First look: Misfit Bolt, an iOS-connected smart lightbulb
Misfit --?backed by former Apple CEO John Sculley --?announced its first foray into the connected home this week, unveiling the $49 Misfit Bolt iOS-connected smart lightbulb.
Like most other connected light bulbs, Misfit's low-cost Bolt can be used to set the mood in a room by altering its color individually or via a series of pre-set scenes. Unlike competitors, however, Bolt is designed to work with Misfit's existing lineup of sleep and activity trackers.
At this week's Consumer Electronics Show, Misfit representatives told AppleInsider that Bolt will communicate with the company's Shine wristband and Beddit sleep tracker so that it knows when users go to sleep and wake up. Using this data, Bolt can work as a sort of visual alarm, rousing buyers from their sleep by emulating a natural sunrise.
The demonstration unit that we saw on the show floor appeared to be a good-quality bulb, demonstrating excellent color fidelity and temperature. Bolt scores 90 on the color rendering index --?a measure of LED-based bulbs' color reproduction capabilities --?which is a significant achievement. Philips's competing Hue, for instance, scores just one point higher.
Unlike Hue, Bolt does not require a hub. It connects directly to users' mobile devices, and can be controlled by Misfit's existing iOS app (though a Bolt-specific version is on the way.)
Bolt is available for pre-order now, with shipping expected in mid-February. Buyers can pick up one Bolt for $49.99, or a three-pack for $129.99.
Like most other connected light bulbs, Misfit's low-cost Bolt can be used to set the mood in a room by altering its color individually or via a series of pre-set scenes. Unlike competitors, however, Bolt is designed to work with Misfit's existing lineup of sleep and activity trackers.
At this week's Consumer Electronics Show, Misfit representatives told AppleInsider that Bolt will communicate with the company's Shine wristband and Beddit sleep tracker so that it knows when users go to sleep and wake up. Using this data, Bolt can work as a sort of visual alarm, rousing buyers from their sleep by emulating a natural sunrise.
The demonstration unit that we saw on the show floor appeared to be a good-quality bulb, demonstrating excellent color fidelity and temperature. Bolt scores 90 on the color rendering index --?a measure of LED-based bulbs' color reproduction capabilities --?which is a significant achievement. Philips's competing Hue, for instance, scores just one point higher.
Unlike Hue, Bolt does not require a hub. It connects directly to users' mobile devices, and can be controlled by Misfit's existing iOS app (though a Bolt-specific version is on the way.)
Bolt is available for pre-order now, with shipping expected in mid-February. Buyers can pick up one Bolt for $49.99, or a three-pack for $129.99.
Comments
Our brains seem to like colors rendered in approximately the color of daylight sun it seems.
These lights seem like nice novelties mainly. I want simple remote lightbulbs that are cheap and LED. Or perhaps a universal lightbulb holder that allows you to use various bulbs.
So am I understanding this correctly in that you just need this bulb and an iOS app? And nothing else!?
I'd have to assume you at least also need a wifi network at home for the bulb to sign into. Which I'm not sure about being a great idea! One reason the Hue uses a hub is that they use a more-efficient lower-energy-cost signal to communicate with the hub, and sort out and control the various bulbs from the hub, without a storm of wifi signals from every individual device in the house.
Very nice, but honestly, I don't want to have to take my phone out of my pocket every time I leave or enter a room to switch the lights. I do want to use the light switch. I only consider a product like this when it lets me control the light with my iPhone in combination with the traditional light switch on the wall.
And to what end? The only benefit I can think of is the gimmicky color changing ability. All other "smart" benefits are more efficiently achieved using a "smart" light switch!
Sorry but you are only partially right. The color of sunlight you mentioned is only at mid-day. Sunlight at dawn and sunset is closer to the incandescent light - I think you would agree that in fact sunrise and sunset are beautiful times of the day with their warm glowing light. This is why sunset is one of the best times of the day for photography and film-making - it is called "the golden hour".
We are used to yellow bulbs because that's what incandescent bulbs produced. If the light bulb was invented today it would be white, not yellow. People are just used to yellow. Yellow bulbs are 2700k where sunlight is 5600k, much whiter than the typical home bulb. Go buy some white 5000K bulbs and live with them for 3 months and you'll see how ugly yellow light looks.
No.
Sunlight can't be reduced to one colour; it’s a myriad of different colours. Its light is particularly pleasant at sunset, when it’s a warm yellow. As such, yellow is also the popular colour for the home. Most artificial white light is much too cold, in a way that sunlight isn't. Yellow light is also more suitable for the home, as the time when we rely on artificial light the most is in the evening, when we are shortly due to go to sleep. Yellow light is a good way to tell our bodies that sleep is imminent. If we had a bright, white light, it would do the opposite.