TL;DR
- The Philips Hue Tento smart lamps are the company’s most affordable ceiling lights yet.
- Sizes range from 29.1 to 54.2 cm, with output available in white, adjustable color temperature, and full RGB.
- Availability is just getting started in Europe, but US release plans remain up in the air.
When you’re setting up your smart home, you’ve got no shortage of options to choose from. And so long as everything you’re using supports Google Home, you’re largely free to mix and match smart switches, outlets, and lights across manufacturers. But for as much as we love having that kind of flexibility, there’s also a lot to be said for finding one company you really like, and going all-in on their ecosystem — that way, everything aligns not just in terms of functionality, but also in design, leading to a really cohesive look and feel. One of our favorite solutions like that is Philips Hue from Signify, and today we’re checking out the next phase of its smart lighting hardware.
Smart bulbs are a great way to modernize an existing lamp or fixture, but whether you’re adding lights somewhere new, or just interested in a fresh new look, Philips has tons of fully integrated smart lamps — and with modern LEDs, it’s not like you’ll be changing a lot of bulbs, anyway. To those existing offerings we can soon add the new Hue Tento lineup, as reported by Hueblog.
The name of the game here really looks to be affordability, and with Tento already listed on international Philips Hue sites, it’s clear the degree to which these undercut existing Hue ceiling lighting solutions, starting at just €70 (~$76). Even at that relatively low price point, there’s a nice amount of variety in terms of the hardware here, with seven distinct offerings, across three sizes. You have your pick of full RGB color in either 29.1, 42.1, or 54.2 cm sizes, or “white ambiance,” which just gives you control over the color temperature, in the same three sizes. And if you just want to keep it simple, there’s a single 29.1 cm option available in regular, old, non-adjustable white.
It’s not yet clear which markets Signify might bring these Tento lamps to, and what pricing might look like across them, but if we see these come to the US it’s likely pricing would top out around $230 for the largest full-color Tento. Oh, and speaking of color, the frames of all these lamps will be available in your choice of black or white.
We’ll be curious to see how those sales get started, as this represents an intriguing, affordable option for adding professional-looking smart lighting to your home.
