Smart globes have been around for a while and many of us already have them installed throughout their household. Meross has a different solution for you, an entire smart lamp. So why would you use this instead of a smart bulb? We got hands on the Meross Smart Bedside Lamp to see what it was like.
So what’s it look like?
The Meross Smart Bedside lamp has an extremely modern look — so much so that my wife wasn’t a massive fan of it. It looks like a basic upside-down glass with a light inside — not your usual bedside lamp. On top of the lamp is a button that can be used to manually turn the lamp on and off. The lamp could sit bedside and is suited to a modern bedroom — or a modern office design.
The contents of the box are extremely simple — a lamp with instructions. Set up is just as simple. Just as for the Smart LED we reviewed yesterday, setting up the Smart Bedside Lamp is a matter of turning the lamp on, opening the Meross app on my Android phone and adding the new device. Enter your Wi-Fi password and it is good to go.
Setup and use
The Smart Bedside Lamp can display over 16 million colours but to access most of them you’ll have to use the Meross app and select the colour manually. The touch sensitive button on the top of the lamp is perfect for turning the lamp quickly on and off, randomly changing colours and adjusting the brightness but of course the smart comes from turning it on and off using the app or your favourite digital assistant.
Changing the colours on the lamp are exactly the same as doing it on the Meross Smart LED lights:
You can control the lights from the Meross app or from your digital assistant app. All digital assistants will respond to commands to change the colours of the lights too, and dim/brighten them. I found that as per usual Alexa was able to make the lights respond a lot faster than Google Assistant or Siri. Within each assistant app you just choose the colour you want (and there are a set number of colours in each of these apps) and then the brightness.
“Alexa, turn on the ambient light and make it red”
Once again you can choose from up to 16 million different within the Meross app. This time you can also choose from a range of shades of white, including white. There are no routines within the Meross app this time but of course you can set up a routine for a certain colour and brightness within Alexa, Google Home or HomeKit.
Should you buy it?
If you have a modern decor to your house and are yet to put any form of smart light/bulb into your bedroom — or other room — then this Meross Smart Bedside Lamp is a quick and easy solution. At $79.99 it is more expensive than a smart bulb if you already have a lamp you like the look of it is more of a difficult sell. For a lamp plus a light though it’s a decent price.
The setup is extremely simple along with its use, no matter your flavour of smartphone or digital assistant. If this lamp takes your fancy then I can highly recommend it for its ease of use and how well it works — just check with your housemate that it fits the decor before pushing the buy it now button. You can get it from the Meross Amazon AU store here — Meross Smart Bedside Lamp — for $79.99.
