Philips Hue NEW White and Colour Ambiance Smart Light Bulb Starter Kit, 75W - 1100 Lumen [E27 Edison Screw] 2 Bulbs + Smart Button. With Bluetooth. Works with Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Homekit

The bulbs are pretty much exactly as I expected, besides having a larger maximum brightness than I thought they would, which is nice (though it puts out less light if you're using the colour options). I can't for that reason give it anything other than 5 stars, but with lots of caveats. If you're currently looking at disposable income and thinking "what can I spend this on?" and you get a particular kick out of good lighting, and don't set unrealistic expectations, I'd recommend this. It's not going to change your home in a significant way, unless you buy a bunch of other Hue stuff, but it is nice. Some warnings listed below, if you're anything like me, largely to do with the potential money-sink you're getting yourself into. Also, it is "easy to set up" if you're only considering the fact that it technically works just after plugging things in and connecting to ethernet, but not if "setting things up" includes the time spent on getting the whole thing together enough to be happy enough to stop fiddling with it. Although I am a bit of a tech tinkerer, I expect most people will be more like me. - Just getting the bluetooth bulbs is a bad idea as you do not get feature parity with an ordinary bulb without a switch at the entrance(s) to a room. So you will want a Hue switch (such as the v2 dimmer switch). These work with both bluetooth-only setups and with a bridge. Having to pull out your phone on entering a room to get lights on is just terrible, so you will buy a switch eventually. However, I do massively appreciate that it can act as a normal bulb if you, say, lose interest in the Hue-specific aspects or lose your phone for a few days; just turn the main power switch off, wait a few secs, switch it back on and you get a defautl warm-white bulb (what it defaults to can be changed). - Do note that there are starter kits on Amazon too, plus different connectors (E11, E14, B22, etc). Though if one type of bulb is cheaper on here, adapters (e.g. E11 to B22) are quite cheap. I'm not sure if Hue even does a bulb like this with an E11 connector, so for that you will need an adapter. - You will probably want to get a bridge, even if you think you'll be satisfied just with the bluetooth bulbs. Without the bridge, you have access to none of the time and location based automations (presumably also the sensor stuff you can buy). The third party (?) apps Hue Essentials, hueDynamic, and so on, at time of writing, require a bridge. It is nice that there is an API for people to write custom software for, though, if that is why these exist. I hope it is an open API and protocol, though I expect probably not else they'd risk losing customer lock-in, but I don't know. - You will probably not be satisfied changing only one or two of the bulbs in your room with Hue bulbs. It quickly becomes a pain to keep the mental model in your head of keeping power to multi-bulb lamps and ceiling lights if they're Hue, then going round the room flicking off non-Hue bulbs and opening the app or using a Hue switch to knock off the Hue ones. Also annoying for integrating with automations if not everything is a Hue bulb in a room. - It works best if you have multiple bulbs in one room, particularly to make full use of a colour bulb. Setting blues and reds and yellows according to my modified version of the Tokyo scene is lovely. But just setting one ceiling light to, say, red, is a bit of a nothing. If I just had the ceiling bulb, I would probably just always have it acting as a normal warm-white light. - The default Hue app leaves a lot to be desired, in my view. Time-based lighting isn't as I'd like it: when it thinks sunset and sunrise is is also just flat wrong; it is pitch black outside by 4:30pm here at the moment and it still has it as a bright "reading" level light, and until 4pm a very bright "energise"; it seems to stick closer to what a workday use of lighting might be, rather than actually trying to follow the level of light from the sun. The most irritating thing about this is that "custom scenes" are not flexible enough to reproduce something like the sunset-sunrise thing from within the app; it is bad design in general to provide a feature X (scenes), a cool example use of the feature (sunrise-sunset scene), a way to produce custom Xs (scenes), and not make that customisation flexible enough to produce the provided cool examples (to tweak them). I would also like to see more sophisticated options, such as location-based which takes into account multiple users. - Gimmicks like Spotify integration, "candle flicker", etc work absolutely horribly imo. Only buy these bulbs if the basics is enough to draw you in: time and location based automations, colour options, dimmability without buying dimmer bulbs and getting an electrician out (though do consider if this is a better use of money), stuff like that. For the middle-class purchaser who constantly frets about their property being stolen there is the "mimic presence" automation, where the lights will come on and off such as to mimic your presence at home, which maybe rises to the point of actually being useful and usable. - Location based switch-off and switch-on didn't work for me for the first day or two. It also failed once because my internet went down in the house, meaning it didn't know where I was (via my phone's location) to switch off any of the lights in the house, nor could I do it manually for the same reason. This is just to say that you are potentially adding some fiddly and annoying aspects to your life if your internet is spotty, or you have power outages, or you regularly pass into areas with no internet after leaving your home. Though I have both my router and my Hue bridge plugged into a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) which I was already using for network-attached storage (actually, if you want a more practical way to spend a few hundred quid and have some tech competence, I think something like a Synology NAS is probably a better purchase before splashing out on fancy bulbs). - Obscure but relevant to me: if you use an Android launcher like AIO Launcher where widgets only stack vertically and cannot be placed horizontally, you will probably end up taking up a lot of vertical space on the bottom of your home screen for X room off, Y room last-on, whole house off etc widgets. Opening up the Hue app for this is a pain. For these reasons, I think this usually going to be a bad gift to get someone who might resent having to spend money to get the most out of your gift, unless they're rolling in cash and enjoy tinkering. I wish Amazon had a way to group reviews into product ranges as people are inevitably doing general Hue reviews on things like this.

