Philips gives your candelabra bulbs some color... finally
The newest bulbs from Philips will turn your chandelier kaleidoscope colors.
Philips Hue has long vied for domination of the smart LED lighting market, and it's leading the charge into color-changing candelabra bulbs , too. Up until now, the best smart LED bulbs that would fit into most chandeliers or ceiling fans came from Feit, a smaller-name company with only middling candelabra bulbs.
Although we haven't tested the new Philips bulbs yet, the company's record should give people hope. Its new White and Color Ambiance Candle bulbs will be available in Europe starting in April, and in North America later this year. (We don't yet know if it'll come to Australia.) The downside is that the Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Candle bulb will cost $50 (or about £40 or AU$65), which is significantly more than many competing bulbs (which often cost closer to $10).
The big advantage the Hue Candle bulbs have is the existing Hue ecosystem -- a system compatible with HomeKit, Google Home and Amazon Echo. You'll be able to control the Candle bulbs along with other Hue bulbs using voice assistants like Siri, Google Assistant and Alexa.
At this time, the Hue Candle bulbs won't be included in lighting kits, like this Philips Hue Starter Kit. That means people already invested in the Hue ecosystem will likely be the earliest adopters.
Here are the specs for the White and Color Candle bulbs:
- 40W equivalent -- 470 Lumens at 4000 kelvin color temperature
- 2200k-6500k color temperature range
- Dimming, color temperature tuning, color changing