With Christmas knocking at our doors, I am pretty sure every single one of us wants to glam up our interiors with something pleasant yet fancy. Seeking an opportunity, Signify (previously known as Philips Lighting) has introduced Festavia string lights, an addition to the already capable Philips Hue lineup. These color-changing smart lights will help you illuminate your Christmas decorations in style.
These Festive fairy lights, by the Dutch giant’s smart lighting brand, come wrapped in a box with each set comprising 250 mini LEDs. Measuring 65 feet (20 meters), the cord can either be hung on the wall, tied along the banister or can even be used to decorate your Christmas Tree.
With a plethora of string lights on the market, what makes the new Philips Hue string lights special? Obviously, these are smart color-changing lights that can be controlled via a mobile application (Philips Hue App). But asking $160 is just too outrageous for lights that could probably give us features of what a $20 LED would. Again this is all hypothetical on my part, but Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of TheVerge reviewed the lights and derived a few conclusions.
TheVerge notes that every single LED is ‘individually addressable’ and a single strand would boast multiple colors offering a gradient effect. One need not bend and sit on haunches to turn them on and off or dim and bright the LEDs as the app does it for you. In addition, the strings are very lightweight (1.6kg) and won’t weigh tree branches down.
Signify has added a brand new “Sparkle” effect to its application which gives each LED on the string a twinkle to make the lights look more festive. There is also ”Scattered” lighting style which allows users to choose up to five colors, which the software will then randomly assign to each light.
Just like other products in the Philips Hue lineup, the Festavia lights support 16 million colors. Other than gloating impressive lighting effects, they are very customizable and can even be synced with Spotify. You can control these string lights via Alexa, Google Home, and just voice command them to change to any color you please.
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TheVerge also remarks that the gradient feature and tunable white light are things you won’t find on other cheaper string lights which makes Philips Hue Festavia string lights worth adding to your festive décor. Well, whatever it is, if someone offers me string lights that can be operated hands-free with voice, I am ready to empty my pockets, especially with Christmas approaching.
