The Philips Hue Scene gallery has 79 scenes to choose from (Image credit: Future / Jennifer Oksien) In the standard case, the Philips Hue Gradient Signe is aligned to a wall and there the colours also appear washed out, so the transitions are not so hard. Nevertheless, I would recommend not selecting colours that are too far apart. A real rainbow effect like with the long lightstrips cannot be created with the short Signe.

Hue Gradient Signe table lamp review | TechRadar Philips Hue Gradient Signe table lamp review | TechRadar

Taking it out of the box, I was really blown away by the strength and quality of the design of the Signe. Our oak model has a lovely wood-toned, circular base and an otherwise-aluminum construction. It’s incredibly solid and well-built, with no blemishes or wonkiness. Hue might be the most expensive smart lighting brand on the market, but there’s no denying you’re getting premium build quality at the very least.

What a piece of kit!

But, the Gradient Signe just didn't seem to naturally fit in with my home's aesthetic, which doesn't lean toward clean white walls and open spaces that I feel this lamp most suits. I've either got colored, painted walls or patterned wallpaper (see image above showing the grasses wallpaper in my living room as an example). And even though you can only freely set three segments so far, the automatically generated colour gradients display significantly more colours. In my test, I was able to count ten individual colours that can be displayed by the Hue Gradient Signe floor lamp.

Philips Hue Signe Gradient Floor Lamp, 2550 Lumens Philips Hue Signe Gradient Floor Lamp, 2550 Lumens

The Hue Signe has never been really affordable. The previous model already cost 269 euros and now Philips Hue is going one better: 299 euros are due for the large floor lamp. We certainly don't need to discuss the fact that this is a lot of money. It should also be clear that the Signe is not to everyone's taste. However, I find that the gradient technology offers a much more exciting experience. My review unit was the Philips Hue Signe table lamp in oak. During the testing period I set routines, explored the beautiful Hue scene gallery, and controlled the intensity of the light. My main quibble was that you can only control the lamp using the app, or by switching it off at the mains; there's no on / off on the unit itself. Read on to discover how I got on elsewhere. Philips Hue Gradient Signe table lamp review: Price and availability Focussing exclusively on tall, smart floor lamps, there aren’t many competing devices to choose from when it comes to the Hue Signe Floor lamp. The most notable rival is the Govee RGBIC Floor Lamp. This is also an LED floor lamp that comes with RGB options and a design very similar to the Signe. Govee has emulated many of Philips’ Hue products at notably lower prices. I use Govee’s lamp, TV strip, and lighting bars, and I like them all. Indeed, they’re not the same quality in terms of build and materials, but they do at least offer much of the same functionality, including a decent app to control multiple lights. What can we conclude now? The Hue Gradient Signe with its unusual design does not meet all tastes, and it is anything but cheap to buy. Compared to its predecessor, however, it offers much, much more. For me, there is no question that the Philips Hue Gradient Signe is fascinating. Only the thing with the power cable really bothers me. This is something that not only annoys me about the Gradient Signe, but also about many other products. Although the Play Lightbar and the HDMI Sync Box now have a power supply unit with three connectors, it is simply not powerful enough. In my opinion, a solution with USB-C would be really modern and flexible.The Signe floor lamp is controlled with the Philips Hue app. That means if you've got Hue lights already, the Signe is super simple to drop into your existing rooms and automations. I've been using mine in the bedroom, where I have it set to mimic the sunrise each morning — an increasingly useful feature as the actual sunrise creeps later and later into the day. It's got a dedicated sunrise lighting style, which uses shades of blue, orange, and yellow to give the impression of the morning sky at dawn. But with enough fiddling, you could set the Signe to turn on to any combination of colors at whatever time you please. The next thing I was blown away by was the size; the floor lamp is really quite tall for a premium strip of LED, 57.4 inches. Otherwise, it has a tiny footprint of less than 4.5- inches, which guarantees it will fit in all but the tiniest of spaces. Indeed, it has a vastly smaller footprint than a conventional floor lamp, especially one with a tripod. If you have a minimalist home with plenty of corners and walls that can benefit from colored, gradiated uplighting, then forget about it – this product is for you. It's time for a little cheering up. Even though the new Philips Hue Gradient Signe so far only allows the selection of three segments instead of the promised five segments in Ambiance mode, the colour gradients just look fantastic. Of course, this is a matter of personal taste, but I really like the new possibilities.