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Philips Hue will light up your life for cheap on Prime Day with smart light deals

By Lulu Chang July 16, 2018

Philips Hue White Ambiance Starter Kit review — Kim Wetzel/Digital Trends

A set of deals from Philips Hue, the company behind the popular line of smart lightbulbs, has the potential to light up your life this Prime Day. We’ve long been fans of the brand’s offerings, having first reviewed the company’s smart light bulbs way back in 2013. And when it comes to intelligent lighting, Philips Hue remains king today. Of course, maintaining a position at the top often means higher price points, but this Amazon Prime Day, you can take advantage of some pretty major savings on some of the company’s most popular offerings.

For starters, Philips Hue is offering its

two-pack White and Color Ambiance Starter Kit

for $90, which is a hefty 40 percent off the normal price. We reviewed the White Ambiance kit just a few months ago, giving it four out of five stars and applauding its useful features, great range and responsiveness, and extensive third-party app compatibility, including integrations with Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant.

Then, there’s the

two-pack White and Color Ambiance Starter Kit

option, which lets you add a bit of shine under a sofa, cabinet, bar, or TV. This will now set you back $65, or 28 percent off its original price of $90.

And finally, if you’re looking for some portable intelligence, you can turn to the

Philips Hue Go portable lamp

for just $63, or 21 percent off its list price of $80.

Find the best Prime Day deals and more on our curated deals page, and follow us on Twitter for live updates.

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Smart Home

How to use Philips Hue lights with geofencing

The Philips Hue app.

Smart lights are one of the greatest inventions since ... well, since Edison invented the light bulb. With smart lights, you can automate the lights in your home, access vast color spectrums, and create easy holiday lighting displays. One of the easiest ways to automate your lighting and create a safe entryway and a bright, welcoming home, is to use geofencing with smart lights such as Philips Hue.
What is geofencing?

A "geofence" is the virtual boundary you set for yourself and your devices.

Smart Home

Philips Hue vs. Philips WiZ Smart Light Bulbs

Philips Hue sync box.

If you're just getting started with smart light bulbs in your home, Philips Hue is one of the names likely on your radar. This brand has become synonymous with smart home lighting thanks to robust app support, a wide range of functions, and a routinely growing product lineup. What may confuse you when taking the plunge on a purchase is seeing another Philips brand on the store shelf called WiZ. In 2019, Signify (the lighting company spun off from Philips proper) acquired WiZ to bolster its lighting lineup. Unfortunately, WiZ and Hue smart light bulbs operate differently, so you really need to go all-in with one or the other to have a properly unified smart home lighting setup.

Hue uses a wireless standard called Zigbee, which has been around for a while as a means for low-power connections. Zigbee devices run on a different frequency than Wi-Fi and require their own physical hub. This hub connects to a Wi-Fi router, which in turn connects to your phone. The internet connection also allows for remote connectivity, so lights can turn off automatically as you leave the house, for example. Since its launch, Hue has added Bluetooth to its bulbs, so the hub isn't strictly necessary. Though the Bluetooth range is basically limited to within the same room as you, this can save the bit of time it takes to connect to the hub via Wi-Fi.

Smart Home

Your Philips Hue lights can now sync to the beat of your Spotify music

Philips Hue and Spotify

Smart lights have long been able to sync up with music, but it has always been through your phone's microphone. Philips Hue and Spotify have partnered to create what it calls the "first-ever deep lighting and music experience." The process works by linking the both your Philips Hue and Spotify accounts, and that's where the magic happens.

Philips Hue pulls the metadata from each song played on Spotify, regardless of what device you're playing it on. It then uses an advanced lighting script that causes the lights to shift not only to the beat, but also based on the genre and mood of the song. This means you won't run into the problem of a too-cheerful light show set to the dulcet tones of Helpless as you jam out to Hamilton for what you know is the 175th time.