A:AnswerYes they work on my lamps that have switches, I just turn on the lamps myself during set up and then use the Hue app or Home Smart app to turn them off. I've added Amazon Echo to my home set up and get turn lights on and off without my phone by simply saying "Alexa turn on living room". This purchase led to more Phillips hue light purchases for other rooms in my home and it's very convenient , especially since I'm disabled. Hope this helps, enjoy!
A:AnswerYes, you can use it with your Google Home when you connect your lights through the Google Home App. You can tell Google Home things such as: "Hey Google, turn on my lights", "Hey Google, turn light brightness in my room to 70 percent"
A:AnswerI was told that the light bulbs actually build a "bridge" within themselves along the way as you put them throughout your house. I am not sure that if you have the hub like 100 ft away from the bulb it would work. However,if you put a bulb between the "bridge" and the long distance bulb it should work. Try it and if it doesn't work, just get another bulb and put it between the hub and the long distance bulb and they both will work.
A:AnswerYes they can. I'm not sure why someone else answered no. They are mistaken. You can set your routines to happen instantly or gradually, both for turning on and turning off each light. In the preset routines there's a "wake up" routine where the lights can be set to do exactly the hypothetical situation you described.
A:AnswerTo be able to control the lights while away from your home network you have to set up a Philips Hue account and log into it on the app (once you open the app, go to the "more" tab and log in. You have to do this while you're at home, but once you're set up, you'll be able to connect while away from your network. Once you've done that, it will recognize that you're not on your home connection and instead of normally saying "connected" it will say "out of home connection". I tried this in my home to see if it works (I just turned my phone's wi-fi off) and it does but there's a little bit of a delay.
A:AnswerYou do not need another hub if adding bulbs. Also I don't think you need another hub to control more than one floor. The hub hard wire connects to your router. So you should only need one. The bulbs and other philips devices connect to that hub via wireless. So you could have an issue with wireless connections from bulbs to your router if they are too far away.
A:AnswerThis kit comes with Phillips hue bulbs that dim, but don't change colors. You would need Phillips Hue "White Ambiance" bulbs which can change from warm yellow to bright white.
A:AnswerThe starter kit is a must unless you already have a bridge , Alexa and goggle home will control your whole house ,if you start with the starter kit you can add as you go