Philips Hue's new portable smart light is perfect for illuminating summer nights

Philips Hue Go Smart Light being used by four people to read a map at night on a wooden table

(Image credit: Signify)

published 22 June 2022

As I've written once or twice, I'm a big fan of Hue smart lights and smart bulbs: I think Hue is the best smart lighting system you can buy. But as someone who rents, its outdoor lighting has been off-limits to me: I can't run permanent power outside. So I'm very excited by the latest Hue announcements, because they include a portable Hue light that's ideal for outdoor entertaining. The only downside is that it won't be available until later in the summer and it's barbecue and Ooni oven season already.

The new light is the Hue Go Portable Table Lamp, which is $159.99 / £129.99. It runs for up to 48 hours from a charge, and it enables you to cycle through preset light scenes to get the perfect outdoor illumination. It's not cheap, I know, but it solves a very specific problem for me: solar lights aren't bright enough, where I live is too windy for candles and LED lamps all seem to have two settings: Sinister Morgue and Brighter Than The Sun.

The Go is the Hue I'm most excited about, but there are some other cool Hue products coming too.

Get on track with these new Hue smart lights

There's a brand new lighting style in the Hue range: track lighting, which enables you to attach light rails to the wall or ceiling and fit them together in whatever shape you like, so for example you might put them where the walls meet the ceiling all around or you might use them to highlight a particular area or create a specific effect. It's called Hue Perifo and you can combine spotlights, pendants, light bars and light tubes in a single track to control them all at once. Perifo rails are from £44.99 to £79.99 and track lights are £99.99 to £259.99; I can't currently find the US prices.

There's a new Signe lamp too, the Signe Gradient Lap in oak. Part table or floor lamp and part statement piece it's available now for £199 for the table model or £299 / $350 for the floor stander.

There's also a new lighting style in the Hue app called Sunrise Wake-Up. It moves from blue to soft orange to mimic the way the sun rises in the morning. If you have a Hue Bridge it's in the Automations tab of the app and if you're connecting your Hue via Bluetooth it's in the Routines tab.

Lastly, there's a new control switch. The Hue Tap Dial Switch has four buttons and a dial you can use to dim or brighter the scene. It's $49/£44.99 and on sale now.

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).