Filip Brož Imagine the situation. You are sitting on the couch in the living room, watching TV and you would like to turn on some light, but the classic lamp shines too much. A more muted light, ideally still colored, would be enough. In such a situation, MiPow's smart LED Bluetooth Playbulb comes into play.
At first glance, it is an ordinary light bulb of a classic size, which will surprise you not only with its high brightness, but above all with its functions and possibilities of how it can be used. Playbulb hides a million color shades that you can combine and change in various ways, all conveniently from your iPhone or iPad.
You can buy the Playbulb smart bulb in two colors, white and black. After taking it out of the box, simply screw the light bulb into the thread of a table lamp, chandelier or other device, click the switch and you're lit like any other light bulb. But the trick is that you can control the Playbulb via Playbulb X app.
The connection of the iPhone to the light bulb takes place via Bluetooth, when both devices are easily paired, and then you can already change the shades and color tones with which the Playbulb lights up. It is nice that the application is in Czech. However, it's not just about simply changing colors.
With Playbulb X, you can turn the light bulb on or off, you can simply switch between different colors until you find the one that perfectly suits the current situation, and you can also try different automatic color changers in the form of a rainbow, candle imitation, pulsing or flashing. You can impress your friends by effectively shaking the iPhone, which will also change the color of the bulb.
If you install the bulb in a bedside lamp, you will certainly appreciate the Timer function. This allows you to set the time and speed of gradual dimming of the light and vice versa of gradual brightening. Thanks to this, you will fall asleep pleasantly and wake up by simulating the natural daily cycle of sunset and sunrise.
But the most fun comes if you buy several bulbs. I personally tested two at once and had a lot of fun and use with them. You can easily pair the bulbs in the app and create closed groups, so you can have, for example, five smart bulbs in the chandelier in the living room and one each in the table lamp and in the kitchen. Within three separate groups, you can then control all bulbs independently.
The brain of the entire system is the aforementioned Playbulb X application, thanks to which you can light up practically the entire apartment or house in the desired shades and intensity from the comfort of the couch or from anywhere else. You can constantly buy more smart bulbs and expand your collection, MiPow also offers various candles or garden lights.
The positive thing is that the Playbulb is a very economical light bulb with energy class A. Its output is around 5 watts and the brightness is 280 lumens. The service life is stated at 20 hours of continuous lighting, so it will last for many years. In testing, everything worked as it should. There is no problem with the bulbs and their luminosity, the only downside to the user experience is the application not adapted for the large iPhone 6S Plus. It should also be noted that the Bluetooth range is around ten meters. You can't light the light bulb at a greater distance.
Compared to a classic LED bulb, the MiPow Playbulb is of course more expensive, it costs 799 crowns (black variant), however, this is an understandable increase in price due to its "smartness". If you want to make your household a little smarter, like to play with similar technological gadgets or want to show off in front of your friends, then the colorful Playbulb can certainly be a good choice.
Well, 25€ for a light bulb is a lot of work. Anyone who makes something that can be controlled with an iPhone is valued as if it were made of gold...
280 Lumens is just a maze. In this case, any color. The minimum for reading is 400, the ideal for illuminating the entire room is 1000
golden philips hue - although it is more expensive 4500 for 3 pieces, but the brightness is 600 lm and control via wifi... an incomparable difference
Why isn't this marked as an advertising article? If it is supposed to be an independent evaluation of the product, then it is quite poor. How can a light bulb with 280 lumens surprise you with its high brightness? Only a fool could put this in a chandelier. I have six Philips Hue bulbs in the chandelier and it's not extreme. Why don't you try it yourself at home in a chandelier. Not alone, preferably with someone independent. ;-)
I think there will be many people who don't want to buy an "expensive" Philips Hue and instead just want to try and test some smart light bulb. For eight hundred crowns, it seems like an ideal choice to me, and if I can count well, most living room chandeliers have around five 5x280 bulbs, which is already a decent luminosity. I don't know that many people who need such a sharp light, and it is also plenty enough for a table lamp for the bedside table. It's always a matter of personal choice and everyone's preferences are different. Also, Hue doesn't offer many other options like bulbs, candles or garden light….
For a lamp, yes, but not for a chandelier. Of course, it is not always necessary to properly illuminate the living room, but not having that option at all is already bad. Regarding the brightness of the chandelier - it depends on the size of the room and other factors. I consider Philips Hue to be a usable minimum. If a chandelier with five Mipow should be enough, then it is a poorly chosen chandelier for that room for the commonly used bulbs. Mipow will fulfill the function of mood lighting, they can be in lamps and designer lights, but in the vast majority of cases it will be really little to place in a chandelier.
Any moment, MiPow is due to come out with a new Rainbow 2 model with 1000 lumens.