Philips Hue Vs Hive Lighting Bulbs
With the world set to fully embrace and incorporate smart gadgets into our day to day activities, the lighting world hasn’t been left behind. Smart lighting simply refers to the technology where you are able to control the lightening in your house using either voice commands or by using an app.
The technology brings in the aspect of making your bulb smart in that you can set schedules on how you want the lighting in your house to come on and off, the temperature you want or even the different colors you’d like to portray different moods.
Sounds exciting right? That being said, getting the smart bulb that suits your needs can none the less be a daunting task given the number of smart bulbs currently in the market. The two biggest players in the market are the Philips Hue bulbs and the Hive bulbs. This article looks to compare the two by looking at what each has to offer the consumer.
Philips Hue or Hive Bulbs?
The general overview and the comparison between Philips Hue Bulbs vs. Hive bulbs is as follows:
Features
Below are the key feature and requirements for each of these systems.
Philips Hue Bulbs
- Smartphone control
- Away-from-home control scheduling
- Comfort dimming and ambience creation
- Wake-up and wellbeing scenes & routines
- Paint with light
- Sync light with music and movies with 3rd party apps
- Compatible with Apple HomeKit & Siri, Amazon Alexa, and IFTTT
Hive bulbs
- Smartphone control
- Away-from-home control scheduling
- Comfort dimming and ambience creation
- Hive Actions
- Compatible with Amazon Alexa
Requirements
Philips Hue Bulbs – Wi-Fi connection, Philips Hue bridge, Philips Hue app
Hive bulbs – Wi-Fi connection, Hive hub, Hive app
Bulb types available
Philips Hue bulbs – E14 (white ambiance), E27 (white), E27, B22, GU10 (all color), LED strips, Hue Beyond, Hue Go, Hue Bloom, Hue Iris, Hue Phoenix
Hive bulbs – E27 and B22 ,(all available inactive Light Dimmable), Active Light Cool to Warm White, Active Light Color Changing
The in-depth look
For a closer look, let’s look at what each has to offer.
Philips Hue Bulbs
It goes without saying that Philips have been in the smart bulb industry for longer than the rest of its competitors. With five years under their belt, they have been pretty innovative and proactive in ensuring that we as the consumer get the best that we possibly can when it comes to the smart bulb technology.
Philips currently has the widest array of bulbs to choose from, and the biggest support of third-party apps, services, and developers. That means that if you are looking for smart bulbs that will give you the freedom to play around while trying to figure out how to maximize your smart bulb experience, then these bulbs will do it for you.
These bulbs also come with IFTTT support. IFTTT simply means ‘If That, Then This’. This feature allows you to be able to program your bulbs to follow whichever pattern or schedule you’d like them to. Let’s say you want them to turn on at a certain time in the evening, or you want them to turn off when they detect that you are not home?
All you have to do is whip up an IFTTT recipe and you are good to go.You can get yourself a basic white bulb or if you’re up for fun, choose one that is color changing.
The color changing lamps include:
- Philips Hue white: the light can be dimmed using the app. However, no temperature or color adjustment can be made.
- Philips Hue Ambiance: the light can be dimmed and the temperature adjusted from a warm yellow to a colder white.
- Philips Hue Color Ambience: you completely have control over the color change you desire to see in the room.
To get the Phillips Hue bulbs up and running in your house, all you need to do is get yourself the starter pack which comprises of three bulbs and a bridge which will allow you to plug directly into your home router and enable you to control your bulbs from your mobile device.
With support for Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Home, you are at liberty to issue voice commands to your smart bulbs to get something done.
Hive bulbs:
Even though Hive is more commonly known for its thermostats, its smart bulb production has pretty much caught up in the market. In the few years it’s been around, there has certainly been growth in the Hives ecosystem with mobile support now on IOS, Android, and Windows. Amazon’s Alexa is also supported. It’s still yet to support third-party applications but with its growth curve, that might just be around the corner. These bulbs are therefore still yet to offer you the kind of freedom Philip Hue bulbs can in terms of developer freedom.
IFTTT support is also available and fully supported. That means that just like the Philips Hue range of bulbs, you can get down setting up schedules to control the lighting in your house.The growth in the Hive ecosystem has brought about the launch of three bulb makes for your use.
These are:
- Hive active lights: these are just the standard white light which can be dimmed using the app.
- Active light cools to warm white: it can be adjusted from warm white 2700K to daylight cool 6500K color temperatures. It’s also energy efficient and can last up to 25,000 hours.
- Active light color changing bulb: with the same specifications as those of the active light cool to warm white bulb, it also boasts of support for a full spectrum of colors through a wide 240-degree beam that reduces shadowing.
In order to get your Hive bulbs up and running, you need to have a Hive hub to be able to connect to your home router and allow you to be able to manipulate your smart bulbs from your phone. However, if you already have the Hive thermostat, you don’t need to get the hive hub. Since it supports Alexa, if you have Echo or Echo Dot on your device, you can use voice control on your bulbs.
FAQ
Below we have rounded up some comment questions regarding using Hive and Hue.
Does Philips Hue work with Hive?
Hive products aren’t compatible with other connected home devices yet.
Our Verdict
In conclusion, if you’re looking to have more versatility, the Philips Hue bulbs are certainly the way to go in getting your smart lighting experience kick-started. These bulbs take the day due to the wide array of choice they provide us with and a large number of support for third-party apps and services they have. However, be on the lookout for the new innovations from the Hive bulbs cause they are certainly out to give the Hue’s a run for their money.
Founder & Editor
Mike is the founder of Hue Home Lighting, a huge Hue fan with far too many lights, covering home and garden. A smart home gadget addict and also enjoys the odd bit of DIY
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Bryan Currie
Started using the Hive bulbs maybe by accident as I was buying SONOS AND ALexa system. It works so well, but reluctant to change . But it would be nice to have a choice.
How long will it be until it can be before the Alexa matches it.
Reid
I am pretty sure it works for Alexia, because it works now with Google home. So Alexa came first.
Reid
I have Hive, but i would like to get the Philips for the music and tv show sync options. and developers have access to more of the Philips libraries… Anyone know of an issue with BOTH Hive and Philips running in the same house? and radio/channels conflict?
tman
I’ve got Hue, and it’s pretty amazing in many respects. Very flexible, and syncs with my Google Home perfectly – but, it’s very, very expensive. GU10 colour bulbs in the UK are about £50 *each*. It’s scary how expensive smart lighting can get!