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> 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 -

by orf 2y ago

> 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.

sofixa 2y ago
> Whilst generating a lot e-waste in the process 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.
- orf 2y ago
  It's pretty simple: in order to control your devices in the same manner as most other smart devices (Matter), you need to spend ~40 pounds on a bespoke Hue bridge, use their app, are forced to sign up for an account, and need to ensure the bridge is always powered on. 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.
  - sofixa 2y ago
    You are aware that the Hue ecosystem predates Matter, and Google Home for that matter, and probably HomeKit, by at least a decade, right? And that all recent (at least 5 years) bulbs don't require a bridge, right?
    - orf 2y ago
      https://www.philips-hue.com/en-gb/explore-hue/works-with/matter https://www.philips-hue.com/en-gb/explore-hue/works-with/mat... > 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.
      - sofixa 2y ago
        You're still missing the fact that the Hue ecosystem and Hub predate Matter, HomeKit, Google Home by more than a decade. Can their bulbs even be made compatible with Matter, physically or are they lacking hardware pieces?

by orf 2y ago

sofixa 2y ago

> Whilst generating a lot e-waste in the process 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.

orf 2y ago
It's pretty simple: in order to control your devices in the same manner as most other smart devices (Matter), you need to spend ~40 pounds on a bespoke Hue bridge, use their app, are forced to sign up for an account, and need to ensure the bridge is always powered on. 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.
- sofixa 2y ago
  You are aware that the Hue ecosystem predates Matter, and Google Home for that matter, and probably HomeKit, by at least a decade, right? And that all recent (at least 5 years) bulbs don't require a bridge, right?
  - orf 2y ago
    https://www.philips-hue.com/en-gb/explore-hue/works-with/matter https://www.philips-hue.com/en-gb/explore-hue/works-with/mat... > 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.
    - sofixa 2y ago
      You're still missing the fact that the Hue ecosystem and Hub predate Matter, HomeKit, Google Home by more than a decade. Can their bulbs even be made compatible with Matter, physically or are they lacking hardware pieces?