Pre-orders for Sylvania Smart+ A19 Full Color Light Bulb start, more HomeKit devices comin...
Sylvania has launched pre-orders for its Smart+ A19 Full Color Light Bulb, and is adding more HomeKit bulbs, and accessories in the near future.
The HomeKit-enabled Sylvania Smart+ A19 Full Color Light Bulb can be controlled individually or in groups as part of scenes. Features include turning it on and off, dimming it, adjusting it from a cool white for concentrating to a warm white, and changing it to one of millions of colors.
Control outside the home still requires an Apple TV or iPad. No bridge is required, like needed for Philips Hue and Lutron systems.
While no details were provided, the Sylvania Smart+ line will expand with A19 Soft White Light Bulb, Indoor Full Color Flex Strip, and Plug soon. The product line was announced in December 2016, and was originally expected in early 2017.
HomeKit-enabled Sylvania Smart+ lighting products will be available later this year. The A19 Full Color Light Bulb is available for pre-order for $44.99.
Introduced in 2014, HomeKit allows users to connect to a variety of compatible so-called "internet of things" devices through the iOS Home app in conjunction with each other, as opposed to a series of disconnected interfaces. The addition of Siri control to HomeKit allows for complicated sequences of events to be induced from an iOS device with one voice command.
The HomeKit-enabled Sylvania Smart+ A19 Full Color Light Bulb can be controlled individually or in groups as part of scenes. Features include turning it on and off, dimming it, adjusting it from a cool white for concentrating to a warm white, and changing it to one of millions of colors.
Control outside the home still requires an Apple TV or iPad. No bridge is required, like needed for Philips Hue and Lutron systems.
While no details were provided, the Sylvania Smart+ line will expand with A19 Soft White Light Bulb, Indoor Full Color Flex Strip, and Plug soon. The product line was announced in December 2016, and was originally expected in early 2017.
HomeKit-enabled Sylvania Smart+ lighting products will be available later this year. The A19 Full Color Light Bulb is available for pre-order for $44.99.
Introduced in 2014, HomeKit allows users to connect to a variety of compatible so-called "internet of things" devices through the iOS Home app in conjunction with each other, as opposed to a series of disconnected interfaces. The addition of Siri control to HomeKit allows for complicated sequences of events to be induced from an iOS device with one voice command.
Comments
It could be a good way to go for someone who hasn't yet invested in home automation lighting. I hope there's a kit that includes a remote control. Controlling the lights from just an iPhone would get old after awhile. Walking into a room without your phone, you'd want to be able to switch on a light conveniently.
It looks like they're supposed to have s switch as well. Since Hue doesn't have one and this switch will likely be HomeKit compatible also, I'd be up for a couple.
On the Amazon product page it says it's an 800 lumen bulb. That's the equivalent of an old 60w bulb. Pretty low, similar to the Hue color bulbs.
I really need bulbs with twice that output to replace my non-smart Switch LED bulbs, which are 1600 lumens and the equivalent of a 100w bulb.
The Apple TV or iPad exist in this context to take IP signals and convert them Bluetooth, Zigbee, RF or whatever the native bulb protocol is. That's a bridge.
The "no bridge" crew are being unrealistic about this. When dealing with multiple protocols in a network the most simple and effective device is a bridge. Without a bridge remote access and local storage become difficult. No one really wants cloud control (like the TP-Link bulbs) where you internet goes down and your bulbs don't work correctly.
I wish the industry would aspire to a more "can do" approach rather than shoveling product at people with the idea that they are morons.
800 isn’t bad, but a really want 1,100 or 1,200. I use a lot of LEDs in the house and this wouldn’t be enough. A big problem with multicolor bulbs is that since they are RGB, moving the color towards one of the colors dims the bulb a lot. So this would be just 267 lumens if it was set to just one RGB color, and that’s not much.
Now, as for the product in question, I don’t need the colour change bulb but I like the sound of the soft white version. I currently use the Hue system for my lights but I’d really like to get the Hue hub out of the setup. Its stubborn insistence on being wired means I have to use up a port on my wireless bridge which could be taken by something with higher bandwidth requirements - I’m having to daisy-chain a switch onto the wireless bridge to accommodate all the wired devices.
I had been looking at jumping to Ikea Trådfri, but their promised HomeKit support is still nowhere to be seen. If Sylvania can get their soft white bulbs out before Ikea get HomeKit integrated, I will probably go with their bulbs.
is traveling and either putting the lights on a schedule or direct control.
I think the issue here is that competitors of Hue and Lifx have an uphill climb. Bridge free designs don't come up much
other than company marketing. The bigger desire is Echo/Google Home/HomeKit support for voice assistants.
The Bridge issue is a tempest in a teacup. Today you can buy Google Wifi/Linksys Velop and other routers with Zigbee built in.
Samsung has their mesh system with Smarthings built in. The Eero 2nd generation has Thread built in. These bridges are going to
be integrated into future routers making it a non-issue.
@jensonb Tradfri is a good option. They'll get there with HomeKit. Also keep your eyes on Sengled their classic line is downright inexpensive
A19 Bulb - $9.99
BR30 Bulb - $14.99
If Sengled adds HomeKit I may check'em out.
All I need to do is install the bulb and I can control it with my iPhone without needing anything else?
Sounds like the perfect thing to start off HomeKit with.
If it's connected directly to an iPhone and that iPhone is out of battery or not in range, the bulbs are essentially dumb bulbs again?
Sounds like an iPad or ATV is going to be necessary
I meant plug, my bad. Sylvania will have a wall plug that will let you plug something into it to be switched On/Off with an iDevice. It's unknown if it will work with inductive devices or just resistive devices. Hue will probably never have an equivalent since it would potentially cut into their bulb sales.
If you walk out of the room and forget to turn off the light, the local switch does you no good unless you don't mind no longer having remote access to it. That sort of defeats the purpose.
So you turn on the light remotely, but when you get there, you have no way to turn it off until you get back to your phone. My Hue uses a software/hardware dimmer so that the regular wall switch can stay On and the Hue dimmer can turn it Off without having to use a phone, pad, or watch. 'Hey, Siri' gets old after awhile.
The HomePod is a pricey way to control lights compared to a remote 'switch'. I'm looking forward to see how it performs but I don't think it's going to be a big seller. And using the iDevices is sort of the whole point of HomeKit in the first place. It's early days for the Sylvania bulb so it may well have a dimmer available as does Hue. And if they don't, they should consider it.
It's pretty obvious that the 'bridge' their referring to is the little brick that's included in some starter kits such as the Hue kits, and others, and is also available separately (and required) if you're going to buy all separate bits instead of a kit.
So how is dimming controlled? I can do this with my Hue kit via the Hue or HomeKit app on my iDevices or the remote dimmer.
I ask because I see no mention on the Amazon page of anything but the bulb. Without an additional control, you need something to host the app (there is an app, right?).