[MUSIC]
Hey guys, I'm here in the CNet smart home testing out the second generation of Phillips Hue color changing smart lighting kit.
Now, that starter kit still sells for $200 and still comes with a Hue bridge and three bulbs.
All that hardware is new, though.
Those bulbs are a little brighter than before and that bridge features support for Apple HomeKit, a set of smart home protocols built right into iOS.
That means that you'll be able to control your existing Hue lights and the new ones using spoken Siri commands like this.
Turn all the lights red.
So that's what's good here, but what might be disappointing is that the hardware itself isn't much of an improvement over generation one Check out these color comparison shots.
That's the old original Philips hue bulb on the left, the new Philips hue bulb in the middle.
And then the LIFX color changing bulb on the right there.
And you can see the LIFX bulb is much better in a lot of these tests.
The colors look a light brighter and more vivid, and overall just kind of has better specs.
Now the reason for those weak blue tones and that yellowy green tones is that the Phillips tool bulbs don't have a lot of blue diodes on it.
Take a look at this old filled tool bulbs we've taken the top off of.
You can see that it's got five yellow diodes, four red diodes But only two blue diodes there in the middle, and taking a look at the new bulb which I've got here [SOUND]
you can see it's got a lot more yellow diodes, but still only that one blue diode In the middle, so it's different but still not strong on blue.
Now with all those extra yellow diodes, it can put out brighter light at some parts of the spectrum, but not the default 2700k setting.
At that normal yellowy tone, you're still gonna be down under 600 lumens, and not at the 800 lumens this bulb is promising.
You'll only get that bright at the hot white Daylight zone.
Another disappointment in my opinion.
If you haven't bought in yet, I don't know that this new kit is enough of an upgrade to get you to buy in now.
Especially if all you're buying into is the novelty of those colors.
Thanks for watching, check out the full review at cnet.com, here's the CNet smart house.
I'm Ry Cryst.
