The Hue Bridge plugs into your router and sends Zigbee commands to your Hue lights. "Turn on the desk lamp" is a lot less clunky than, say, "turn on Hue White Ambiance Bulb 4" The app (and if you're using them, the Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant voice controls) will let you control entire rooms at once by saying, for example, "turn on the living room." You can control individual lights, too, which is where naming everything is important. Once you've paired your lights with the app, you sort them by room and give each one a unique name. Download the Philips Hue app to your Android or iOS device and open it up - it'll walk you through the rest of the setup process. Then you'll screw in your Hue bulbs or turn on your Hue fixtures. To get started with Philips Hue, you plug in the Hue Bridge and connect it to your router via an Ethernet cable. Prices range from $15 a piece for bulbs like those to $250 for a 58-inch tall Philips Hue Signe color-changing floor lamp (spoiler alert: that's one of the overpriced duds you can definitely skip). Many of Philips Hue's bulbs and fixtures can change colors upon request (hence the "Hue" branding), but some are just basic bulbs that put out plain ol' white light and nothing else. One you've got the power supply, you can add a second or third light as a standalone extension for $60. A base kit that includes one light bar will cost you $70, while a two-pack costs $130. Just make sure you buy a base kit that includes the lights and the power supply. And yeah, I wish that they cost slightly less, too - but waiting for a sale is par for the course with Philips Hue at this point. I also love that you can power up to three of them with a single plug, but I wish that they unplugged for battery-powered portability. If you're interested in the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, which syncs the colors with whatever's on your TV screen, then these lights come with some extra entertainment appeal. They're also handy if you have even a casual interest in photography - a nice kick of color can really help that Instagram shot stand out. And besides, the Hue Play fixtures are perfect to hide behind a monitor or to mount beneath a shelf or on the back of a TV - sneaky smart places for color-changing accent light, and places where bulbs can't traditionally go. Maybe it's controversial to pick Hue's light bars over the classic Hue bulbs, but if color-changing bulbs are all you want, you've got options from other brands that cost less. Read Philips Hue White Starter Kit review. And since it includes the Hue Bridge, you'll be able to connect your bulbs with whatever third-party platforms and services you like. It's a great way to test the platform out and learn the basics of automating your lights with the Hue app, and you can build upon it over time, adding new lights to your system whenever the ones you want go on sale. The newest version comes with three white-light bulbs and a wall-mountable smart button that you can program to control them for $99. You can buy that Hue Bridge on its own, but the best way to get it is to buy a starter kit that packages it with a couple of bulbs - and the best value among those starter kits is the Philips Hue White starter kit. The newest Hue bulbs can use Bluetooth to pair directly with your phone without need for a Hue Bridge, but you'll miss out on most all of Hue's advanced features and integrations. The most important thing to know if you've decided to invest in Philips Hue's ecosystem is that you'll need the Hue Bridge plugged into your router in order to take full control of your lights (it's the square-shaped hub in the middle there).
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