We really don’t need to discuss that Philips Hue is expensive fun. But apparently expensive is not yet expensive enough. After the prices were already increased in January 2021 for outdoor products and then in May for almost all other Hue devices, the next price increase is now imminent. According to my information, Philips Hue will adjust its official price recommendations again on February 1st 2023 – upwards.
If you were flirting with buying the new Philips Hue Festavia before Christmas, there’s bad news for you: Nothing left. Apart from one small country surrounded by big mountains, the string lights are currently out of stock. In Switzerland, there is still a remaining contingent available. According to my information, it is almost impossible that there will be a possibility to order the Festavia light chain via the Philips Hue Shop before Christmas.
The new Philips Hue Lightguide series with the iconic light bulb design was supposed to be launched at the end of September. The first products were also shipped at that time – until increased problems with condensation inside the glass globes were discovered. After that, sales were stopped completely. Now there is good news: At least one of the three Lightguide models is available again.
iConnectHue (App Store-Link) is one of the most popular places to go from the Apple App Store when it comes to controlling and configuring Philips Hue. The developer Stefan Göhler always delivers new updates and functions – next he will take care of the gradient control. Until now, you could only use magic scenes in iConnectHue to make the Philips Hue Gradient bulbs shine in multiple colours.
You have to hand it to Philips Hue: After they have made a mess of one or the other product launch in the past and the availability in the in-house online shop was often very poor, it worked out wonderfully with the Festavia string light despite the tight schedule. On 11 November, which was a Friday, it was possible to order the string light in the Philips Hue online shop, and the first orders were already delivered on the following Monday.
It had been announced for a long time, but now the time has come: If you use the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, you no longer have to use the Hue Sync App to control it. With the update to version 4.31, the functions have been integrated into the Sync section of the Hue app.
In version 4.31 of the Philips Hue App there is a new mode for the Hue Festavia string light. This allows you to display not only three but five colours as a gradient in gradient mode. In addition to the normal gradient mode, which is also available for other products such as the Philips Hue Gradient Signe, the Festavia already mastered the new and previously exclusive “Diffuse” mode “out of the box”.
I actually haven’t written about the new Philips Hue Festavia string light for two weeks, so let’s change that today. I couldn’t bring myself to do an ultimate test yet, also because I don’t know yet how exactly to evaluate the product. But I can already answer one question: I like the fairy lights very much.
I was able to tell you a few weeks ago that Philips Hue is planning to kill off the Sync app as well, following the end of the Bluetooth app. Instead of a separate app for the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, the entire functionality is to be integrated into the normal Hue app.
It has been more than a year since Philips Hue introduced dynamic scenes. Since the launch in September 2021, numerous functions have been added, such as speed adjustment or, most recently, automatic activation. As I have now learned, there should soon be another improvement that actually also has major implications for practice.
Fabian