Echo Plus and smart bulbs

[Stingray]

I picked up an Echo Plus thinking I could control many of the smart color LED bulbs like Sylvania Osram, Philips and so forth that previously needed hubs.  However, although I can turn them on and off with Alexa, I can only change colors with voice and not with the app, and I can't create any scenes or routines.  Alexa still needs the Sylvania Lightify app to control the colors via routines or scenes, and the app needs the Lightify hub to be installed, it can't be installed without it.  So essentially, although I have the Echo Plus, it really didn't buy me much since the Alexa app doesn't have any new controls built into it to take the place of the 3rd party hub controls in their apps.  Is Alexa going to get these controls, the echo plus hub isnt very useful otherwise.

[jwlv]

Since the original Echo was released 2 years ago, there has only been the ability to turn on/off lights without the ability to choose scenes. If you ask Amazon, they'd probably say it's a feature that's coming soon. At 2 years now, I don't think it's coming soon. But who knows. It could happen tomorrow or never.

[renegade600]

I picked up an Echo Plus thinking I could control many of the smart color LED bulbs like Sylvania Osram, Philips and so forth that previously needed hubs.  However, although I can turn them on and off with Alexa, I can only change colors with voice and not with the app, and I can't create any scenes or routines.  Alexa still needs the Sylvania Lightify app to control the colors via routines or scenes, and the app needs the Lightify hub to be installed, it can't be installed without it.  So essentially, although I have the Echo Plus, it really didn't buy me much since the Alexa app doesn't have any new controls built into it to take the place of the 3rd party hub controls in their apps.  Is Alexa going to get these controls, the echo plus hub isnt very useful otherwise.

that is something nobody here can answer.   It would make sense as a future feature but at this time, apps and some third party hubs will still be necessary if you want color lights and in some cases remote usage. 

[Stingray]

Actually, I've been able to control TP-Link color bulbs with my original Echos ever since day 1.  I can control the colors and call up dozens of scenes created with the free Kasa app that doesn't need a hub or anything else to be installed and create an account.   All you have to do is skill Alexa with the Kasa skill. It's the Sylvanias that are giving me so much trouble. You can't skill Alexa with the Sylvania Lightify app because you cant create an account with Lightify without buying their hub, which defeats the whole purpose of buying the Echo Plus. The Echo Plus in its present form adds very little value over the regular Echo.

[asianrocker]

Dang, I look up lightify and it's way cheaper than hue. My only consolation is that I also found out I can use other cheaper  bulbs that need hub with my hue bridge. Yay.