The Philips Hue, an internet-based LED lighting system, has been launched in India and is available through various offline and online outlets priced at Rs 16995. It comes with a starter kit consisting of three lamps, a power adapter, an ethernet network cable, and a Wi-Fi enabled bridge.
Additional fixtures are up for sale separately. The Philips Hue connects up to 50 lamps, all remotely controlled via a companion app. Once downloaded, people can use it to dim or intensify the lighting based on their mood. They may even choose an image and shade a room with the same colors. It also lets consumers save their preferred settings as a personalized scene.
The Hue also connects to IFTTT, a web-based service to create chains of commands called recipes, in order for users to get notified when it’s raining outside or if they receive an email. The lighting system can further be used as an alarm. People could access the app to turn on the bulbs when no one is at home, even setting up times for specific rooms to brighten up.
Philips has also packaged the system with Geofencing technology. This makes the lights start up the moment someone walks through the front door. The companion application contains various presets such as Reading, Relax, Concentrate and Energize. The 9W LED lamps in the starter kit can transmit over 16 million colors and are able to generate any kind of white light, from cool to warm.
The Hue bulbs are made up of metal and glass and can be screwed into the pre-existing light fittings in a house. It’s supposed to have a maximum life span of 20000 hours or nearly 14 years. The lights have been equipped with ZigBee technology to reduce power consumption and stream software upgrades directly through the bridge.
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The Philips Hue lighting system is currently available via online retailers like Snapdeal and across India at official outlets, Croma and Reliance Digital. The app can be downloaded through the Google Play Store or iTunes.