Comparison: Philips smart LED lamp x Positivo

At the end of 2019, we saw two models of smart LED lamp here in Brazil: a Philips HueBluetooth, with a version already sold abroad months before, and the Positive Smart Lamp, another investment of the line smart of brand. In this comparison, we put both products to the test and tell you the differentials of each to help you decide which one best suits yours. property, your profile and his bag.

Philips smart LED lamp highlights

A Philips HueBluetooth is a smart LED lamp with a range of 16 million colors and 800 Lumens, available at official store for R$ 360. The connection is made directly with the app and the bluetooth of your cell phone or integrated speaker with assistant (such as Google Home ou Amazon Echo).

What has been known as the great highlight across the board is the management center called Hue Bridge. The manufacturer calls it “the brain of the system”, and it is not by chance: it is possible to synchronize and control up to 50 dispositivos on a single bridge. You plug it into a wall outlet and the internet (via cable) and Philips smart products – even including an outlet – are recognised.

Thus, it is possible to turn on your lights and program routines even when you are not at home, as the equipment is connected via Internet .

Another differential is the connection of the Bridge to the system Razer Chroma and to the application hue sync: while the former makes the lights responsive to games, Sync is suitable for audio sync and any video displayed on the chosen screen. Particularly, having already witnessed and tested on another occasion the power of LED strips e well distributed lamps in a room (responding to images), I can confidently say that it's almost as immersive as a good audio system.

Most of the functions and customizations of the smart LED lamp, which make it absurdly different from the Positivo model, are exclusive to bridge. In other words, for Hue to really “have fun”, the central is essential. As is to be expected, there is an additional cost: the latest generation of the product can be found for around R$500 No. official website.

If you think this is just a device that works as a switch, the price is pretty steep. Now, if your focus is to invest in a lamp kit Smart LED is an excellent solution.

Highlights of the Positivo Smart Wi-Fi Lamp

With a luminous flux of 806 Lumens and also with a range of 16 million colors (virtually identical to the competition), the Smart Lamp WiFi from Positivo, despite the very objective name, makes its differential clear right away: it works via direct connection to your router. And one detail is that it can be found for R$ 99,90 at official store.

If you have a very specific routine and would like your lights turned on in a scheduled time, Smart Lamp can do this job for you. If you are on your way home, you can ask for a assistant (Google or Alexa) turn on or change the color, and there's also a way to ask if you forgot the kitchen light on, for example.

Positivo has three items main components of its automation line, being a smartplug (plug), the Universal remote control and the smart LED lamp itself. It is possible to find the kits "connected house"and "efficient house", common discount of approximately 15% off the full price, which pays off if you want to create a smart home without blinking an eye. The strong point of the brand's smart line (Positivo Casa Inteligente), however, is the security devices, such as cameras, alarms and sensors.

Even without a unification of your virtual environment (there is no single hub to control all the "smarts"), a Featured is the fact that the smart LED lamp itself works on its own via Wi-Fi connection, without the need for a third-party app or additional cost. The conversation from your cell phone or smart speaker is 100% directly connected to the product.

Connection and setup

As you are already used to a smart home environment thanks to the Echo Dot 3rd generation (thanks Black Friday), my experience with smart bulbs was just a small step. Therefore, the entire setup was progressed together with Alexa.

Even if you don't have a speaker like the Amazon Echo, you can still download apps for iOS e Android and enjoy at no extra cost. The only difference in usage is that you always have to keep the app open, however, if you have a device Android, you can choose the easy shortcuts of the Google Assistant saying only “Okay, Google”.

Starting with Philips setup, I came across the physical mini-manual (which is pretty straight to the point) giving only two instructions: Plug the lamp into the socket and download the app. From this, it is assumed that the other instructions will be in the app, which is no problem. The first intuition is to download the application "Philips Hue", right? When opening it, we see a request to pair with the Bridge – a third device, mentioned above, which I don't have.

Instead, you need to download the Philips HueBluetooth, which works without Wi-Fi. That is, the smart LED lamp is bluetooth only until you have Bridge, and this one makes it possible to control the lamp via Wi-Fi.

In Alexa pairing mode, as suggested by the app, the phrase “Alexa, discover my devices" failed. To work properly, I needed to add a skill specific within the Alexa platform. Then it was necessary to registration via Philips website and guess what: he asked (for the second time) to pair with Bridge. After turning off the light on the switch, I opened the app again, gave the command for Alexa to discover a smart LED light bulb, and then yes, finally she detected. I could then control the lamp by voice.

