The Philips Hue is one of the original “smart bulbs”, having been an early pioneer in the field. Unlike many new technologies, the Hue has been directly marketed and available in Australia. One of Philips’ big advantages has always been platform integration with many home control / automation solutions.
Today, Philips Australia announced that the new Philips Hue 2.0 is coming to our shores. The heart of the new system is the Philips Hue Bridge 2.0 which integrates with any existing Hue lights to bring advanced functionality to your wireless lighting system. At launch, it’s inescapable that the big benefits will be for those who have homekit and Siri systems. With full compatibility with Homekit in Hue 2.0 for those with iOS devices, the Hue just to a lot more powerful.
Android users, however, should not be discouraged. Philips is hinting at future compatibility with “multiple connected home platforms on Android now and into the future”. Could Hue 2.0 be Google Home compatible? Is there a little brillo and/ or weave hidden deep within its bones?
The new Hue Bridge 2.0 brings with it more than just new features, it has a new design, more processing power, and more storage than the original model. Overall it looks like Philips has positioned the Hue 2.0 to be the single controller for all of your smart lights with compatibility with over 450 third party bulbs. You can check out Philips’ new Hue Australian website to see what they have on offer. Even without another smart platform the Hue 2.0 brings with it a good array of control and automation features.
As far as pricing you can get just a Hue Bridge 2.0 for $89.95 AUD, a 2 light starter kit for $144.95 AUD or a 3 light starter kit for $289.95AUD all from Simply LED. As well as the starter kits you can also get white bulbs, ambient colour changing bulbs and various control and dimmer switches [UPDATE: Prices updated 8/6/206 11:00 AM].
We’ve got a review unit of the new Hue 2.0 coming, so we’ll definitely be putting the new Hue Bridge 2.0 and app through its paces.
Have you embraced the smart light revolution? Let us know in the comments.
