I don’t know if this sounds as insane to you as it does to me - but a device that does nothing else but emit coloured light needs a frickin account for SECURITY reasons?
Of course I know the real reason is to extract all kinds of data from me but man if this ain’t done Brave New World shit I don’t know.
You're vastly underselling Hue. You have automations (such as waking you up with a sunrise, simulating presence, etc), integrations (sync from PC, TV, good local API that can be used by various home automation systems) and importantly, remote access.
The last part can't work securely without an account, and accounts also allow you to have access controls (this user can only control lights, but not any of the more advanced settings, because you know your roommate/spouse/kids shouldn't be touching that).
The whole thing has been wildly overblown.
I don’t want an expensive bridge or a Hue account or another app or another way to setup automations or anything else. Just sell me smart bulbs goddamit.
Assuming you've bought into those ecosystems. I haven't, and use Hue directly and via Home Assistant. I don't intend to add other cloud services
> I don’t want an expensive bridge or a Hue account or another app or another way to setup automations or anything else. Just sell me smart bulbs goddamit
Then buy from another vendor that only sells smart bulbs and you have to DIY the rest? It's like complaining your Rolls-Royce comes with too many features such as TVs and umbrellas in the doors, while you just want a working car with 4 wheels - go buy a Ford Fiesta then.
But they are not selling a Rolls Royce: they are selling idiots a ford fiesta they’ve replaced the physical key with a cloud-based, vendor locked smartphone app, whilst calling that a unique selling point which justifies the rolls Royce price tag.
Whilst generating a lot e-waste in the process.
To be clear, my issue is not with them offering this as a part of their product for those with no alternative, but instead with forcing it on those that do.
What's the e-waste? Everything they have ever made is still supported, and I personally have bulbs working fine for 10+ years.
> But they are not selling a Rolls Royce: they are selling idiots a ford fiesta they’ve replaced the physical key with a cloud-based, vendor locked smartphone app, whilst calling that a unique selling point which justifies the rolls Royce price tag.
No, they're selling a premium product. High prices, best features (including highest luminosity smart bulbs on the market), lots of good integrations, good UX.
> To be clear, my issue is not with them offering this as a part of their product for those with no alternative, but instead with forcing it on those that do
They aren't even forcing the hub. You can connect their bulbs to any compatible Zigbee / Bluetooth system and work with it.
That's unlike every other smart device - and it's obvious why: selling a basic Zigbee->Matter bridge with a Hue logo on it at a 40x markup is a great revenue source, they get to insert themselves into your home and siphon up analytics, and they don't even have to spend any money adding Matter support to their bulbs. All to provide generic, basic and out-of-the-box functionality that you already have if you use Homekit or Google Home.
Fantastic! And fantasticly wasteful.
> Do I need a Philips Hue Bridge to connect my devices via Matter?
> Yes. A Philips Hue Bridge, the smart lighting hub for the Philips Hue system, enables Matter for all your Hue products
Aka: you need to buy a hub from us.
> With Bluetooth control, you’re limited to only being able to operate your smart lights within Bluetooth range – about 10 metres
Damn, ford fiesta keys have a longe range than that :)
It’s a shameless excuse to sell an extra product, which is why they haven’t added matter support to their bulbs natively like every other smart bulb maker, and I’m not sure why you’re so keen on this not being the case.
I mean, you can buy the bulbs and connect them to any zigbee bridge, right?
I deliberately avoid WiFi devices as these often demand WAN access for registration, control. Matter often seems like the worst of both worlds but we'll see.