Philips Hue

Philips Hue is a line of color-changing LED lamps and white bulbs which can be controlled wirelessly. The Philips Hue line of bulbs was the first smart bulb of its kind on the market. The lamps are currently created and manufactured by Signify N.V., formerly the Philips Lighting division of Royal Philips N.V.

Operation
The Hue Bridge is the central controller of the lighting system which allows the bulbs to "communicate" with Apple HomeKit and the app. In 2016, Philips released a new square shaped v2 bridge with increased memory and processor speed which replaced the round v1 bridge. The first-generation bridge received a final software update in April 2020, and support from the Philips web servers was discontinued. Functionality including grouping lights into rooms and scheduling scenes that depended on Philips servers to pack the instructions into a form the bridge executed could no longer be created. Users of the earlier v1 bridge had to update to a v2 bridge to be able to control their configuration.

The Hue system was released in October 2012 on Apple Store, and was marketed as the first iOS-controlled lighting appliance. Products released before 2019 use the Zigbee Light Link protocol, a compatible subset of Zigbee 3.0, to communicate, while lighting products released later use either Bluetooth or Zigbee 3.0. Smart switches, motion detectors, and other accessory devices such as the Hue HDMI sync originally used only the Zigbee Home Automation protocol, but later supported Zigbee 3.0. Hue system components can be controlled over the Internet, typically by smartphone apps over cellular or WiFi networks, or a Home Automation voice command interface. Commands are delivered to the bridge via a wired Ethernet connection which transmits the commands to the devices over the Zigbee mesh network. The initial system had bulbs capable of producing up to 600 lumens, a limit later increased to 1600 lumens. In July 2018, an outdoor version of the Philips Hue suite was introduced, and in October 2018 a suite of entertainment-focused, free-standing light fittings. In January 2019 Philips announced outdoor sensors and lights.

Color ranges
Three different Philips Hue color types are available, all dimmable: White, White Ambiance, and White and Color Ambiance. The White bulbs produce white light with a color temperature of 2700 K (warm); the White Ambiance bulbs produce white light of color temperature adjustable between 2200 K (warm soft white) and 6500 K (daylight). The White and Color Ambiance range can generate white light adjustable from 2000 K to 6500 K, and also adjustable colored light.

Bulbs with Bluetooth
Since June 2019, all Philips hue bulbs support Bluetooth through the Philips Hue Bluetooth app, so that a Philips Hue Bridge is no longer necessary for basic operation, though it enables further features. Up to ten bulbs can be controlled by Bluetooth (which requires location services to be enabled) over a range stated to be 30 ft.

Use of the Hue Bridge enables control of up to 50 lights, assignation of room names, full voice control, configuration of Hue smart accessories, setting of timers and schedules, away-from-home control, routines to switch on and off, and synchronisation of lights with entertainment devices.

Security concern
A security flaw was found and resolved in 2016: the bulbs, and potentially other ZigBee devices, could be remotely controlled by anyone, using inexpensive equipment. Researchers tricked the lights into installing a malicious firmware update enabling them to be controlled from 70 m away.

Reception
In an article in Forbes, Seth Porges called Phillips Hue the "best product of 2012". PC Magazine reviewed the white variation and named it as an editors' choice, saying it was bright and affordable and had many features.