Sensible lighting firm Hue has launched a brand new model of its Smart Button, one of many easiest methods of controlling Hue’s colourful sensible lights. The brand new Sensible Button has a much bigger design and a little bit of value hike — within the U.S., no less than, the place it now prices $32.99 in comparison with $29.99 for its predecessor. That’s considerably greater than the UK and EU pricing for the brand new button — £19.99 and €21.99 respectively — probably an indication of issues to return.
A Zigbee system, the Hue button will be programmed to regulate any single or group of Hue mild bulbs and fixtures by means of the Hue app. In line with Philips Hue’s web site, the button “lets you set off scenes based mostly on time of day, or cycle by means of a range. Press and maintain to dim and brighten your lights, and even set it to start out an automation.” This is identical performance because the prior mannequin, which means all that seems to have modified is the design and the worth.
The brand new button is sort of twice the scale, with a 45mm diameter (about 1.8 inches) versus 32mm (about 1.3 inches). It’s now extra angular and flatter, versus the extra bulbous fashion of the prior mannequin. It additionally doesn’t include a big plastic wall plate that resembles a typical mild change – useful for people who find themselves used to utilizing common switches. As an alternative, it solely comes with a small steel plate to magnetically connect the button to the wall, in accordance with HueBlog’s hands-on with the button.
The Hue button makes use of the identical CR2032 battery, which, in accordance with Hue, ought to final for 2 years. HueBlog known as out the battery for being lots simpler to exchange on this new button than on the earlier one.
I reviewed the first generation of the button when it launched in 2019 for $24.99, and it’s lengthy been considered one of my favourite straightforward methods to regulate Hue lights. An update in 2023 added extra management choices, together with the flexibility to cycle by means of Hue’s pure mild scenes based mostly on time of day, so you would get the fitting sort of tunable white mild for the time of day with only one press.
I like the concept of a barely bigger design, which could possibly be simpler to make use of, however the truth that it’s costlier within the States than within the EU and UK is a worrying signal.
Hue is already probably the most costly sensible lighting manufacturers, and based mostly on an email the company sent to customers earlier this month, it could be getting much more costly — no less than for these of us on this facet of the pond. In line with the promotional message I obtained on June ninth, Hue’s “costs go up on July 1.”
The notice concerning the value improve seems to have only been sent to US customers, indicating the rise could also be as a result of Trump’s tariffs. We’ve reached out to Signify (Philips Hue’s guardian firm) to verify and to seek out out which merchandise will probably be affected.