Think of ‘smarter’ home lighting, and there’s a good chance that the first name that comes to mind is Philips’ Hue system, and with good reason. Philips practically invented the connected smart bulb market, has the largest range of bulbs, and has the widest app support. And if you’re looking to get started, the Hue Starter Kit is the easiest way into this ecosystem — it comes with three WiFi connected smart bulbs and the base station that connects with your WiFi network to control them.
You may ask — why would I want a smart bulb? Think about it — how about if the bulb lights up when you have new email, or when you’re getting a phone call, or when you walk in through the door? All of this controlled via an app on the phone. The possibilities are fairly limitless. In fact, you can get the bulbs to recreate the hues of a photo (the bulb analyses the colours in the photo). Just keep in mind that the range for Hue bulbs is not much better than Bluetooth (about 10m-25m). So, if the base station (bridge) is in one end of the house, you may see issues while connecting to bulbs at the other end.
Getting started with Hue is straightforward, despite the daunting collection of parts when you open the box. Connect the circular bridge to your wireless router with a cable and power it up, plug in the bulbs where you want them and download the app — that’s it! The bulbs connect to the bridge automatically, and everything else, right from switching the bulbs on/off and changing colour/brightness for any/all bulbs, is controlled from within the app.
Yet, the Hue bulb is a polarising piece of kit — at Rs 16,995 for the starter pack and four grand per bulb thereafter, it’s prohibitively expensive for most. Yet, it gives you a peek into the connected home of the future — today.
♦ Rating: 7/10
♦ Price: Rs 16,995 (starter pack)
♦ URL: bit.ly/TT-PhilipsHue
Mini magic
Bose got a lot of things right with the original 2013 SoundLink Mini — small size, smart design, good features and sound so big, it belied its diminutive dimensions. The updated SoundLink Mini II remains true to the sensible and classy Bose design and while it’s available only in black and white, you can add soft covers to add a dash of colour. As with its predecessor, the Mini II comes with a charging cradle that gives the speaker enough juice to last the better part of 10 hours on a single charge, and it’s good to see Bose move from the proprietary power connector to a more common microUSB connector.
New to this generation is the capability to use the Mini II as a speakerphone for calls. Yet, its main attraction remains its ability to pump out room-filling audio from its tiny frame. Even without a subwoofer, the bass levels are rich and powerful, making the Mini II much more fun to listen to than others in the same size segment.
That said, it’s expensive for its feature set… and the competition has pulled out all the stops with fancy extras — apps to tweak the sound, the ability to pair two speakers to play left and right channels, or ruggedised waterproof designs — which the Mini II continues to lack.
♦ Rating: 8/10
♦ Price: Rs 18,000
♦ URL: bit.ly/TT-BoseSLMini2
A smarter game
For many, gaming on the smartphone just can’t match up to console gaming on the Xbox or PlayStation, thanks in large part to the tangible difference that gaming controllers make. Enter the Evo Gamepad Pro controller from Amkette — it pairs with your Android phone via Bluetooth and gives you a full-blown gamepad experience on the go.
Design wise, the Gamepad Pro takes strong inspiration from the Xbox 360 controller… the same grippy iconic shape including two joysticks, a four-way direction pad, and shoulder and trigger buttons. The key difference — a flip out phone holder in the middle where you can slot in your Android device for gameplay. Pairing with the phone is a breeze, though I would suggest you get the companion app from the Play Store for detailed instructions and a list of games that are compatible with Gamepad controllers.
Playing games like Dead Trigger 2 and Asphalt 8 with the Gamepad Pro is a whole new ball game — you get to see the whole unobstructed screen and the responsiveness of the controller makes for a far better alternative to touchscreen controls. At well over eight hours of gameplay, battery life is pretty good too, and my only crib was that some of the rear buttons were a little too hard for comfort. If your favourite phone games support controllers, the Gamepad Pro is a sensible little buy that will add a whole lot of fun.
♦ Rating: 8/10
♦ Price: Rs 2,799
♦ URL: bit.ly/TT-EvoGamepadPro
technocool@kanwar.net; follow me on twitter @2shar
