As we spend more time at home, it is important to create an environment that helps up to be effective when working and relax, recover and recuperate from the day’s stresses once we’re done. The Philips Hue ecosystem was the answer for me, and it might just be for you too.
Philips Hue, now by Signify, is a smart lighting system that allows you to control the way light, and colours create a better living space.
At the heart (and brain) of the system is the Philips Hue Bridge, which enables you to control all of your Philips Hue products via the Philips Hue app.
Once installed and downloaded, the Philips Hue app will very easily connect with the Bridge and you’ll be ready to go within minutes and your home is your canvas.
The Philips Hue lineup consists of a wide range of smart light bulbs, lamps, fixtures and accessories, suitable for every room in your home, and outside even.
The Philips Hue Bridge uses Zigbee technology, also used by other smart home ecosystems such as Amazon’s Echo Plus and Samsung SmartThings, to connect up to 50 lights and 12 accessories with every unit. That should cover most homes.
The ecosystem has a whole array of lighting options to choose from, from smart bulbs and light strips to complete lighting solutions and even motion detectors, to easily upgrade your home.
You can then easily set up customized, or preset themes (or scenes), to suit every occasion – bright lighting that is conducive to work during the day, and add some chill hues to relax as you start to wind down. You can even sync your lights with movies, music and games by turning beats into light effects, or even set up slow-moving effects that match in-game movements.
The official Philips Hue app is the most comprehensive way to organise, control, and customise your Philips Hue lights and accessories, and a Philips Hue starter kit, that includes lightbulbs and a Hue Bridge, might be the best way to get started.
While the Philips Hue Kit can easily integrate into any popular smart home ecosystem (Google home for me), there are a couple of things to take note of.
Firstly, all the bulbs will need to be powered on for them to work. While that statement might seem like a no-brainer, it can happen more often than you think. Basically, it means that your standard switches should always be in their “on” state and constantly delivering power to the bulb.
If you turn the switch off from a standard wall point (again, this happens more often than you would think), the lights won’t be connected to the bridge.
Another point is that there are cheaper bulb options, and even complete ecosystems, out there. However, while there is a case to be made that the quality of the Philips Hue ecosystem and bulbs are better than others, there are still plenty of quality options out there – one of which would be Ikea.
With some know-how and FAQ reading, you can sync IKEA smart lighting solutions with your bridge to reduce some of that cost.
The Philips Hue, or any other smart lighting system, might seem like a luxury initially but it does wonders for the mind and soul. The range of lighting solutions are second to none and the app pulls it all together and makes things work extremely well.
Win a Philips Hue Bridge and a Philips Hue Outdoor Lightstrip
Here’s a chance to kickstart your home smart lighting ecosystem with a Philips Hue Outdoor Lightstrip (2m) and the Philips Hue Bridge – the device that makes it all work.
Developed to withstand the demands of outdoor lighting, the Philips Hue Outdoor Lightstrip is a flexible outdoor LED strip that is ideal for direct and indirect lighting. With its diffused glow, it is sure to add to the ambience of any given environment.
Fully weatherproof to withstand all weather conditions, the lightstrip can also be used indoors and easily bent and shaped to suit your needs. Some examples for use are the TV console, bedframe or in the study with its 16 million colours and all shades of white to create the desired effect.
To win the Philips Hue Outdoor Lightstrip (2m) and the Philips Hue Bridge, all you have to do is complete the social actions below:
- Like the justsaying.ASIA Fb page
- Like the FB post
- Share the FB post
- Tag someone who “lights up your life” in the FB post:
https://www.facebook.com/justsayingASIA/posts/1974953725997300
We would also appreciate it if you followed us on Instagram and Youtube.
Entries will close on Saturday, 16 October 2021. Winners will be announced on the justsaying.ASIA Facebook page.
Due to the physical nature of the prize, this contest is only open to all residents of Singapore.