North American lighting manufacturer Sylvania is leading in surprising consumers even when CES is just only a week away when it introduces its own HomeKit compatible offering, the new smart bulb. According to reports, the new smart bulb does not need any extra hub hardware to connect with the home network.
Its being a hub-free smart bulb is what makes it apart from other HomeKit compatible smart bulbs, including Philips Hue's popular color-changing LEDs and the funky-looking LEDs in the Nanoleaf Smarter Kit. CNET reported that both of those options transmit their signals using Zigbee protocols, which means a hub needs to be plugged into the router to act as translator.
Sylvania' better smart multicolor A19bulb does not require the hassles since it is the very first hub-free option for use with HomeKit. Mac Rumors reported that because it is hub free, all users have to do is screw in the bulb into a light source and sync it with HomeKit to begin controlling the Sylvania lights.
The most notable feature of this new bulb is that it can be controlled using Siri's voice and allows the user to command Apple's virtual assistant when turning the bulb on and off, dimming them up and down, or changing colors.
Sources added that the hub-free system works when users are both inside and outside of their homes. Users can control the lights from afar by just letting the bulb sync with a connected Apple TV or iOS 10-enabled iPad. The company emphasized that the bulb has also the ability to set scenes and activities in combination with other HomeKit devices to create custom experiences through the Home app. It urge users to set up simple Siri phrases should they want the lights to activate.
Sylvania hopes to expand its Apple-supported product line, beginning 2017, starting off with the A19 bulb, which can be available on Amazon sometime next year.