When opening the app Impact, there is immediately a prompt to put the router password, which is no problem dealing with the smart LED light connection. On login, it was necessary to paste a verification code sent to my email - remember this detail.

For sync, there is a “trigger” to activate it: turn off and on three times the switch. She blinks like she says she's ready to pair, like any speaker common bluetooth of the last decade. First, the recognition failed, even with a percentage bar displayed (ranging from 0 to 100%). I tried two more times and then the app connected.

When trying to pair with Positivo within the app Alexa, I had the biggest headache of the entire experience. As with the Hue connection, I selected “add smart LED light” and there are two options: open an app or add the skill “SmartLife”. Clearly, I took the easy way out (the skill) where the required login via SMS, which didn't work – it said my cell number didn't exist, even though I entered variations of the area code. I tried to login via Twitter and apparently my username doesn't exist.

After giving up the skill and going the longer way, I downloaded the third app that was recommended by Alexa: such a Tuya Smart. To my surprise, I received one more verification code in my email. The recognition process, at least, is exactly the same as in the Positivo app (turning the switch on and off). Not by chance, Tuya redirects back to Positivo.

In the end, I had four applications opened simultaneously for a single synchronization (Alexa, Positivo, Gmail and Tuya Smart). Only then did the controller with Alexa work as planned.

on recommendation Positivo official to Showmetech, the head of Positivo Casa Inteligente, Jose Ricardo Tobias, indicates the use of the skill of the brand to control the smart LED lamp. Even with the indication of downloading Tuya in the period of our tests, just follow the 10 steps indicated by skill Positive Smart Home in the Alexa app that the product will work without the need to download an extra app. "Our user experience is centered on our app and skill, and we recommend using the entire Positivo Casa Inteligente platform for the best experience“, Jose says.

Appearance and Personalization

When talking about the look of both, it's worth getting into the details before discussing the lighting itself. The Philips smart LED lamp has an Anatel seal and a few lines of text around its body and a QR Code, just below the lamp, which is very noticeable in daylight and is a “denouncement” of having something special with that Hue. On the opposite side, we still have the Philips logo. Positivo's logo only displays a minimalist logo, standard from the Smart line.

With no Wi-Fi or bluetooth connection, they work like a normal white lamp. I didn't notice any difference in lighting between the “100% white” of both. In both cases, changing the LED color it also impacts how much they will illuminate, so the extreme of the color spectrum doesn't even come close to the power of white light. That is normal when dealing with colored LED lighting – ribbons and PC peripherals work the same way.

When it comes to applications, there is a common feature called “scenes“. For those unfamiliar, it's like the simulation of a pre-defined environment. So when you select something like “late afternoon in Paris”, indicated with a purple-pink-orange gradient thumbnail, those colors (in theory) will be selected with the aim of bringing that atmosphere to your smart LED light environment.

At Hue, customizing scenes is minimal. You can only edit the color/intensity of presets and rename them. Alexa becomes a hub, so you don't have to keep your phone's bluetooth on 100% of the time – only when you control it via the Philips app, which is completely unnecessary outside of the initial setup.

In researching the functionality of Bridge, I noticed that the scenes function only makes sense if you already have an environment with multiple lamps. Otherwise, instead of the light alter the colors shown in the thumbnail, citing the example of Paris with purple-pink-orange, only one will be displayed.

At Positivo, the scenes work (as they were meant to be!) and you can even customize them. Unlike Hue, Smart Lamp also remember the last color that you have configured, even when changing sockets and internet connections – that is, even when changing rooms or houses. However, if you open the app after resetting the device, it recognizes the previous color that you defined in yourself. So, to get it working properly again, you need to select the white light until it recognizes (and change the color). Otherwise, the system does not recognize it.

It's a shame the color setting gives a certain problem when changing the default colors. Occasionally, it is possible to see that a color has not been configured: for example, I only left cold colors in a smooth transition and, suddenly, a red unscheduled flashed at short intervals. When creating a scene from scratch, the same problem did not happen.

Smart home

Do you want to make yours smart House? A good step to start is to use just a lamp and a speaker. As already said, I used an Echo Dot to communicate with the lights. At the Alexa app, by default, the command of the first configured lamp is simply “first light bulb”. To facilitate the voice command, I renamed one of them to “lamp” and another to “light” and left for the next tests.

The system recognizes the brightness percentage and color, which is very useful because you don't have to change apps. It is also possible create a routine with the lamp. When night comes, the lights can be turned on automatically. Likewise, you can program them to turn on in orange first thing in the morning, simulating the sun and dispensing with an alarm clock (which is great if you don't have natural light in your room, first thing in the morning).

