Govee vs. Hue - Which Lighting System is Better?

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Gained early experience with automation technology in the private and industrial sector, can turn his living room into a movie theater with one voice command and is the owner of this website. He is happy to share his accumulated experience with every new article.

Provider comparison: Philips Hue vs. Govee

Philips Hue is so far the clear market leader in the field of smart lights. The lamps and screens are equipped with the latest color technology and allow incredibly diverse scenarios and atmospheres to be created with the help of lighting effects. This lead on the global market is also costing the provider something: The devices from Philipps are usually significantly more expensive than alternative options for smart lighting control.

One of these “alternative” providers is the Chinese manufacturer “Govee”. With its smart lamps and light sources and clever “workarounds”, Govee has now also been able to secure a place among the most popular providers of smart technology. The biggest advantage here is the equally innovative and inexpensive solutions for lamps and lighting effects.

Both Hue and Govee make it possible, for example, to synchronize the content of a TV or computer screen with its backlighting. This enables individual color and rhythm sequences that can be adapted to what is happening on the screen. However, both the technical approach and the price of the two providers differ considerably.

The Hue and Govee Apps in Comparison

Hue

The Philips Hue app allows you to control the smart lights in your home clearly, easily and intuitively. In addition, you can use various functions of the app to program automated sequences, such as different lighting effects depending on the time of day or the room in which the lamps are located. To get the most out of the Hue app, however, you’ll need the Philipps Hue Bridge*.

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With the help of the Bridge, you can control up to 50 lamps simultaneously via the Hue app. To do this, you first need to connect the bridge to your Wi-Fi network and then to your app. Now you can name all the lights in your app and control them remotely or with the help of voice assistants.

The Hue app allows you to turn lights on and off throughout your home, dim them smoothly, or change their color. In addition, you can also pair the app with so-called third-party apps and thus, for example, accompany your favorite music on Spotify with the appropriate lighting effects. For this purpose, the app collects information that is played back via the music and adjusts the light color and rhythm of your lamps accordingly.

The Philips Hue app is regularly updated and optimized in order to provide you with the best possible user experience. However, the full use of all functions is only possible if you also purchase the Hue Bridge. This makes the use of the app quite expensive compared to other providers.

Govee

With the help of the Govee app, you can reliably control not only many different lamps and lights, but also many other smart home products. Before you can use the app, you have to register with Govee using your email address. Afterwards, you can use the Govee app directly to locate smart devices via Bluetooth and control them.

In the next step, you can define the name of the device and call it up via voice assistants such as Alexa or Google Assistant. If you use the Govee app from a Wi-Fi device, you also have to enter the respective password for the Wi-Fi network at this point. Govee automatically carries out any updates on your device.

With the help of the Govee app, you can adjust Wi-Fi lights in a variety of ways. You can choose from the different light modes music, color, scene and DIY. If the lights or their controllers have a built-in microphone, you can adjust the color and rhythm of the lights to the ambient noise under the Music item.

You can combine the colours individually and assign them to the individual segments of the light source. Up to 50 lighting effects can be selected under the Scenes item. DIY is the function to create such effects yourself and save them locally.

The online community of the Govee app is remarkable. On its own platform, you can find numerous reviews, videos, instructions and much more that this app has to offer the user. Here you can be inspired by light scenes that were created by other users with the help of the DIY tool.

Hue and Govee Voice Control Comparison

Hue

For easier operation of the Hue app, you can connect it to voice assistants such as Alexa or Google Assistant. This way, you can control one or more lamps in your home with the help of your voice. You can activate or deactivate the lamps, adjust their brightness, or even set entire scenes (e.g. sunset), which your smart home system then executes for you.

Govee

The Govee app can also be easily controlled with the help of voice assistants such as Alexa or Google Assistant, e.g. with regard to the colour and brightness of the lamps or to switch them on and off. However, not all predefined scenes can be recognized well by the assistants, and their adjustment, e.g. in the speed of the scene change, is also not possible in this way.

