The Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Starter Kit is a fun little product.
In short, it’s a set of three LED bulbs and a bridge that allows them to connect to your home network. Once the dead-simple setup is compete, the Hues app allows you to select pre-designed “scenes,” control the lights individually, or even design new scenes based on photographs. Want to re-live your Tahiti experience? Load the photo into the app and you can be back in that magical place.
The lights aren’t bright enough to take over for other fixtures — for me, at least — but do a great job at changing the mood or feel to a room. I have all three of my bulbs in a floor lamp in our den, and it’s fun to add some color to things.
Thanks to HomeKit, the lights an be controlled via Siri, reminders and even geofences, but I’ve had real mixed luck with the HomeKit features so far.
The Starter Kit is $199, which is expensive. I hope Philips can get the price down, because right now, this kit just isn’t worth it. It is fun, though.