New Hue lights for the holidays: Signify, the Perifo, and the Signify Connected Bridges on the Rails
Users will be impacted by the jumping on of the bridge on the train. Hue devices communicating through Matter will work locally, meaning they may be faster and more responsive in some setups. One way it could be done is for the users to connect one bridge to Amazon and one bridge to Google Home so they can add more lights.
The news was announced by Signify, which makes Philips Hue, during the IFA tech show in Berlin, along with a bevy of other updates, including the rollout of the Hue line’s first smart security cameras and a handful of new lights.
The Matter update seems pretty timely, given it’s nearing the holiday season and smart home owners may want to deck the halls with connected lighting systems. Signify is releasing some new lights this fall that are particularly festive.
Festavia string lights come in three different lengths and can be used outdoors with 100, 250, and 500 LEDs on the same cord. The lights are priced at $119.99, $219.99 and $359.99. Signify also announced the arrival of the Hue Perifo track lighting system in the US. The Perifo system allows for wall and ceiling mounting and offers a wide range of customization options. The track lighting is available in white and black. All will hit US stores in September.
The products from this Netherlands-based company look nice, look well made and offer the type of privacy protection that many people will feel is worth more for, while the Hue Secure cameras are expensive and video quality and smart alert are fairly standard.
There is no compatibility with both Amazon and Google Home at launch, despite the fact that George Yianni, head of technology at Philips, said that they are working on an integration to view live footage on those companies’ smart displays.
The cameras will not work with Apple Home until cameras are supported in Matter, he said. There are no plans to support HomeKit Secure Video. Instead, you’ll need to pay a subscription fee starting at $3.99 per month / $39.99 a year, per camera to view recorded footage.
The Philips Hue Secure battery camera is $249.99 and looks like an elongated version of the wired camera. It also comes in black or white, and its battery is estimated to last four months with five activations a day. The battery is not replaceable and you have to take it down to charge it. It is possible to power it with the low-voltage outdoor cables from pulston hue.
The battery camera also comes with a small magnetic mount, and there’s the option of a ground spike camera mount ($39.99) you can stick in the shrubs or a flower pot.
The Hue Bridge is a Cloud-Based Security App for Wireless Sensors, Autonomous Drivers, and Home Security Cameras (Google Nest Cameras)
The new contact sensor from the company can be had in black or white for either $69.95 or $39.99. They work over Hue’s Zigbee network connecting to the Hue Bridge to send an alert when the system’s armed, or to trigger lighting automations when it’s not. There are no features that would make them a motion-sensitive sensor.
While the cameras work as stand-alone devices, you need the bridge for most security features, including the contact sensor, floodlight camera, light and sound alarms, and automations. The cameras are not needed for the security system. According to Yanni, if you already have motion sensors and Hue lights, you’ll be able to set up security automations to flash your lights in the new Security Center in the Hue app.
You can manage the security system at the Security Center, set up different ways to react when you aren’t at home or away. When a sensor is triggered while armed, the app sends an alert, and you can take action to flash your lights, sound the alarm, or call 911 or a trusted contact directly from the app.
The camera’s recording state is determined by arming and disarming. Yanni said that when disarmed, it shuts off the Wi-Fi, so the cameras are not recording. They can act as motion sensors if the wired version uses an optical sensor, or if they use a PIR sensor. They then send the signal over Zigbee to the bridge.
On-device processing of smart alerts for people, packages, and vehicles, plus end-to-end encryption turned on by default, means footage should be secure and only accessible by you.
If you want to record your video, you will have to pay for a cloud plan, which starts at $4.99 a camera a month or $9.99 a year, for up to 10 cameras. The recorded events will be uploaded to the cloud and kept for a period of 30 to 60 days. The cameras can work with activity zones and smart alert, but they need a paid subscription.
They look similar design-wise and have the same solid feel and quality materials. However, Google Nest cameras are cheaper — $179.99 for the battery-powered one compared to $249.99 for Hue’s. End-to-end encryption is not common and is much sought after with security cameras.
As a security system, it feels a little underdone at launch. It appears to be all manually triggered — so you have to see and act on one of the alerts (there’s no option for professional monitoring). You’d also need a lot of Hue light bulbs, or a few very expensive outdoor light fixtures, for the flashing lights to really attract any attention outside of your home, so how effective a deterrent this will be remains to be seen.
