FabianLast year, Philips Hue presented the smallest smart light bulb of its kind to date: An E14 drop-shaped bulb. There was only one thing that many people didn’t understand: The product, which is perfectly suited for desk or bedside lamps, has only come onto the market as a White variant with a fixed colour temperature. But different shades of white would be particularly important at the workplace or in the bedroom.
Ledvance offers a suitable alternative. The Smart+ Mini is a compact E14 lamp that has White Ambiance technology. After pairing it with the Hue Bridge, the colour temperature can be adjusted from 2,700 to 6,500 Kelvin. Warm white or cool white light is possible according to your wishes. The maximum brightness is 470 lumens, just like the E14 products from Philips Hue.
Ledvance lamp is slightly larger than the E14 drop lamp from Philips Hue.
It should be noted that the Ledvance bulb is not quite as compact as the “original” from Philips Hue. With a total length of 89.5 millimetres, the mini bulb from Ledvance is around 13.5 millimetres longer than the Philips Hue chandelier. But that is still very compact, because the E14 candle bulbs known to date are 116 millimetres long.
As with any third-party product, you have to live with the usual limitations, although the lack of support for Hue Entertainment is probably not that critical for a non-coloured lamp. Like all lamps from other manufacturers, the small E14 lamp from Ledvance cannot be added to HomeKit via the Hue Bridge.
In terms of price, however, the Ledvance Smart+ Mini does not have to hide. A single bulb costs 15.99 euros, which is less than the price of the small E14 lamp from Philips Hue, which has a street price of just under 20 euros, despite the more versatile technology.
