For our first review of 2019, and just ahead of the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, we have this pretty nifty Smart LED Desk Lamp.
I have to mention that the LumiCharge lamp in this review is the first generation. A second generation will be released later this year, and will be shown at the 2019 CES.
The LumiCharge LED desk lamp is multifunctional and does a lot more than illuminate. Besides working as a desk lamp, the LumiCharge is a universal phone battery charger, digital clock with date and temperature. It features three different lighting hues with 10 levels of brightness. The lighting hues range from a bright white light, to an amber light and then a light that is on the cool side of the spectrum. Four button controls are one the base of the lamp for power, brightness and hue.
There is a digital alarm clock in the center of the lamp’s neck. The large display shows the time, date, day of the week and temperature. The control buttons for the clock are on the backside of the neck.
The base of the lamp has a universal phone battery charger dock and stand. With a quick turn of the dial, you can change the docking connection to support Apple Lightning, Micro USB and USB-C. If your mobile device has a protective case, like most do, the docking connection swivels a bit to accommodate this. A motion sensor has been added to the bottom of the neck of the lamp to assist you, with some well needed light, when entering a darkened room. A cover comes with the lamp in case you do not want to use the motion sensor option. Two USB ports have also been added for extra charging options.
The design of the lamp is very modern and compact in design. LED lights emit very low heat and having three lighting hues are nice options. There some instances where a bright white light can be a bit too harsh and a cool hue is easy on the eyes. I found the flexibility of the lamp really good. The only problem I had was with the digital clock display. It seemed a bit too dim and I could not seem to find a way to make the illumination brighter.
If you just want a Universal Charging Dock, then the LumiDock might be what you need. It has the same docking connection mechanism as the base of the LumiCharge, with three docking connections and dial. But it is much smaller and has a wireless charging pad on the top.
The wireless charging pad works with the phone case on, just as long as the space between both surfaces are not too wide. One of my cases has a Popsocket on the back, which raises my iPhone from connecting with the charging surface. The gap created by the Popsocket is just enough to not charge my iPhone.
There is one USB port on the side to charge an additional device. It is small enough to take on travel trips and helps to charge multiple devices.
To purchase or for more information on these items, visit LumiCharge.com. *Dean received a sample of these two products for review purposes.
