The Yeelight Candela screams premium right from the word go. The construction is solid with the base getting quality metal with just the Yeelight branding and a clean look while the top portion is enclosed in glass. The glass enclosure is rotatable which changes the brightness of the lamp. The bottom of the base houses a micro USB port located in a rather awkward position which might get tough at times while trying to plug in the charging cable. There’s also an LED indicative of the charging state and a reset switch beside it. The on/off switch is also located at the bottom and can be toggled between three modes which are as follows – Off > On > Bluetooth.
As the names of the modes would suggest, putting the lamp into the ‘ON’ mode will turn on the lamp but will limit the brightness and standby control to the lamp itself which means you will have to rotate the glass enclosure in order to vary the brightness levels. Switch to Bluetooth mode and you can now link the Yeelight Candela to your smartphone using the Yeelight app available on the Google Play Store as well as Apple App Store, which will let you play around with various settings and presets of the lamp right from your smartphone, as long as you’re in the range of the Bluetooth connection.
The app itself is quite simple to use and the instructions to add the lamp are self-explanatory. Once linked, the controls you get are pretty much minimal as this is not a multi-colored lamp and thus features just a brightness control slider along with some modes which just vary the brightness in order to suit a particular mood. You can also rename the light from the app or link multiple lamps of the same kind which will let you control all of them at once.
Talking about the light emitted from the lamp (that’s what you’re ultimately getting a lamp for), the peak color temperature at max brightness is 1800K and as the name would suggest, the lamp tries to mimic the flame of a lit candle to create a pleasant ambiance. It also has a unique and distinct look when compared to conventional lamps which makes it a nice eye-catching prop to have if you have friends or relatives visiting you. The Yeelight Candela also makes for a nice bedside lamp or a substitute for a conventional candle on the dinner table. The built-in 2100mAh battery ensures that the Candela is portable and while the runtime does not match the claimed eight hours, I could get up to six straight hours of use on a single charge with Bluetooth enabled, so running the lamp without the connectivity might prolong the battery life even further. Charging time is about 2 hours, but the lamp can be used even while charging which is a nice touch.
