Many hues of home

The author tries out a new lighting system that promises to offer an ambience suited to your mood or the music you choose to play

What if you could wake up to the soothing glow of the seaside, or work in the clinical white of office? Or better still, go to sleep in the strawberry hues inspired by the ice-cream you had last summer? All this and more is possible with the help of a lighting system called Philips Hue.

The Hue Starter Kit (Rs 16,995) consists of three screw-type LED bulbs, a bridge and adaptors for the conventional bayonet-type holders we have at home. I connect the bulb to the adaptors, install them in my hall and then connect the bridge (a circular contraption which looks like a mid-sized case of cold cream) to my wireless router. After switching on the bulbs, I download the Philips Hue app (available for both iOS and Android) and connect to the bridge over Wi-Fi.

The app's interface is quite basic, with a set of light settings or scenes, which Philips calls "Light Recipes". A tap on settings such as "Sunset", "Deep sea", "Beach" and "Jump" bathes the room in different hues. What I do notice is that it dramatically changes the ambience. Besides, one could customise and make new recipes with the three colour-changing bulbs, with sliders to change their intensity and the option of keeping a few of them switched off.

One can also create a light scene based on a photo, but the option is pretty clumsy, as the app doesn't automatically pick the colour from the photo, presenting a palette instead.

Encouraged by the happenings in my hall, I shift the Hue lamps to my bedroom, wanting to wake up/go to sleep in the manner described above. Yes, timers and alarms can be set up on the Hue app. I do go to sleep surrounded by soothing shades of blue. But I have a rude awakening, being swathed in bright yellow light. My wife has inadvertently turned off the lights using the regular switches; when she switches them on, it is as if the system has been reset.

The best thing is if you want to turn your home into a discotheque, this is the way to go. An app called Hue Disco (Rs 190 on iOS) listens to the music being played using the device's microphone and syncs the lights with the music. There are plenty of apps available. But sometimes, if you have a weak network, the app might lose connection to the device.

At Rs 16,995, the Philips Hue Starter Kit is an expensive proposition. But it is technology geared towards the future. And cutting edge never comes cheap.