Philips enters the app-controlled lighting arena with the Hue-- an LED lightbulb with brightness and colour settings controllable via either PC or smartphones.
Each Hue bulb carries 11 LEDs in 3 different colours (red, lime, blue) providing up to 16 million colour combinations. Philips even claims Hue bulbs can even recreate the ultimate in light sources, incandescent lighting. Control comes through app (iOS and Android) or web-based interface on the Philips website.
Users can set individual bulbs with different lighting settings. The app also has "LightRecipes," 4 built-in presets based on "research around the biological effects that lighting has on the body."
The system itself works via hub connecting to router via Ethernet cable. It runs on the ZigBee LightLink protocol and is compatible with other devices running on the standard while using less power than wifi.
Philips also promises a pain-free setup-- screw in the Hue bulbs, plug in the hub and press a button.
The Hue introduction package includes 3 bulbs (enlargable to 50 bulbs), with each bulb providing 600 lumens of brightness.
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