Pros: • Excellent colour quality: The bulbs produce vivid, accurate colours and smooth transitions—perfect for ambience, movie nights or mood lighting. • Warm to cool whites: You can set anything from cosy warm tones to bright daylight whites, which makes them useful both for work and relaxation. • Reliable app & ecosystem: The Philips Hue app remains one of the most stable and intuitive on the market. Routines, timers, dynamic scenes and music-sync options work flawlessly, especially with a Hue Bridge. • Smart-home friendly: Works smoothly with Alexa, Google Assistant, HomeKit and most smart-home systems. Voice commands are quick and reliable. • Build quality: As expected from Philips, the bulbs feel premium and last long. Cons: • Expensive: The price is significantly higher than other smart bulbs. You’re paying for ecosystem quality, not raw specs. • Not the brightest: Brightness is good for ambience but not as strong as some newer competitors. • Connection is bit jittery, connected on 3rd try

The bulb and the app running it is of good quality as expected at this price point; my previous cheaper bulb made a high pitched squeal when on standby which stopped me from sleeping. This bulb is silent, connects easily and easy to control. Durability will hopefully be for many years which would make it cost effective. Full spectrum of colours and adequate brightness.

I was a bit hesitant at first because of the price, but now that I’ve been using these bulbs for almost a year and I can honestly say they’re worth every penny. Setup was quick and painless using the Hue app, and they connected easily to my existing smart home setup (I’m using Alexa, but I tested with Google Assistant too and it worked flawlessly). The brightness is excellent—these are 1100 lumens, so they’re a proper 75W equivalent and can actually light a whole room, unlike some other smart bulbs I’ve tried. The range of colours is impressive, and I love being able to shift from cool white for work to warmer tones in the evening, or even some fun colours when friends are over. The integration with voice control is super smooth. Saying things like “Alexa, turn the lights to soft pink” feels like living in the future. Scheduling is easy too, and I’ve set routines to turn lights on and off when I’m away for that added peace of mind. If you're already into smart home tech or just getting started, I’d definitely recommend this twin pack as a great way to upgrade your lighting. Reliable, bright, and surprisingly fun to use.

Update: I'm updating my review as I have managed to connect the bulbs to Google home without the bridge, for anybody having issues, don't connect to the bulbs with the hue app, if you have already, factory reset the bulbs in the app. Once they are disconnected from the hue app, you can add them directly to Google home, and presumably this is the same for other home assistants. The light quality is great, a much more accurate and controllable colour and warmth than cheaper bulbs. unfortunately they can't be controlled with voice/linked with Google home without a bridge, despite what the description says. if it is possible then the app and online account are making it appear that way (worse?). i only need one bulb, why would i buy a bridge just for that?! i also had a lot of trouble pairing these to the app, worked first time, but then after adding them i was redirected to make a hue account, one that was set up, it had forgotten the bulbs i added and could find them again, had to uninstall the Bluetooth only app and use the full hue app instead. for this price, disgraceful.

Really nice product, is pretty easy and there are so many options and set ups, the one that surprised me the most was the fire pitch one

I really love my Philips Hue lightbulbs; I can set them to practically any setting whenever I want. The possibilities are endless, and they last! I can't fault them in any way, really.

These are great for creating mood or subdued lighting in a room. I bought two for my living room and they both can be adjusted separately with a seemingly infinite amount of colour or shade.