It's going all in on smart lights with plugs and switches, too
So far, Alexa has been the best assistant for controlling your smart home, but Google issued a sharp counter by teaming up with GE on the first Made for Google smart home products, letting users pair their C by GE bulbs with Google Assistant without the need for a hub. Handy.
Now GE is tripling down on its Google partnership with a whole new portfolio of devices. Firstly, it’s finally making full-color LED bulbs, which also happen to be the first color Made for Google bulbs. There’ll be the standard 60-watt A19 bulbs, BR30 bulbs and light strips.
Read this: The best smart light bulbs
For those of us who have plenty of dumb bulbs they want to make smart, GE is also debuting smart switches that work without a hub and can be activated with voice, motion or touch. If you have C by GE bulbs already, the C by GE switches can act as a hub.
The other benefit to having a GE smart switch solves an age-old issue with smart bulbs. Currently, if you have a smart bulb and someone flips the wall switch it’s connected to, the bulb turns off and can’t be controlled until someone flips the switch again. If you have a C by GE switch paired with a C by GE bulb, you can still control the bulbs even if the switch turns them off. There are also multi-way connections so you can control long hallways and large rooms. They come in on/off, dimmer, and ambient motion/light sensor versions.
There’ll also be a new smart plug and motion sensor that can be used to turn on your lamps, lights or even that Christmas tree you don’t have the heart to throw out just yet. And yes, all of these products will work with Google Assistant without a hub. If you do get that C-Reach hub, you’ll also get Alexa and HomeKit compatibility. GE also says there’s a new re-imagined C by GE app on the way.
The new C by GE line will begin rolling out this quarter. We don’t have any word on pricing or exact availability, but with CES just around the corner it’s likely we’ll know plenty more very soon.
