Philips Hue Go 2.0 White & Colour Ambiance Smart Portable Light

The Philips Hue Go 2.0 is a Hue light with a battery in it, so it is not tied to a socket. Lift it off the charger and it keeps going for up to three hours.

• The Philips Hue Go 2.0 has no cable attached
• 300 lumens is deliberate
• The button on the unit matters more than it sounds
• Bluetooth now, Bridge later
• Where to use it, and where not to

The Philips Hue Go 2.0 has no cable attached

Every other Hue light is tied to a socket or a lamp holder. The Philips Hue Go 2.0 has a rechargeable cell inside, so lift it off its charger and it keeps going for up to three hours.

That changes where a light can be. Onto the dinner table for the meal. Out to the balcony for the evening. Into a child's room as a night light. Onto the floor behind a chair as uplighting, with no cable running across the room to trip over.

300 lumens is deliberate

It is soft rather than bright, and that is the design rather than a shortfall. A portable light that lit a room like a ceiling fitting would be unpleasant on a table at arm's length.

What you get instead is a pool of colour that changes the feel of a corner. For actual room lighting you want bulbs; this is the light you put on the table when the bulbs are dimmed.

The button on the unit matters more than it sounds

There is a physical button on the light itself that cycles through the built-in scenes. No phone, no app, no account.

That means a guest, a child or anybody visiting can pick it up and use it. A light that only responds to one person's phone becomes that person's job every evening, and this one does not.

Bluetooth now, Bridge later

Bluetooth is built in, so your phone controls it in the room straight out of the box with nothing else bought.

Add a Philips Hue Bridge and it joins the rest of your Hue lights: shared scenes across several rooms, schedules, and voice control through Alexa, Google or Siri. The same 16 million colours and full white range either way.

Where to use it, and where not to

It is IP20, so indoors and covered outdoor spaces only. A balcony under a roof is fine. A garden table in the rain is not, and neither is a poolside.

150mm square and 900g, which is heavy enough to stay where it is put and light enough to carry in one hand. Rated for 20,000 hours, and the mains adapter is in the box. Philips list the Go range at philips-hue.com.