Philips Hue’s new smart light is the one we’ve been waiting for

We’ve seen plenty of Phillips Hue smart lights that support sunrise and sunset modes, perfect for waking up in the morning and winding down at night. But we’ve never seen a proper Hue bedside table lamp—until now. 

The 13-inch tall Philips Hue Twilight boasts a compact design (the base is 4.09 inches deep) that should fit nicely on a bedside tabletop, and it comes with two separate light elements: an illuminated head that swivels from left to right (ideal for when you want to read a book in bed), and a rear array of gradient and overlapping LEDs that employ Hue’s new “ColorCast” technology to “mimic” a “wide palette” of sunrise and sunset colors. 

Embedded in the top of the Twilight’s swiveling head is a pair of buttons: one that cycles though six new light scenes, including “Arise” and “Sleepy,” while the other sets off an automation that resembles a soothing sunset. You can also customize the function of those two buttons, provided you have a Hue Bridge. 

Philips Hue

Besides its discrete light sources and wake/sleep automations, the Philips Hue Twilight can get really (as in really) dim, with a brightness that goes as low as 0.5 percent, Hue says. That’s in contrast to some smart bulbs (such as the Hue filament bulb that’s currently in my own bedside lamp) that are still relatively bright even at their lowest brightness setting. 

This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart bulbs.

Natually, the Philips Hue Twilight offers tight integration with the rest of the Hue smart lighting ecosystem, including support for Hue automations, room or zone grouping, and voice commands. You can also control the Twilight with a Hue smart switch or the Hue app.  

Twilight requires the Hue Bridge to unlock its most advanced smart features, including out-of-home control, but it also works via Bluetooth with a pared-down feature set. 

Available in black and white flavors, the Philips Hue Twilight is available exclusively from the Hue online storefront for a cool $279.99 (Hue smart lights don’t come cheap).  

Philips Hue also has some other new smart lights to show off, including four new handblown glass bulbs from Hue’s Lightguide line. (Hue appears to have recovered from its prior Lightguide woes.)

The just-announced Lightguide shapes include a small globe ($79.99), a large globe ($99.99), a triangle bulb ($99.99), and the Edison ($79.99). 

Also new is the Philips Hue Solo lightstrip, which comes in 10-, 16-, and 33-foot lengths ($69.99, $89.99, and $159.99, respectively), with its RGB+WW (or “warmer white”) LEDs capable of up to 1,700 lumens of brightness.  

Next comes the Philips Hue Datura, a flush-mount color and tunable-white ceiling light that offers dual and individually controllable light sources. The Datura comes in two sizes: 384mm for $299.99, and 574mm for $399.99. 

Finally, Hue is unleashing new dimmable-white, tunable-white, and color-capable GU10 bulbs that range in price from $21 to $99.99 (including separate bulbs and multi-packs).