Philips is arguably the largest connected light bulb manufacturer with its Philips Hue system, but its color light bulbs are quite expensive. A color light bulb costs around $60. In case you just want simple connected lights, the company has added new white light bulbs to its lineup. The new white ambiance bulbs now support multiple shades of white light.
Philips already had cheap white light bulbs, but you could only control the intensity of the light. They were stuck at a color temperature of 2700K.
With today's new lights, you can control the color temperature between 2200K and 6500K. In other words, you can put all your lights on warm yellow mode during the evening and bright white light mode in the morning.
While this isn't as powerful as having full color light bulbs, it's already a big improvement compared to normal light bulbs. One of the main reasons why I use Philips Hue lights is that I can control the color temperature, but I rarely move away from white-ish lights – I rarely switch my lights to green or purple.
Also new today, the company updated its Philips Hue app to include a new "routine" mode. It lets you gradually brighten the lights in the morning and dim them at night.
Philips has bundled together two bulbs, the new HomeKit-ready bridge and the dimmer switch. It's unclear how much it is going to cost. And for existing Hue users, the new bulbs are compatible with existing bridges and switches.
If you want to go to the next level, you can buy color light bulbs and other fancy Philips Hue lights to complete your system. But this starter kit should be a good way to see if you like having connected light bulbs.
And yet, there's one missing piece of information. Philips hasn't communicated on price yet. The new white ambience light bulbs should be more expensive than the $15 white light bulbs that produce only a single shade of white. But let's hope is closer to $15 than $60.
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