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After years of consumer complaints and mounting frustration with capability limitations, Philips has lastly delivered the Bridge Professional. Accessible now for £79.99, this upgraded management hub addresses essentially the most vital bottleneck within the Hue ecosystem while introducing a number of genuinely helpful new capabilities.
Associated Content material
Pricing
The Bridge Professional retails for £79.99, representing a £25 premium over the present bridge’s typical £55 worth level. Contemplating the premium worth level of Hue merchandise, I believe the Bridge Professional is kind of affordable, and folks needing the additional capability will view it as a cut price.
The present bridge’s 63-device restrict has been a real bottleneck for a lot of installations, and albeit, it’s about time Philips addressed this elementary limitation. For small setups, you’ll be able to nonetheless use Bluetooth to regulate most Hue merchandise, however the Bridge is effectively definitely worth the funding.
The machine is accessible by Philips’ on-line retailer and main retailers, with varied bundle packages deliberate to assist scale back the efficient price when bought with lights and equipment.
Capability Enhancements: The Essential Occasion
Essentially the most vital improve addresses the machine restrict that has plagued customers with bigger installations. The Bridge Professional helps as much as 150 lights and 50 equipment, in comparison with the present bridge’s exhausting restrict of 63 gadgets whole. This represents almost triple the earlier capability and may eradicate the necessity for a number of bridges in most residential setups.
I at present run a few bridges throughout my set up, so consolidating to a single Professional unit would simplify administration significantly while lowering community complexity. For customers approaching or exceeding the 63-device restrict, this improve isn’t simply helpful, it’s important.
{Hardware} Specs: A Generational Leap
The efficiency enhancements are substantial and symbolize an entire architectural overhaul:
Processing Energy:
- 1.7GHz quad-core Cortex-A35 CPU (Hue Chip Professional)
- Claims of 5x sooner efficiency than present {hardware}
Reminiscence and Storage:
- 8GB DDR4 SDRAM (up from the earlier bridge’s modest 16MB)
- 8GB eMMC flash storage for firmware and scene storage
- Help for 500+ personalised scenes
These specs symbolize a generational leap in functionality. Response instances ought to enhance dramatically, and the expanded reminiscence permits for considerably extra advanced automation routines and scene storage.
Energy Consumption: Regardless of the upgraded internals, energy consumption stays affordable at simply 0.1 watts in standby mode and peaks at 5 watts throughout operation. This effectivity is spectacular contemplating the substantial {hardware} enhancements.
Connectivity Enhancements
Wi-Fi Help: The Bridge Professional introduces Wi-Fi connectivity as an alternative choice to the standard Ethernet connection. The Ethernet port stays obtainable with cable included, however Wi-Fi functionality provides deployment flexibility for places the place working cables proves problematic.
Energy Supply: Energy supply switches to USB-C, changing the proprietary energy adapter utilized by the present bridge. A devoted energy adapter with fastened cable is included, although the USB-C commonplace ought to make substitute adapters simpler to supply if wanted.
MotionAware Expertise: Genuinely Modern
Maybe essentially the most intriguing new function is MotionAware, which transforms commonplace Hue bulbs into movement sensors. The system requires at the least three lights in a room to triangulate motion, successfully changing devoted movement sensors in lots of situations.
This functionality might scale back the necessity for added {hardware} while offering extra granular presence detection. Nevertheless, privacy-conscious customers could have issues about lights monitoring motion patterns, even when the processing happens domestically on the Bridge Professional.
The function will initially be unique to the Bridge Professional and requires a Hue Safe subscription to unlock, although it’s unclear whether or not older bulbs will assist the performance or if newer fashions shall be required. Equally, it is going to be fascinating to see if this works with third-party bulbs resembling Paulmann Zigbee Filament & GU10 Good Bulbs.
Enhanced Safety and Future-Proofing
The Bridge Professional consists of enhanced safety controls utilizing the brand new Zigbee Belief Heart to forestall unauthorised entry to your lighting community. This addresses rising issues about sensible dwelling machine safety.
Matter assist is confirmed, enabling compatibility with the rising sensible dwelling commonplace. Nevertheless, the combination seems restricted to creating Hue gadgets obtainable to different Matter-compatible programs quite than permitting third-party Matter gadgets to be managed by the Hue app.
Migration and Compatibility
Philips will present a migration wizard to switch present setups from present bridges to the Professional mannequin, mirroring the method used throughout the earlier bridge improve cycle. The corporate can be reportedly engaged on a long-awaited backup operate, although particulars stay scarce.
Help for combining a number of present bridges right into a single Bridge Professional is promised earlier than the tip of the 12 months, a function that shall be significantly useful for customers like myself working a number of bridges.
Limitations and Disappointments
Leisure Zone Restrictions: One space the place enhancements stay unclear is Hue Leisure and Sync performance. The present bridge helps just one sync session with a most of ten lights, and there’s no affirmation whether or not the Professional will increase these limits. Given the {hardware} enhancements, expanded Leisure zones would appear possible, however Zigbee bandwidth constraints should impose sensible limitations whatever the bridge’s processing energy.
Vary Unchanged: The wi-fi vary stays unchanged from the present bridge, as all Hue gadgets create a mesh community that extends protection by interconnected bulbs and equipment. The Bridge Professional doesn’t alter this elementary structure.
My Evaluation
The Bridge Professional represents a strong, if overdue, improve for customers approaching the present bridge’s machine limits. The {hardware} enhancements ought to ship noticeably higher efficiency, while MotionAware provides genuinely helpful performance that might scale back dependency on extra sensors.
The £80 worth level sits in affordable territory, and I’d argue the extra options are definitely worth the worth premium over the common hub for anybody beginning to use Philips Hue merchandise. For present customers with a small variety of gadgets, it might not be price spending an additional £80.
Backside Line
The Bridge Professional addresses essentially the most vital complaints about Philips’ present providing while introducing genuinely helpful new capabilities. The capability will increase alone justify the improve for customers with intensive installations, while the efficiency enhancements ought to profit all customers.
For customers pushing the boundaries of the prevailing bridge, the Professional represents a logical and mandatory improve. These with smaller setups may wish to watch for the inevitable worth drops or bundle offers that sometimes comply with Philips product launches.
The timing feels acceptable, arriving as sensible dwelling adoption continues rising and customers demand extra refined automation capabilities. Whether or not the enhancements justify the fee relies upon largely in your present setup’s complexity, however for critical Hue customers, this improve has been a very long time coming.
I’m James, a UK-based tech fanatic and the Editor and Proprietor of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Enthusiastic about all issues know-how, my experience spans from computer systems and networking to cell, wearables, and sensible dwelling gadgets.
As a health fanatic who loves working and biking, I even have a eager curiosity in fitness-related know-how, and I take each alternative to cowl this area of interest on my weblog. My various pursuits enable me to carry a singular perspective to tech running a blog, merging life-style, health, and the newest tech tendencies.
In my educational pursuits, I earned a BSc in Data Programs Design from UCLAN, earlier than advancing my studying with a Grasp’s Diploma in Computing. This superior examine additionally included Cisco CCNA accreditation, additional demonstrating my dedication to understanding and staying forward of the know-how curve.
I’m proud to share that Vuelio has persistently ranked Mighty Gadget as one of many prime know-how blogs within the UK. With my dedication to know-how and drive to share my insights, I intention to proceed offering my readers with partaking and informative content material.
Final replace on 2025-09-07 / Affiliate hyperlinks / Pictures from Amazon Product Promoting API
