LEDs are used in many products today, ranging from home lamps for chandeliers and lighting fixtures to high-tech car headlights, so you will hardly be surprised by the presence of diodes in a bedside lamp. What, then, surprise? Of course, smart features and remote control capabilities.
This is exactly what is trying to surprise Xiaomi.
The lamp itself is far from a new product, and has been on sale for a long time, but earlier it had to be ordered from Internet sites, but now it can be purchased in Russian retail. However, I decided to take this gadget for review only when I was testing a smart home kit from the same company, but then I failed to get a night light (hereinafter I will call this lamp that way) for the test. Now, as they say, the gestalt is closed – the night light is in my hands. The main goal is to understand how it can function as an independent device in isolation from a smart home.
It turned out that the night light perfectly knows how to function in this quality, while retaining the possibility of remote control and practically without losing functionality.
Design, dimensions, controls
A large white box made of thick cardboard, inside which there is a large cylindrical lamp with a white plastic bulb, resting on a golden aluminum base. As usual with the best company – minimalism and laconic design.
The look is cool. A lamp, or a night light, whichever you prefer, will suit almost any interior. It is quite large – 222 millimeters high and 101 millimeters in diameter (technical education does not allow you to write dimensions in centimeters). Weighs 670 grams.
All control is placed on the upper surface of the luminaire and consists of two buttons and a touch edge, which, after removing the protective film, turns out not to be graphically highlighted in any way – this is not necessary, almost the entire surface along the edge reacts to swipes.
The main purpose of the touch surface is to change the brightness of the glow and select the color of this very glow.
The buttons are pressed with a pleasant soft click and have a small stroke.
Accordingly, the control is based on a combination of taps and swipes. The instructions contain examples of control combinations and are signed in a clear and familiar Chinese language.
If you haven't learned Chinese yet, you can use either the Google translator camera in your smartphone or the scientific poke method. I chose the last option and was right. Understanding the features of management comes after just a couple of minutes of experiments. In order not to deprive you of such an exciting pastime, I will not paint this very control – there will be something to do with the lamp. ?
There is a performance sticker on the bottom of the lamp and a rubber ring to prevent the lamp from slipping on surfaces.
In addition to the lamp itself, the box contains a white power supply with a standard laptop connector.
This means that even if the cable is gnawed by a cat or the robot vacuum cleaner Xiaomi runs over, it will be possible, without being very upset, to replace it with a laptop power supply, since the output current and voltage parameters are also common – 1 A and 12 V respectively.
Alas, the plug is Chinese, so you will have to purchase an adapter.
Yeelight app and lamp in operation
The instructions include a QR code to download the app. But do not rush to scan it – it's too early to rejoice. The QR code will send you to download the smart home application, which will not be able to see the lamp without a control module. Therefore, we ourselves go to the application store of our smartphone and drive Yeelight in the search. Install, launch, and here it is!
The application will see the lamp itself and offer to connect. Let's not neglect the invitation, we click on the lamp. The entire list of lamp functions will then become available.
On the first tab 'Recommended' we will be asked to select the color of the glow from the preset templates, and at the bottom to adjust the brightness using the slider.
On the second White tab, you can adjust the hue of white, from actually yellow to bluish white.
Further, on the 'Color' tab, you can adjust the color (well, you must) using the spectrum.
Well, the next tab is the choice of colors in the 'stream' and its speed. Stream is a mode in which the lamp itself will change color, as if shimmering from one to another in accordance with the sequence you specified here.
At the bottom of the screen there are three buttons: on / off, favorites, modes.
Various lamp functions can be selected in the 'Modes' menu.
For example, 'eyedropper', a function similar to that in Windows – the 'Paint' application – after clicking on it, a camera will open, with which you can select the color of the lamp in the color of the surrounding objects. To do this, move the center of the lens to the desired color and tap 'ok'. After that, the lamp will change color to the selected one.
You can set the shutdown time or set a schedule according to which the lamp will turn on and off.
But the most interesting, in my opinion, is the musical mode.
In this mode, the lamp begins to change color and blink in time with the music that is playing nearby. And this is not just blinking – the lamp takes into account different instruments.
In addition, if you click on the settings icon in the upper right corner of the main screen, a menu will open in front of us, in which, among other things, you can tie the lamp to the Mi Band bracelet.
After that, you can turn on the mode in which the lamp will turn off after you fall asleep, receiving a command from your bracelet, which tracks your sleep. Convenient thing.
This is probably all that is interesting in the application that may interest you. Yes, the average buyer will stop using half of these features after a couple of days after purchasing, but some of the features can make life easier or increase its comfort, for example, switching on by a timer.
Conclusions and conclusion
The price tag in Russian stores looks somewhat overpriced and ranges from 3 to 4 thousand rubles. Price factor aside, I liked the lamp. Among its advantages are a pleasant, laconic design, dimensions, thanks to which the lamp does not look like a foreign object in any interior, as well as smart functions and the presence of a remote control, without which it would be, albeit stylish and beautiful, but an ordinary product. However, without smart functions, it would have cost significantly less, which means it would still find its buyer.
And personally, the musical regime did not leave me indifferent. Yes, this is not God knows that, however, if you put two such lamps in a room and synchronize them using one smartphone, then you can arrange discos with light music.
By the way, the lamp power is 10 W, and they are enough for night lighting of a room of 14-15 square meters. The lamp will not be able to replace the main lighting, but its power is quite enough to read a book in its light before bed.
After the lamp test, I caught myself thinking that household appliances, electronics and household items from Xiaomi, both in terms of functionality and design, fit very harmoniously into my life and correspond to my tastes in terms of design. Perhaps I'll leave this lamp to myself and start gradually surrounding myself with devices from this manufacturer (do I already have a toothbrush?). The next in line is the smart kettle.
The author thanks the company 'x-store' Ulyanovsk for providing the lamp Xiaomi YeeLight Bedside for the review.