Not too long ago I refurbished my house. I really wanted to use Hue bulbs throughout, the Lux white bulbs mainly so that I could do dimming throughout the house and stacks of integrations without having to spend thousands on replacing old cables. The problem was the lack of a decent switch. I already had the Hue tap and I was not about to put one in every room (It lives in the guest room as the furniture covers the regular switch) It is noisy, and because it requires more force than a "tap" doesn't always work
I ended up using a Philips Dynalite Antumbra, as shown below with then the capability from an app to control as well and just recently added in the control from my Harmony remote via Smartthings, thanks Tim!
I am very happy with this solution but will absolutely be buying the new addition to the Hue family. A lot of the reaction I have seen questions this product, "A switch to control when I already have an app" But apps are not something that every member of the family uses or visitors; so now I believe this brings Hue out from (in my opinion) being just a hobby product. It could feasibly be used across the whole house and with the US pricing indication, $40 for the switch and a bulb, it should fly off Apple store shelves. I just hope it gets sold seperately!
3 Comments
So I have recently installed my Ring doorbell, congrats on their latest funding by the way after rejection in the shark tank!
One of the big clinchers for me compared to their competition was the accompanying "chime" which would plug directly into a socket to allow for the doorbell to chime sans app. (As in renovating my home the plasterer managed to destroy the original bell) This now means like the cheap wireless doorbell I had before that the noise can be moved around the house, or more likely it will stay where it is and I will just change the volume from the app - yes that's possible, or even mute it. The other great thing was the quick responses on Twitter to any of the questions fired their way. Customer service in the global market and the smarthome one is changing dramatically. Timezomes and integrations will make sure of that! The great surprise in the package was the little install kit. Never before have I seen such a complete offering, the screws, screwdriver, spirit level. More to follow in the ground floor wrap-up. In the meantime Ring keep up the great work and don't forget the integrations! (Smartthings, Harmony, Hue, Nest?) Update 31/08/15: Heard today on the excellent HomeOn podcast that IFTTT is being worked on by the ring team. Also had a new use case today, I wasn't home answered the Ring, spoke to the visitor and it wasn't someone I was expecting but figured it could be for my partner. Turned out that he was at the wrong house but I had no way to call him back. Ring have said they are working on "Video on demand" - that's my name for the feature. I just hope that audio is also possible to once again converse with the visitor after conferring with my partner who was also out of the house |
AuthorJust a guy with lots of smart home tech: Archives
August 2018
Categories
All
|