Samsung's Bluetooth-Only 'Smart Bulb' Is a Bit DimBetter late than never. Kind of. The Korean electronics maker's dull-ish inaugural connected lightbulb doesn't exactly turn us on.
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Samsung's late to the connected light bulb game, but today it finally arrived – and it's a bit of a disappointment.
The Korean electronics giant has justannounced其Bluetooth-only智能部(零WiFi功能)lb, unoriginally called "Smart Bulb." And it's not quite as bell-and whistle-filled as the ones already on the market from rivalsLGand andPhilips.
Sorry, there's noLumenmood-lifting rainbow "party mode" disco dance floor action here, folks. Only white and "cool white" energy-efficient lighting, and up to 10 years (or 15,000 hours) of it per bulb. And no syncing up with your playlists or lighting up when you're smartphone rings.
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The lightbulb will officially debut at next week'sLight + Building 2014lighting and architecture trade show in Frankfurt, Germany.
Samsung's Smart Bulb does, however, have a glimmer of an edge over LG's WiFi- and Bluetooth-ready Smart Lamp and Philips's Wi-Fi Hue: Because it's purely Bluetooth-enabled, users won't need a WiFi connection to control the dimmable light. They'll be able control it (actually, up to 64 Smart Bulbs at the same time, if they want to go blindingly bright) directly from their tablet or smartphone. And, of course, there's a Smart Bulb companion app for that, though it's not available for download just yet. We assume iOS and Android devices will be supported, but that isn't clear yet either.
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On top of an app, Smart Bulb users will also need aZigBeeBluetooth connected home automation hub that will allow them to directly control of all of their Samsung Bluetooth bulbs "from anywhere," according to Samsung. It isn't yet known if a ZigBee unit will have to be purchased separately.
的价格the Smart Bulb also remains unknown. LG's Smart Lamp, which is still only available in its native Korea, rings up at $32. We hope Samsung's smart newentréeis around the same price. We're not big fans of colored mood lighting, so we'd give it a shot.
