Philips Hue 2.0 bulb evaluation has not made any progress except Siri

The concept of "smart home" is still far away from most people, but if we want to experience it in advance, we are not lacking in anything.

A smart light bulb is one that is relatively cheap, can operate independently, and is relatively mature in technology. Among them, Philips' Hue series is the most popular.

Philips recently launched the Hue 2.0 smart light bulb, adding the highly acclaimed Apple HomeKit support. Joining Apple's intelligent family can naturally satisfy the users of many Apple products, and what other progress will it make? Please see the evaluation:

Still that Hue

Although I hang my appetite in the foreword, it is necessary to say at the outset that Hue 2.0 has not made significant progress except for the support for Apple HomeKit. In fact, it is difficult for you to call it a second generation product. Hue 2.0 is very familiar to the whole. There are three bulbs in the kit and a Hub control. You still have to use the same application to control them. In a nutshell, Hue can't do it, Hue 2.0 can't do it.

Fortunately, Hue 2.0 didn't make much progress, but it didn't regress. Some smart light bulb products sacrificed something after supporting Apple HomeKit. We are happy to see that Hue 2.0 still retains the core strengths of its platform, especially since the platform is open to allow third-party developers to add new features. Hue 2.0 is not lost.

Siri is really a bright spot

After joining the Apple camp, you can finally use Siri to have more comprehensive control over Hue 2.0. When Hue 2.0 was first released, Siri was only able to understand some basic colors. After an update, the selection changed a lot: in addition to the simple colors of red, blue, and orange, it now understands a series of more complex instructions such as deep red, light blue, blue, and gold. However, after testing, Siri has a delicate understanding of various whites, and may add similar instructions in the future.

In addition to the color of the lights, you can also use the Siri command to switch between scene settings, allowing one or more bulbs to have more vivid lighting performance. One problem you may encounter while using it is that Hue's scenario is not the same as Apple HomeKit's scenario, so it can't be used. The solution is simple. Just select "Siri Voice Control" in the settings of the Hue app and you will see a series of scenarios in the list. Choose a scenario that you want to control with Siri, and Hue will automatically translate it into a form that Siri can use.

Is the brightness not right? !

Philips claims that Hue 2.0 has a significant improvement in hard indicators, with brightness reaching 800 lumens, far exceeding the 600 lumens of older bulbs. However, in the test, we can find that the maximum brightness is 800 lumens and there is a clear distance. In the 4000K daylight mode, it only reaches 734 lumens, while in the default 2700K default mode, it only has 535 lumens. However, at least its maximum brightness is brighter than the old Hue.

In addition, Hue 2.0's performance can only be said to be at an average level for the problem that the color light bulb is generally a bitter. Hue 2.0 is accurate in red and yellow, but it is difficult to restore vivid blue and green. In this regard, it must be said that Hue 2.0 does not perform better than Hue. The picture above shows the color contrast of the lights. From left to right, Hue, Hue 2.0 and the green LED bulbs as reference objects. We can clearly see that the so-called greens of the two Hue bulbs are yellowish.

General comment

Philips' Hue series is undoubtedly excellent, and it has been well received in the smart bulb market with excellent quality. Hue 2.0 has added Apple HomeKit support to greatly expand the compatible smart home platform. The addition of support for Siri has enabled users to release their hands with a very rich set of instructions via voice.

However, outside of Apple HomeKit, Hue 2.0 lacks progress. Although the maximum brightness has improved but it has not reached the level of publicity, Hue 2.0 has even inherited the first-generation Hue's flaws in brightness and color, which is somewhat puzzling. But considering that Hue 2.0 is better than the first generation in any case, you can start with it if you want to try a smart light bulb.