These bulbs can do everything the other ones can, but also gives you a choice of 16m colours. I love these bulbs, using them at my desk to provide bright light during the day to help me concentrate, and a warmer more relaxing light at night.įinally, top of the range is the White and Colour Ambience (from around £50). The next step up are the White Ambiance bulbs (from around £25), which can have their colour temperature changed from 2200 to 4000K (warm to cold). Cheapest are the White bulbs (from around £15), which are warm white models and are dimmable only. There are three colour options for each, too. Philips has the best choice of lights out of any system, with GU10, E27, E14 and bayonet fittings available. Be careful, as Hue is not compatible with dimmers, so you’ll need to switch these out for standard on/off light switches. This means no wiring and the lights are ready to be used at any time, provided you remember to leave the physical light switch turned on. While this makes the bulbs a little heavier than dumb LED models, you can still fit Hue bulbs into regular light fittings. Philips Hue – Design and buildĪs with a lot of smart lighting systems, Philips Hue has built the dimming capability and intelligence into its range of bulbs. It’s an addition that makes Hue easier to control. It doesn’t suffer from the same limitations as its competition either, namely the lack of control options: if you have a guest, do you really want to tell them that there’s no light switch and they have to use an app or their voice? All of these additions make it an excellent time to revisit our review, with updated information, including the most recent addition, Philips Hue Zones, which let you control groups of lights, either in the same room or across different rooms, say turning on all lights upstairs. The result is that the Philips Hue system is now extremely powerful and flexible. The system now supports Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, SmartThings, and it has its own range of switches and motion sensors, too. With its colour-changing bulbs and app control, Hue was the first product to really show what could be done with smart lighting. If there’s one name that synonymous with smart lighting, it has to be Philips Hue.