While the Hue lights from Philips are capable of producing more than 16 million shades of coloured light, flipping between functional white light and playful coloured light can be a bit of a pain. And while the native app’s scene selections feature can help to partially alleviate this issue, Philips has just unveiled another option: two bulbs, one fixture.
Dubbed the Philips Hue Beyond, this dual function light incorporates a pair of bulbs — one as an uplight, the other facing downwards — both of which are controlled independently via the native app. This may initially seem a bit redundant — I mean, why blow your hard-earned cash on an entirely new light fixture when you can just as easily swap between light palettes using the Hue Tap — but that’s only if you plan on using a single light source for multiple functions.
The Beyond instead offers two lighting schemes at once: accent your room with colour using the uplight while keeping the downlight shining cool white, which is perfect for reading. The new fixture is available in three form factors: a short table lamp that retails for $US432 (for the starter kit)/$US392 (for the extension kit), a pendant lamp for the dining room ($US655/$US695) and a larger ceiling light ($US655/$US695) for the living room. All three are available beginning this month. [Philips]