Philips Hue Gradient Signe: Contemporary floor lamp full of colour and smarts
Philips Hue Gradient Signe floor lamp. Picture: Philips Hue.
Gradient lights are the wave of the future or at least a stylish way to enhance your lighting setup. I’ve been testing the Philips Hue Gradient Signe floor lamp for the last few months and not only does it look great it’s smart too.
The Philips Hue Gradient Signe floor lamp is essentially a cylindrical base with an integrated lightstrip that stands upright. The base has a stylish wooden effect layer on the outside — my review unit had an oak base but there are also white or black models available too. I can see how the latter two colours would suit a modern living space but I love the softer look of the oak. One half of the light strip is opaque while the other half is the light.
It is designed to face a wall and reflects light off of it as opposed to shining light into the room directly. This creates a soft light that doesn't feel harsh but can also get really bright if needed.
The floor lamp comes as a complete unit so there’s no building required when you take it out of the large box it comes in. The lamp is, of course, a smart light and that’s the only practical way you can control it since it doesn’t have a physical switch.
The lamp sits 145.8cm tall and the base is 11cm wide and 20cm tall. The white power cord isn’t detachable and is about 1.5m long. Power consumption is rated for up to 29W with a light output of up to 2.550lm.
If you have a Hue Bridge, the lamp can be controlled through Bluetooth or via a Zigbee bridge. Since I already had a Hue bridge, I use it to set up the lamp, because it offers more control as well as functionality and is compatible with a wider variety of wireless remote controls. Philips have several remotes and I used the lamp with the Hue Tap Dial — one of my favourite pieces of tech in the last year and I use it all the time. Using the Hue Tap Dial, I can switch the lamp on and off, adjust brightness and cycle through my lighting scenes.
The Tap Dial has four buttons and each of the buttons can be customised independently. A button can be used to cycle through a choice of five scenes or to select a single scene. The connected rooms or zone are turned off by pressing and holding a button. However, while I love the features of the Tap Dial, it’s a pity there’s no physical button on the Gradient Signe to turn it on and off if you misplace the remote or do not have your phone readily to hand.
As soon as you plug the lamp into a power socket it will become discoverable over Bluetooth. Adding the lamp to your Hue bridge is fairly straightforward, especially, if you’ve done it before. Just use the add light option in the Hue app and your new light should show up. A pairing code is displayed on a label next to the power supply and can be entered into the app if it isn't detected automatically. The light may be added to a group or room once it has been added to the app.
The Philips Hue range of lights is immense and they have a host of features that are unparalleled. I have several Hue lights and what continues to impress me is how well the ecosystem works. Hue gets the basics right too with things like accurate colours that are consistent across their range of lights. This means that all of the lights in a scene are uniform when you choose a specific colour.
What makes the Gradient Signe floor lamp unique is the three distinctive light segments that can be controlled as a single light/colour or individually. Simply press and hold its icon in the app and the light will split into three lights. This allows you to create your own custom light with a personalised ambient mood to suit an occasion or a one-off party theme. You can save this as a scene or choose from the various pre-set scenes available in the app.
The light is compatible with Google Assistant, HomeKit, SmartThings, Amazon Alexa and more.
The Philips Hue Gradient Signe Floor Lamp is a unique pièce de résistance that will make any room look great. It has exceptional build quality, as you would expect from a Hue product. The thing that really distinguishes this lamp is its colour, features and the way it’s able to seamlessly blend the three segments together for a truly unique look. The build quality, colour options, wireless remotes and Hue lighting ecosystem make it an attractive option for anyone looking for a contemporary floor lamp.
Philips Hue Gradient Signe Floor Lamp - €330 lights.ie