Overall, it can be said that the app from Govee performs significantly better than many other variants from Chinese manufacturers. Especially the large scope and its flexible application options are very impressive. However, it is clearly inferior to the market leader Philips Hue in terms of user guidance.

Ambilight Retrofit with Hue and Govee Compared

Hue

Ambilight is one of the most important unique selling points of Philips Hue and has the function of extending the content of the TV program to the wall behind it. Philips Hue has developed so-called light strips for this purpose, which are able to synchronously reflect information from the TV or computer screen in real-time. With the Smart TV from Philips, these light strips are permanently installed, but there is also the possibility to “retrofit” your own TV with Ambilight, even if it has a different manufacturer.

The light strips can be easily attached to all solid and flat surfaces with the help of their self-adhesive back. A distinction is made between different light strips for both indoor and outdoor use. A special feature is the Play Gradient Light Strip, which is already cut to the length of a standard TV set.

When you place the strip on the back of your TV, it reacts to the movements and sounds coming from your screen and plays matching light and color patterns. This is an ingenious way to perfectly match the atmosphere to the contents of your screen, especially during exciting films or gaming, and thus make the experience even more intense.

In order to create the respective lighting effects, however, you also need a Hue Bridge and the Play Sync HDMI box in addition to the LED strips. This is quite expensive, but it allows you to recreate the familiar Ambilight on your TV, even if it’s not from Philips.

The Philips Hue HDMI Sync Box is needed to create the desired lighting effects on your TV or computer screen.

Govee

The Ambilight effect of Hue can be achieved not only by purchasing the corresponding TV, but there is also a “workaround”, for which you can dig quite deep into your pocket. To achieve the same effect, Govee has found a simple and ingenious solution: the WiFi LED TV Set.

The principle of the set is very simple: A colored LED strip is also stuck to the back of the TV for this purpose. Then a camera on the top or bottom of the device films the screen and transfers the collected information to the LED strip. The WiFi LED TV set can also be controlled via app or voice assistant, as it is connected to the network via WLAN.

This way, a colorful and bright Ambilight effect can also be created with Govee with only minimal delay. While bright colors like red, yellow, green or blue come out particularly well, black and white are not displayed optimally. However, the favorable price-performance ratio of Govee’s set is unbeatable despite these minor flaws.

Another alternative for Smart Home lighting is the Govee Smart LED Lightbar. For this, 2 approx. 30 cm long light bars are placed next to or behind the TV set with the help of special “feet”. Also with this model, the color information of the TV is recorded and evaluated with a camera.

The lightbars feature high-quality workmanship and offer impressive color gradients in the respective segments. Both the LED TV Set and the Lightbar work with the same camera and can be controlled via app.

Hue and Govee Wall Systems Compared

Hue

Wall strips from Philips Hue are available in different versions. They can be purchased in either a “White” or “Color Ambiance” version in different lengths, which are already optimized for use on a TV screen. Of course, the versatile light strips can also be installed on a wall or other places in your home.

The lights can be dimmed continuously with the help of the app or a voice assistant. The smart lamps can also be easily set to different colour gradients, patterns and rhythms. You can cut the LED strips to size or extend them to a length of up to 10 metres with the help of connectors!

Govee

The Govee wall lights “Glide Wall Light” are available in 2 versions. One of the two sets contains six elements with a length of 30 cm each and one corner. The second set has eight elements and a total of 4 corners. Both sets are matt white when switched off and shine in the most beautiful colors when in operation, whereby the individual elements can be subdivided once again in terms of color.

The special feature of these sets is the possibility to connect the individual elements with the help of a plug-in system. In this way, long light channels can be created, which can be placed as desired in your own home. Despite their high brightness, the rods do not dazzle and therefore do not need to be visually hidden.

