FabianIt's actually quite simple with Philips Hue, there are three different types of light. Products classified as Hue White only have white LEDs with a fixed colour temperature. White Ambiance uses cool white and warm white LEDs to create different shades of white. With White and Color Ambiance, in addition to the white LEDs, there are also coloured RGB LEDs so that a total of 16 million colours can be mixed.
The Hue Festavia, which was launched on the market last year, is also classified as a “White and Colour Ambiance” product. As I have now learned by chance in a conversation with Hue inventor George Yianni, the smart string lights from Philips Hue do not have any warm white or cool white LEDs, but only coloured LEDs.
Philips Hue Festavia can only mix white via software
“All the white tones of the Hue Festavia are mixed by software from the coloured LEDs,” Yianni continues. And here I really have to take my hat off: I didn't notice the lack of white LEDs in either the first generation last year or the second generation, which was launched in September 2023.
Cheaper smart string lights without white LEDs can often only display warm white tones with a yellow tint, while a lot of blue is visible in cold white tones. Philips Hue does this much better with the Festavia.
Philips Hue Festavia String Lights
from $219.99 / €119.99 / £109.99
Note: This article contains affiliate links. We receive a commission for purchases via these links, which we use to finance this blog. The purchase price remains unchanged for you.
This was already how many of their original LivingColors products worked.
I didn’t check the new generation of Bloom and Iris, but I have their early Hue versions and they also are RGB-only and mixing colors to create white tones. Do the newer revisions also include separate warm and cold white LEDs?
The new Iris and Bloom also have white LEDs.
The 500 LED Festavia has disappeared from the Hue store online (at least the uk version). The 250 LED version is included in the festive sale though