Challenging Philips Hue: Smart Bulbs Without WiFi Connection Hit the Market

Since Philips launched its color-adjustable smart bulb products, IoT-based bulbs have become popular, but each brand still has some differences: some focus more on color range, some are more energy-efficient, and others emphasize refined network features. Lumen Smart LED is a startup project from the Kickstarter platform. Compared to WiFi-based smart bulbs like Philips Hue, Lumen Smart LED uses the Bluetooth standard, so no additional connector is needed, and you can control it directly with your phone.

Features and Characteristics

The setup of Lumen Smart LED is very simple. You just need to install the bulb into the fixture, download the application on your phone, and you can start pairing. This saves the step of connecting WiFi bulbs to a router. Once connected, you can use the application to control it, supporting iOS and Android devices. The application is very intuitive, with a color selection area on the main screen that allows you to freely adjust the bulb color, turn it on/off, or enable/disable RGB mode.

In addition, the Lumen Smart LED also features a rich set of modes and presets, including:

- Two party modes that can randomly play lights with different mechanisms

- The romantic mode can flash back and forth between yellow, orange, and red, presumably to simulate candlelight

- The relaxation mode is similar to the romantic mode, but the colors are concentrated in blue, green, and purple

- The alert mode will flash a certain color when you have an incoming call

　　- Music sync mode can sync with the music playing on your phone

　　- Proximity mode can automatically turn the light on or off based on the distance between the phone and the bulb

　　- Wake-up mode will gradually turn on the light in the morning to help you wake up

　　Performance

　　The Lumen Smart LED has a brightness of 400 lumens, which is roughly equivalent to a 40W incandescent bulb, but is still somewhat dim compared to the Philips Hue's 600 lumens. Of course, the Lumen Smart LED is priced lower, so the performance is acceptable. The advantage of the Lumen Smart LED lies in its wider color range and more accurate tones, enabling more vivid lighting, especially in scenarios such as "Party Mode" that require rich color effects.

If we have to talk about drawbacks, the biggest issue with the Lumen Smart LED is the limitation of its Bluetooth connection. Since it does not use the WIFI standard, it cannot use Zigbee or Z-wave automation standards, so it is unable to link up with WIFI speakers, home monitoring systems, and other IoT devices, resulting in poor expandability.