Smart Lights from Hue and Govee in Comparison

Hue

Smart lamps from Philips Hue can be used like normal light bulbs or LED bulbs in a floor, table or ceiling lamp. However, with the help of Bluetooth or an app or voice assistant, you can dim the light or change its color if you wish.

The manufacturer Philips Hue has three smart LED lamps to choose from. Philips Hue White bulbs offer white light and can be dimmed continuously via app or voice control. The lamps of Philips Hue White Ambiance let the white tone shine in 50,000 different shades, which you can adjust to your own mood and desired atmosphere.

A very special highlight are the lamps of the Philips Hue White & Color Ambiance series. You can choose up to 16 million different colors to set the scene in your home and create your individual favorite ambiance. Of course, you can flexibly adjust the color to your preference at any time.

The operation of the Philips Hue lamp is very simple: You simply turn the respective lamp into the socket and then connect it with the Philips Hue app. The Philips Hue lamps have standard sockets such as E27, GU 10 or E14. With the help of a Bluetooth connection, you can configure up to 10 lamps at the same time.

If you want to install several lamps in different rooms in your smart home, the purchase of the so-called Hue Bridge is recommended. With it, you can centrally control up to 50 different Hue lamps throughout the house. In addition, routines can be installed with the bridge, which allow you to control them from almost anywhere in the world.

Govee

Govee has also brought some smart lamps onto the market, which can definitely compete with those from Philips. The WiFi LED table lamp from Govee is a real alternative to the Philips Hue Go 2.0 White & Color Ambience lamp. In terms of price, the Govee can score points in any case. But also apart from the price, the table lamp from Govee is a good alternative to the light bowl from Hue.

The workmanship is high quality, the lamp is visually appealing, bright and colorful. The integrated battery makes it possible that this lamp can be operated for up to 3 hours without mains connection. However, in battery mode, it only responds to Bluetooth and is no longer controllable via Wi-Fi.

The Smart WiFi bedside lamp from Govee is also highly recommended. Although the lamp looks quite inconspicuous when switched off, but once in operation, it convinces with varied color scenes and intense light games. However, the device is still very bright as a bedside lamp even at the lowest level, which can be considered a disadvantage of this lamp.

FAQ

How do I light my living room properly?

Ideally, a living area should have both direct and indirect light sources. With the Philips Hue or Govee lights, many different settings can be set to create a cozy atmosphere.

What color temperature is suitable for the bathroom?

For general lighting in the bathroom, cold white light with a color temperature of approx. 4,000 Kelvin is recommended. However, the mood can also be adjusted with the help of targeted color accents, e.g. for bathing with a candlelight look.

Where can I buy smart lights?

The smart light bulbs and LED light sources can be purchased in many DIY stores, from specialist retailers or conveniently online. Depending on the type of bulb, lamps can be dimmed continuously or set to different colors.

Conclusion

With the Hue app and its smart lighting systems, Philipps is still the leading manufacturer of smart lamps and light sources. The app can be connected with many other functions and thus enables a huge range of possibilities to individually design and control the lights in your own home. However, Philips technology also comes with certain costs that not every consumer is willing to pay.

Govee offers a real alternative to the market leader, both in terms of price and the functions of the system. The Chinese manufacturer proves to be very innovative and presents solutions such as attaching a camera to the TV screen to convert data into light signals. With the help of different modes, the Govee app can also create light scenes that match the respective environment and mood of the user.

Considering that Govee is still quite new on the market, the manufacturer from China already has a wide range of smart lighting products, which are also particularly affordable. Although the individual models cannot always keep up with the competitor Philips Hue in terms of hardware and software, they offer an excellent price-performance ratio overall and can definitely be considered an alternative to the popular manufacturer Philips. Whether you want to control your smart home with the high-quality technology from Philips Hue or the innovative and cost-effective solution from Govee is ultimately up to you.

Attention: When installing electronic equipment, please be sure to observe the manufacturer’s safety instructions. You have to take care of your own safety. The information on this site only helps you to learn.
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