulling the plug out of its Assistant integration on Monday.
Philips Hue has announced two new Bluetooth-enabled lights and a new smart bulb, which the company says is its brightest so far. The Philips Hue White A21 now packs a whopping 1,600 lumens of brightness, equivalent so the company says to a traditional 100W incandescent bulb.
The Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box is getting a big update, with new software to add HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support among other features to the synchronized lighting gadget. Intended to expand the colors on-screen to the rest of your TV room, the Hue Sync box is also gaining integration with voice assistants like Alexa.
TV is a welcome distraction these days, and with more movies skipping the theater and making their debut on streaming platforms, making your media room more engaging seems like a good idea. The Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box may have an awkward name but the idea is simple: using the color-changing lights already a hit with smart home fans, expand what's happening on-screen beyond the bezels of your TV.
Philips has begun notifying users of its first-generation Hue bridge that it's time for an upgrade, after warning owners that it would be discontinuing support and new features for the smart lighting hub. Users of the Hue Bridge V1 started receiving alerts in the app this week that their cloud support was nearing the end, and the reception hasn't been entirely positive.
Philips Hue is getting new smart switches, new outdoor connected lights, and adding voice control for the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, the smart home lighting company has announced at CES 2020. In addition to easier control, Hue-owner Signify is also pushing easier installation of its custom fixtures, by adding low-voltage versions that don't necessarily require an electrician to fit them outdoors.
Even before IoT and smart homes became a thing, Philips' Hue smart lights were already paving the way for the fledgling industry. It's still one of the easiest ways to get started, given its brand name and ease of use. It has more competition now, however, and the market is more crowded than before. Naturally, the company will try to fend off rivals with a new line of indoor and outdoor lights that might debut at CES 2020 next month. Not before they get leaked entirely, of course.