Furnishing a new apartment can be a challenge – especially if, like me, you are a bit used to various smart solutions and especially HomeKit, through which you would like to control the toilet flush. It may seem unbelievable, but even in today's modern world, some of your dream products cannot be found or chosen "at first sight", so to speak. A great example is a bedside lamp, which at first glance is a completely standard bedroom accessory, but as soon as you start looking for a smarter solution, you suddenly find out that it is not all that fun. I was even more happy when I discovered the Yeelight Staria lamps, which, at least on paper, fulfilled exactly what my girlfriend and I had kind of expected and required from this accessory. And since they have been decorating our bedside tables for some time, it would be a shame to deprive you of the experience with them.
Technical specifications and processing
Yeelight Staria is a classic table lamp with a circular base and a conical shade, the height of which is 292,5 mm and the diameter of the base is 179,5 mm, all with a weight of less than a kilogram. In terms of dimensions, it is therefore a relatively small product that will not take up unnecessary space on your bedside table. As for the light source, it is a 22W LED lamp with support for setting the temperature and light intensity (i.e. brightness), specifically in the range of 35 to 350 lm. The power supply is then taken care of by a classic mains adapter. It may seem obvious, but these days (unfortunately) it is not a problem to find lights with a power supply terminated by a USB-A port, which is why it is so necessary to find additional adapters for the socket.
The lamp offers Google Assistant support, Amazon Alexy and above all Apple HomeKitu, which is why it is very interesting for us as Apple fans. What is absolutely great is that it communicates with the household wirelessly on the home WiFi network with a frequency of 2,4GHz, without the need for any hub. So you can de facto just plug the lamp into the socket and you can start happily controlling it via your phone (after pairing) without any additional investments. You can also use the Yeelight application, which is freely available in App Store.
In addition to assistants, the lamp also offers support for wireless charging through a charger that is integrated into its base. It offers a power of 10 W, which is more than enough for iPhones, as it still only officially supports 7,5 W wireless charging.
In terms of workmanship, the charger is made of a combination of aluminum alloy and plastic. It is only available in white. variaexcept that the place for wireless charging in its base is distinguished by light gray, which is not only practical, but also visually tasteful. If I had to evaluate the design, I personally like it a lot. It is simply miniMalistic pieces intended for minia minimalist interior, in which they will not stand out, but will become a nice addition to it. However, please take the previous lines as a purely subjective assessment, which is absolutely always the case when it comes to design.
The standard price of the Yeelight Staria smart lamp is 1990 CZK.
Personal experience
Staria deserves praise not only for its technical specifications, but also for its usability. I can start with its control, which can be done both via a mobile application (i.e. Home or Yeelight), using the instructions for Siri, using the classic physical button in the base. Through it, the lamp can be turned on and off, and by long pressing it, you can regulate the brightness intensity along with the color. Of course, you can't regulate much with one button, so you have to accept that for more precise adjustment of the brightness or light temperature, you will always need to use the mobile application, but I think it's nice that despite miniYou simply have the minimalistic control at least the basic options in your hand. I also like the fact that you can tilt the shade by 30 degrees and thanks to that you can adjust the light cone so solidly. Of course, here too it is possible to debate whether it would be better to have the option to tilt the shade more, but I have to say that personally I would not even appreciate greater tilts. So far, I haven't come across a thing that would require this and that I wouldn't be able to solve with a ceiling light (in which I have Hue bulbs and therefore I can also light it from the bed if necessary).
As for the light, evaluating its color or intensity doesn't really make much sense given the setting options. But what I really like about it is that it is perfectly spread over the entire lower "radiating" side of the shade. If you look into it when it is lit, you will not find any unbalanced zones or any other defects that would cause the light to be emitted unevenly. However, in order not to just praise here, it bothers me a little that even 1% brightness is relatively bright and, above all, that it looks almost no different from, say, 5% or 10% brightness. So if the light was dimmable even more, it certainly wouldn't hurt. However, it should be added here that the vast majority of dimmable light bulbs and lamps suffer from a similar ailment, so this criticism should be viewed with some distance.
Gallery
After testing, I can't complain about compatibility with HomeKitThe WiFi connection to the lamp is apparently very stable and, most importantly, fast, so the “instructions” sent via phone, Mac, Apple Watch or iPad are transformed into the given task almost instantly. Moreover, you don't have to worry about the iconic HomeKitThe message “No answer”, which indicates a problem. This message only appeared twice during the testing period, and I didn’t have to answer it even once.onec can be solved by disconnecting and reconnecting to the electrical network, but all you had to do was wait for the lamp to “recover” and press the on/off button a few times. HomeKitDiscuss it with her.
I don't have much to say about the Yeelight Staria when it comes to wireless charging. In recent days, I've been regularly charging my phone at night using it. iPhone 13 Pro Max and then the girlfriend feeds through her lamp iPhone 13, and in neither case did we encounter any problems that would complicate charging. The good thing is that the base of the lamp has an inconspicuous LED diode that indicates the start of wireless charging, so you can immediately see whether the device is placed on the charging pad correctly or not (for example, if you are charging your phone in Folio packaging and so on). It's great that the charger can also handle AirPods or generally smaller objects with Qi support. The coil in the base of the lamp is obviously not too big, which would make it impossible to charge smaller Qi devices. However, I have to say that if the charging pad were a little bigger, I wouldn't be upset at all. Its current size requires placing the phone on it relatively precisely, which is quite a problem for me personally in the evening when I'm asleep. If you're asking how quickly the lamp charges iPhone 13 Pro Max, it's the same time as other 7,5W wireless chargers - a little over 3 hours. Is that too much? Especially for a bedside table product, which is what Staria is in my eyes, it doesn't break my heart at all.
Summary
So how do I finally evaluate the Yeelight Staria lamps? I can say for myself that it is exactly what I was looking for in our bedroom and there is nothing significant that I would miss about the lamp that would discourage me from buying it again. Of course, a larger charging pad would not be useless, a little more sophisticated control options as well and if it were available in a color other than white, it probably wouldn't offend many people. Even without these things, I think it is simply great and I think that for someone who likes HomeKit at least like me, it will be an absolutely ideal addition not only to the bedside table. The price may seem a bit high at first glance, but when you look at the current offer of "stupid" bedside lamps, you will suddenly find that you are on the same, if not higher, level with the nicer pieces. As a person who has two Yeelight Staria lamps in his bedroom on his bedside tables, I can definitely recommend this product.
Hello, I have HomeKitI have equipped the “entire” apartment, mainly with light bulbs, sockets and sensors, and I am satisfied, Michal.