MIPOW Playbulb Rainbow review

Want to be able to switch from grown-up livingroom to disco fun palace at the touch of a button or, perhaps, change the lighting strength and colour to match the ambiance? The MIPOW Playbulb could do all of this. Maybe.

The Playbulb Rainbow started off life as a Kickstarter campaign last year and now it’s freely available so I went to review this colourful smartbulb.

Yes it is a lightbulb, and yes it uses a standard fitting – thankfully the one sent had an adapter as the bulb is threaded and my ceiling fittings are bayonet style – but this, as you have probably gathered, is no ordinary bulb.

The MIPOW Playbulb is LED and kitted out to be able to turn any colour you could possibly desire, and is controlled by an app on your smart device via Bluetooth.

Playbulb Rainbow design and features

The Playbulb Rainbow looks like a standard, if not slightly larger, lightbulb. It also looks a little less… bulbous. Bulby? Well, it has a more conical, sleek shape and, as mentioned before, will screw in to regular threaded sockets or bayonet fittings by way of an adapter.

The Playbulb is covered in a matte white material with a ring of matte brushed silver near the top, below the actual light bulb. Even though the bulb gives off a decent amount of light it can still be used for atmospheric lighting.

Depending on how large your room is you might find that one bulb isn’t quite enough. My livingroom is kitted out with a pair of light sockets and the Playbulb illuminates that end of the room perfectly.

The Playbulb is a 5W LED that puts out about 280 lumens if that helps.

The added bonus is that, being LED, it takes 85% less power to light the room and the bulb could last you around 30 years!

Playbulb Rainbow setup

Setting up the bulb is easy. All you have to do is screw it into a light socket, either ceiling, wall or a lamp, then switch it on. Just like a regular ol’ light bulb.

But, once you’ve downloaded the Playbulb X app from Apple iTunes or Google Play Store things start to get a little different. Saying that though, some would argue that at the point you started looking for an app for your lightbulb, that’s when things actually get different. Whatever.

Once said app is on your smart device, you just need to pair it with the the bulb over Bluetooth.

Playbulb Rainbow app and performance

The home screen of the app is where you’ll find all of the Rainbow’s colour controls.

A colour wheel sits in the center of the screen where you can select from a multitude of shades just by tapping on it. Below that is a colour saturation slider and then, further down, lives four swatches that allows you to short cut straight to pure red, green, blue, or white hues.

An Effects button is located to the right of the swatches and this takes you to a separate screen.

Tabs for the Music Player and Scenes are on the bottom of the home screen – the music player is for the speaker equipped variants and so is redundant on the Rainbow.

Toggle switches for Shake and Color are at the very top of the Light Control screen. Toggling off Color reverts the bulb back to pure white, whereas toggling on Shake lets you choose a light random colour by shaking your device – handy if you are holding the smart device whilst dancing I guess.

Hitting the Effects button takes you to a screen with option for a Candle Effect — which is supposed to make the light flicker like a candle.

If you’re looking for something more dramatic for your Playbulb Rainbow you can set it to flash colours in a rave-tastic pulsating lightshow or a more sedate ‘breathing’ effect.

The Rainbow effect makes the bulb shift quickly from colour to colour, and Rainbow Fade gradually phases the colours into each other in a soothing manner. You also get control over the speed of the effect.

The Scenes option is pre-loaded with three scenes: Rainbow, Sunset, and Reading. You can also set your own scene should you want to store a setting that you’re particular proud of or just want it available quickly when you need to set the mood slickly 😉

Playbulb Rainbow review conclusion

The Playbulb Rainbow from MIPOW is a pretty fine multicolour smart bulb, especially for the price.

It does what you’d hope a lightbulb would do and casts a good amount of white light in to your room as well as being able to phase through the colours of the rainbow (16.8 million colours are available according to the spec sheet) in a pleasant, soothing manner or, should the mood take you, bring the disco to your livingroom.

The app is easy to use and, although on occasions can be a bit laggy, does give you adequate control of your room’s ambiance.

I love the fact that all you need is a smart device and the bulb and you’re good to go. Being able to fade the light, whether it be set at white or another colour, is also handy.

Add in to that the energy savings when compared to a normal bulb and the fact that this LED light bringer could last 30 years, then it sounds even more like a bargain.

If you’re looking to take the leap in to the smart bulb world then I’d recommend you start with the MIPOW Playbulb Rainbow – you might find that it’s all you need.

The Playbulb Rainbow is available for £28.58 from Amazon.co.uk or direct from the MIPOW online store.