Overall, then, I feel the Philips Hue Gradient Signe Floor Lamp offers a lot to potential buyers, and it is one of the most versatile smart lighting products that I've tested.

The Signe’s colors are electric. Again powered by a color wheel, you can choose between one, two, and three colors across the LED strip, making for a limitless combination of choices. This can be done manually, or you can choose from the innumerable scenes in the Hue scene gallery, which are perfect for inspiration if you’re unsure what kind of lights look best. There’s everything from blossom and crocus to sunsets, Miami party vibes, Chinatown red, incredible Arctic Aurora, and more. Even holiday and Halloween scenes get updated throughout the year, and each scene has its own custom level of optimum brightness that you can adjust. You can also tweak the colors yourself for optimum personalization. As the Signe Floor Lamp has three individually controllable zones, each scene automatically applies to them. To be fair, the app does a good job of choosing the right colours and blending them together. I much preferred my Go to Sleep routine, which would turn on at 22:00. I loved walking across my landing to see a gentle glow of colored lightcoming from the bedroom.

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. Viewing the various scenes in the Hue Scene Gallery on the app, I settled on either Starlight or Blood Moon. These are a beautiful mix of soft blues, purples and pinks. I was able to brighten or dim the lights whenever I wanted, but I preferred to have the Gradient Signe set to a dim level – because the brightest setting really is very bright. Being in the UK, I was sent the UK and EU version of the lamp (a US version is also available), which meant I had a UK and EU plug to switch between. The lamp arrived with the EU plug attached, but switching this to the UK plug was simply a matter of sliding the EU plug upwards to release, and replacing with the UK version. I then created a Zone containing all my regular office lights and the Signe Floor Lamp and used my Hue Tap Dial Switch to control all of the lights and scenes. The Philips Hue Scene gallery has 79 scenes to choose from (Image credit: Future / Jennifer Oksien)

When I first tried to connect the Signe to Alexa, my device wasn't able to detect the lamp. I was sitting next to the light with my phone in Bluetooth range. The main difference between the two Philips Hue Signe lights is their size. The floor lamp is notably larger, and therefore delivers a higher lumen output , with a larger LED bulb included. Philips Hue Gradient Signe table lamp review: Design Once plugged in the Philips Hue Gradient Signe Floor Lamp can be connected to your Hue app using Bluetooth or Zigbee. Hue really comes into its own when used with a Bridge and Zigbee, so that’s the version that I went for. There is plenty to love about the Philips Hue Signe. From the get-go, it is super simple to use and set up. It comes ready to plug in and use and will turn on as soon as you fire the plug into the outlet. There’s no hassle and no messing around, which is excellent, as the smart home can often be a minefield of confusing setups and connections.

The new gradient technology is simply a joy to behold

This is what you can do with the Philips Hue app when connected via the Hue Bridge (Image credit: Future / Jennifer Oksien) Philips Hue Gradient Signe table lamp review: Connecting to Alexa 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).

During my time with the Philips Hue Gradient Signe table lamp, I've looked forward to entering my bedroom of an evening to see the light not only already switched on (without me having to do anything), but also the gentle colors filling my side of the room. The brightness, colors and the on/off schedule is all controlled via the Hue app (more on this shortly). And Hue Entertainment also benefits from the new Gradient technology, because even in interaction with the Hue Sync Box or the Hue Sync Desktop App, the new version of the floor lamp displays not just one, but several colours. The placement is done as usual via the room view of the desired entertainment area. This is how bright the Philips Hue Gradient Signe can shine 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. So at night time the Gradient Signe really pops. Imagine a lightsaber being lit up in a dark cave. And that's great for adding mood to rooms in the twilight hours or, excitedly for anyone who also invests in a Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, incredible extra synchronized mood lighting for movies, TV shows, or playing video games.

What a piece of kit!

Lastly, in terms of gripes, try as hard as I might I just couldn't get the Signe to look - at least in my opinion - at home in any of the rooms of my house. Maybe it was its proportions, or the fact that I don't have free corners in rooms with neutral white or off-white walls, or that it didn't really go with a lot of my furniture, but whatever it was I struggled to make room for it – and certainly so in a way that meant there wasn't a wire trailing too far across the carpet. Govee’s slight advantage is that its lamp ships with a remote control, so you can turn it on and off without the app or a wireless control. I’d like at least an on/off button on this lamp; as it was, I had to set up wireless remotes to operate it.

I received a sample of the Signe with an oak base (Image credit: Future / Jennifer Oksien) Philips Hue Gradient Signe review: PerformanceBefore I get to the colour gradients, I would like to briefly go over the technical data. The Signe has an overall height of 146 centimetres, 20 centimetres of which are accounted for by the stand. This makes the Gradient Signe 3 centimetres smaller than the old Signe. No really relevant difference, which also applies to the weight: the new model is about 100 grams lighter. It turns out that Hue products can be connected to Bluetooth OR the Bridge; they can’t be controlled via both simultaneously. So, if you've already connected Alexa to Hue Bluetooth, disable the Philips Hue Alexa skill in the Alexa app, and then reconnect it to the Hue Bridge via the Hue app voice assistant section. Setting the lamp the colour you want is far easier with this system than the one used by the Govee Lyra. On first seeing the Philips Hue Gradient Signe online, it looked incredibly slender and minimalist, and believed it would bring a subtle modern touch to my home. Opening the box once it arrived, I was presented with an LED-type rod that secures to a circular base.