As a lover of smart home technology and vintage industrial design. It was only natural that I'd try out the new Philips Hue Filament bulbs. Last week Philips were kind enough to send me two to try out. I had already pre-ordered 3 on Amazon anyway so I was great to get an early peek at these cool vintage feel bulbs.
The great news is, Philips has adopted Bluetooth connectivity along side Zigbee which means you can now control these with your smartphone right out of the box with the free 'Philips Hue Bluetooth' app. No more need for a Philips Hue Bridge, Google Nest Home or Amazon Echo – However these bulbs will still integrate seamlessly with those systems if you already own them so don't worry about that.
So what's actually different with the Hue Filament bulbs? When it comes to general operation not a whole lot accept the introduction of Bluetooth, where we see differences are in appearance with vintage design with classic Edison style shapes, LED inner coils and tinted glass. Yes glass, no more plastic dome. This really makes the new bulbs feel premium and adds elegance and style to any room – Whether they're off or on.
How acceptable is it to talk at length about a light bulb? – I'll carry on.
Let's get down to the nitty-gritty, the Philips Hue Filament bulbs offer a power consumption of 7w which is 40w equivalent at 550 lumens and 2100 kelvins giving it a very rich amber glow. The blubs boast a lifespan of 15,000 hours and 50,000 on/off cycles. It's certainly not the brightest bulb in the box but these bulbs are considered a style accessory not necessarily a choice for your main lighting. Philips have plenty solutions on offer should you want to illuminate your rooms with bright whites and colour.
Start up is instant with no lag between power switch and light on, you can even set power on behaviours in the event of a power cut the bulbs will return to the last known setting or a brightness setting of your choice. You can edit these settings in the Philips Hue app.
I have only one concern while testing the Philips Hue Filament bulbs and I'm not completely sure if it's a bug or a feature. When using the bulbs at anything below 25% brightness the LED coils flicker in a non-uniform fashion, I can't see how this is a built in flicker and there is no indication to that on the box. The only thing I could see on the box was the word "flame" but I am assuming they are signalling to the colour temperature there. Either way the effect is not unpleasant and if anything, adds an even more authentic vintage ambience.
The Philips Hue Filament bulbs come in A19, ST19 and G25 shape/format – I have E27 fittings but I imagine they will also be available with B22 bayonet fittings soon if not already, I just can't find them on Amazon right now.
Hue's Filament bulbs will be available in mid-November according to their own website.. With some bulb variants already available across Europe on Amazon with Prime shipping and some via 3rd party sellers.
If you are looking for a really stylish and vintage lighting solution this is a perfect fit, I thank Philips for the sneak preview and I can't wait now for my pre-order to ship.
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