The curious thing is that one command overrides the other without problems, so when you say voice commands or open the respective app (Positivo or Philips), the lamp immediately recognizes and syncs all systems simultaneously.

Both Positivo and Hue were well recognized right away, after being renamed. Alexa just can't turn on reminders in sync with the lights. For example: you need to add manually a routine if you want to turn off the lamp at a certain time interval, or if you want “every day at 18:0 it is turned on, turning off XNUMXh”. It is not possible, therefore, to say “Alexa, turn on light in 20 minutes”, for she ignores the mentioned time and will call in the same second.

The assistant recognizes minimalist phrases like “lamp by 50%"and "light blue lamp”. If the light is off, when giving the voice command it turns on and performs the action. A combo “50% blue lamp” is not recognized; you need to give two separate commands.

Regarding connection: it is no secret that the Brazilian internet infrastructure is not the most stable, as stated by one article of own abranet, and this is especially notable for Gamers of online games – which, for sure, have at least one frustrating experience on the tip of their tongues due to the famous “lag”. The internet can be quite speed boat tour no problem, but when thinking about installing appliances to make your home smart, shared internet can be an obstacle.

Thinking that communication is cellular-lamp or cellular-assistant-lamp, any interruption in the way is remarkable. delay. Therefore, a lamp bluetooth may be a better option, if you don't trust the current stability of your network. Direct communication with the cell phone is immediate, and turning on/off or changing the color is instantaneous.

When switching both places and Wi-Fi (disconnecting from the assistant), the connection with Positivo was deleted by alexa. In contrast, Philips does not remembered the name of the profile, but also did not remember the last configuration done (yellow light, 50%). There was also a problem connecting to Positivo when minimizing the application, as the reconnection takes about 10 seconds. Thus, the light flashes white even when set to a specific brightness/saturation.

At the end of the tests of this comparison, when checking for the last time the light of Positivo in a different socket (in the same house, same internet), the connection did not work. When trying to “forget” the device and reconnect via the app, the connection to the lamp failed once again, even if the app has successfully joined Wi-Fi. Hours later, with the switch off in this interval, the reconnection finally took place.

Same sync error (graphic works of setup, shown in one of the previous items in this post) appeared when opening and closing the Positivo app, but luckily, the connection to Alexa still remained. I soon discovered that the problem was with the application and not with the product. Without a doubt and, ironically, the app less optimized for lamp control is the exclusive/original – which fails a bit in the task of being “intelligent".

And in the long run?

With both cases, one of the situations that I caught myself doing the most is the simple act of turn on the lights on the switch – as soon as I go to the room where they are installed or when I get home, without thinking. For them to work, the switch must be on. So when the light is off and you press the switch (wanting to turn it on) the circuit is closed. Then just click for one second time and the lights turn on in white, with 100% brightness, in the “default mode” of both.

If I didn't have an Amazon Echo, I would really miss one switch that works with the function "smart“, because just imagine having to open an app and turn on the lights every time I changed a room? A situation out of the question, even though I already had my cell phone in hand.

In this case, Philips sells a switch for about R$ 150, which can be detached from the base and turned into a controller, as a way to solve this problem. With the Positivo app, one way out is to program a routine in the “Agenda” tab to turn the lights on and off, without worrying about always picking up your cell phone.

In this way, it was a “bad habit” learned in this testing period: when entering the room, it was necessary to speak loudly and in a good tone “Alexa, light bulb“. for anyone in transition de normal to smart home, and is used to flipping switches (as you might expect!), it really is a challenge to walk through a door and remember to ignore the switch.

As my house default switch doesn't have dimmer, I realized how the adjustment of the lighting percentage (0-100%) is extremely useful, especially when dealing with bedroom lighting – for reading at night, 50% orange light is perfect. Another situation is, when needing to see something in detail or photograph an object indoors, the change of yellow to white light it has become a comfort that, as you get used to it, becomes necessary.

final verdict

Taking into account the entire experience of setup and my routine use, the Philips got the better of. Bridge becomes dispensable with the Amazon Echo, but lamps and other additional devices (such as the dimmer) to integrate into a single virtual environment sounds like a pretty compelling idea.

So choose the Philips HueBluetooth if you: are ready to invest in a smart home connected hub; already have a speaker with a personal assistant or if you prefer to play a remote control with dimmer and you don't have to worry about your cell phone.

Choose Positive Smart Lamp if you: want a more affordable product; trust the stability of your Wi-Fi and just want a product line smart devices connected at home (in this case, it could be multiple light bulbs in several rooms).

Tell us: which of these models of smart LED lamp Will it improve the lighting in your home?