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Philips Iris and Bloom

I needed another light in the Philips Hue system, and grabbed an Iris rather than another Bloom, mostly because I was curious about what the difference was. Essentially the Iris is a bigger and somewhat brighter version of the Bloom, with a more designey exterior. It reminds me of an Apple product from 15 years ago, which is a style I like very much. It has the same shortcoming as the Bloom — it can do the full RGB spectrum, but it can’t do the sort of “enhanced” second spectrum that the regular A19 Hue bulbs can. You can get very close indeed using the regular spectrum, though (and the corollary is that the Bloom and Iris can do a much better green than the regular Hue bulbs can). The color reproduction of the Hue and Iris is the exact same.

Otherwise, it’s pretty much what I expected. It’s all-plastic — the Bloom incorporates a glass rim around the bowl’s edge. Given that it’s also bigger and less dense, I would say it feels a little cheaper, but it’s not the sort of thing you pick up a lot, so that doesn’t really matter. The Bloom’s cable routing is also a little more thoughtful in that the cord is made to come out the front, under the bowl, and is easily hidden.

As mentioned above, the Iris is slightly brighter, but not drastically so. The difference is such that you only notice if you compare them directly.

The Bloom is probably better than the Iris for almost any use given the smaller size and nicer cable routing, but the Iris is kind of fun looking, so I’ll keep it around.