LG jumps into smart lighting industry with appropriately named Smart Bulb

Shawn Knight

Posts: 15,285   +192
Staff member

lg lightbulb smart light bulb

LG Electronics over the weekend unveiled a pair of LED-powered smart light bulbs. Smart Lighting, South Korean company’s first entry in the product category, will work with both Android and iOS devices and promise to reduce energy consumption by as much as 80 percent compared to traditional incandescent bulbs.

The Smart Bulb includes a number of handy features and modes. Much like the morning sun, the bulbs can function like an alarm and slowly illuminate in the morning to wake you. There’s also a party mode that turns the light on and off in sync with music and a security mode capable of adjusting the bulbs while you are away from the home to deter would-be burglars.

When paired with a handset, the Smart Bulb can be configured to blink when you receive a call. Similar functionality can be found on some smartphones (the LED flash blinks) under the accessibility options menu for the hearing impaired. For this and other wireless features, you’ll need to be running Android version 4.3 or iOS version 6.0 or newer.

Each Smart Bulb is rated at just 10 watts (60 watt incandescent equivalent) and is available in blue or white hues. LED technology allows each bulb to last up to 10 years when used for five hours per day according to the company’s press release.

A single bulb is priced at 35,000 won (around $32) although unfortunately, LG’s press release didn’t given any hints about when they would be available or in what regions.

Permalink to story.

 
32 skins for a lightbulb is just plain bonkers but they do sound interesting. If other manufacturers hop on the bandwagon, prices drop and they might just become viable.
 
32 skins for a lightbulb is just plain bonkers but they do sound interesting. If other manufacturers hop on the bandwagon, prices drop and they might just become viable.

Yes, today $32 is a lot. But many countries around the world have already passed laws to phase out incandescent bulbs. In the US, California has passed a law to make them illegal in 2018. The days of the $.50 bulb are over, so we may have to get used to higher prices. Other LED bulbs are also nearly this expensive.

It's probably a good move by LG because LED bulbs don't have the exact light color people prefer. They say humans have gotten used to light created from heating something from our thousands of years of living around a campfire and the LED glow is unpleasant. But with the LG bulb people are paying for the Smart functionality and maybe they'll put up with the color.

Personally, I can't see spending $80 on a ceiling fan and light fixture and then another $128 on 4 bulbs to put in it. Honestly, it's probably just another product in the hopes of making everything in our homes 'smart'. I think the goal for companies like LG and Samsung (they make home appliances AND electronics) is to build a 'brain' into everything they sell. We'll have Smart ovens, fridges, and probably toilets soon.
 
Yes, today $32 is a lot. But many countries around the world have already passed laws to phase out incandescent bulbs. In the US, California has passed a law to make them illegal in 2018. The days of the $.50 bulb are over, so we may have to get used to higher prices. Other LED bulbs are also nearly this expensive.

It's probably a good move by LG because LED bulbs don't have the exact light color people prefer. They say humans have gotten used to light created from heating something from our thousands of years of living around a campfire and the LED glow is unpleasant. But with the LG bulb people are paying for the Smart functionality and maybe they'll put up with the color.

Personally, I can't see spending $80 on a ceiling fan and light fixture and then another $128 on 4 bulbs to put in it. Honestly, it's probably just another product in the hopes of making everything in our homes 'smart'. I think the goal for companies like LG and Samsung (they make home appliances AND electronics) is to build a 'brain' into everything they sell. We'll have Smart ovens, fridges, and probably toilets soon.
I couldn't agree more. Now that you mention a smart toilet it'll have to have smart toilet paper and I wonder just how much ordinary $.25 roll will skyrocket to once they've applied a bit of tech to it...
 
"Much like the morning sun, the bulbs can function like an alarm and slowly illuminate.."

Yes, that makes them MUCH LIKE the sun. LoL, what an *****ic statement. Nuclear lightbulbs?
 
Back