It's been a very busy summer for Philips Hue, makers of the most popular color-changing smart bulbs money can buy. In addition to releasing a newly redesigned Philips Hue app and new Philips Hue Sync software aimed at matching your Hue lights with whatever you're watching on your TV, the team at Philips has offered a steady drumbeat of product announcements over the past few months, with several new lights and fixtures joining the Philips Hue product lineup.
All of the new Hue lights sync with the Philips Hue Bridge to pair with your Wi-Fi network, and they work with Alexa and the Google Assistant, and with Apple HomeKit's Siri controls to let you turn things on and off with your voice, too. That means that you've got more options than ever if you're thinking about expanding your Hue bulb setup throughout the whole house (and beyond).
Let's start with the most recent of the newly announced Philips Hue lights. It's called the Philips Hue Play, and it's basically a 9-inch bar of light that you can use vertically or horizontally to splash color-changing light over your walls. The Play comes with a stand to use it as a vertical table light, and you can also stick it underneath cabinets or behind your TV. The cost? $70 (roughly £55, AU$95) . Look for it on store shelves this October, or preorder it direct from Philips in September.
Along with the Hue Play, Philips announced the Hue Signe, a dedicated wand of vertical light that comes in two sizes, each larger than the Play. The small table lamp version of the Signe will cost $160 (roughly £125, AU$220), while a taller floor lamp model will sell for $250. Like the Play, preorders open in September, with units expected to begin arriving at retail in October.
Just remember that all of these new lights will still require the Philips Hue Bridge, which plugs into your router and translates each light's Zigbee signal into something your Wi-Fi network can work with. The Bridge can be found in many of Philips Hue's starter kits, and it also sells on its own for about $60 (about £45, or AU$80, converted roughly) .
Both the Play and Signe seem designed to help boost the appeal of Philips Hue Entertainment, a new feature that launched earlier this summer. With Philips Hue Entertainment, you can download free Hue Sync software onto your Mac or PC that connects with your lights and syncs them up with whatever's on your screen. Initially, Hue pitched this as a way to sync up color changes with popular PC games, like Overwatch.
One of the neat things about Philips Hue Entertainment is that you can tell the Hue app where your lights are located in relation to your screen. Then, the lights can mimic what you're watching or playing on a positional basis.
Connect your computer to your TV, and you'll be able to jazz up movie night. The effect works best with colorful, high-contrast films like the '80s Schwarzenegger classic The Running Man, seen here.
You know, speaking of the Hue app, it got a nice redesign this year, too, with better controls for groups of lights and lots of new little features to help you get more out of your smart lighting setup.
OK, back to the lights themselves. Also new this summer: outdoor lights and fixtures that'll help you extend your Hue setup into your yard. Along with inconspicuous mounted lamps, you'll also find new color-changing path lights, outdoor light strips, outdoor flood lighting and new, weatherproof outdoor bulbs, too.
Here's the Philips Hue Lily spotlight, one of several new options for smart outdoor lighting. It costs around $80 (roughly £60, AU$110) and can put out light in any color you like.
Another new option that changes colors -- this Philips Hue Calla path light. A base kit with a single light and the weather-proof power supply will cost you $130 (roughly £100, AU$175). After that, you can connect additional lights to the same power supply a la carte for $90 each.
Another path lighting option -- these new weatherproof, outdoor light strips. We're still waiting to hear the final word on how much they'll cost. Expect to hear more after we visit the Philips Hue booth at the IFA tech showcase in Berlin, which starts on August 27.
Another new outdoor lighting option -- this weatherproof, outdoor version of the Philips Hue White PAR38 flood light. It won't change colors, but it's tunable across the white light spectrum, with shades ranging from warm and yellowy to hot, bluish-white daylight tones. The bulbs cost $30 each, though you can also get two of them for $50.
If you'd like to smarten up an entire fixture, you could just purchase the Philips Hue Inara, an outdoor smart wall lantern that costs just $50 (roughly £40, AU$70) .
If you'd like something a little more modern-looking, then you could go with this Philips Hue Lucca wall fixture, instead. It costs $60 (roughly £45, AU$80).
One last outdoor option -- this Philips Hue Ludere Outdoor Security Light. With a total light output of 2,600 lumens, it's more than three times as bright as the Inara and Lucca fixtures, but it's a bit more expensive too, at $130 apiece (roughly £100, AU$175) . Still, might make a smart pick to light up your driveway.
Something else we'll be chasing down at IFA -- the new Philips Hue Adore smart mirror, which adds in a ring of tunable white light. Seems like a pretty good way to get a good look at your face in different white light tones as you're applying makeup.
In addition to the mirror, we're also starting to see new Philips Hue bathroom fixtures appearing on the European version of the Hue website, including a ceiling light, a mirror light and a set of wall-mounted spotlights. Each one seems to come packaged with a wireless Hue remote for easy control. Wonder if we'll see these at IFA, too?
