The Philips Hue Play Wall Washer is a cleverly designed smart LED light accessory that can redefine the mood of your living space, by either creating scenes with different colours to match the occasion or by pairing it with an HDMI sync box to mirror the colours of the content you are watching automatically.
I had one of these devices here for a few weeks, and while I didn't have an HDMI sync box, I still posted it behind the TV panel and changed the scene to match the type of content we had on TV. I did it by changing the wall colours to red, yellow, or blue, depending on whether the movie was a thriller, a police drama, or an action flick.
The casing is elegant and small, measuring approximately 16 cm tall with a 9 cm circumference. You place it on a flat surface, about 15 cm to 20 cm from the wall, so that the light coming from the three LED modules can literally cover the wall in colour.
You can configure scenes to use a single colour, or control each of the LED modules to have its own colour, creating gradients and effects that completely change the decor in the room.
You can also use just plain white, with colour temperature ranging from 2000 to 6500 K. At its 4000 K midpoint, it will output 1035 lumens, making it a good supplement for the room lighting.
In my case, I paired the Philips Hue Play Wall Washer with a Philips Hue Bridge Pro and added it to the lounge area. With this setup, I could control it from my phone, using the Hue app, and also from Alexa, which allowed me to issue voice commands to turn it on or off, change colours and even add it to some automations, like my “Alexa, good night” routine.
It’s also dimmable, so you can create routines or manually set it from 1% to 100% light output, as needed.
You don’t have to position it behind the TV. Thanks to its design, with LED on one side only, you can place it on any surface, pointing to a wall, and have a smooth light that won’t be directly pointing at your eyes.
It comes with its own small power adapter and doesn’t use batteries, so you will need a power outlet nearby to get it going. It doesn’t need Wi-Fi, as it connects directly to the Hue Bridge (sold separately).
The Philips Hue Play Wall Washer is perfect for those looking for a light device that can positively change their room and content viewing experience.
