A Critical Appraisal of the Nanoleaf Umbra Cup Smart Lamp: Style Over Substance or Truly Engaging?

Key Takeaways

• The Nanoleaf Umbra Cup Smart Lamp provides versatile lighting features and storage but lacks regular Wi-Fi controls.
• This lamp, priced at $130, has an elegant design but easily scratches, and its unique appearance may be polarizing.
• The app offers extensive customization options and scenes, but needing a Matter-Thread setup or Bluetooth control can be limiting.

The Nanoleaf Umbra Cup Smart Lamp didn’t arrive to solve a problem most people were having, and I don’t think anyone was dreaming of a $130 Matter-ready desk fixture. While the lamp’s companion app is packed with cool features and settings, there were many other elements of the “Cup” that I didn’t care for.

Nanoleaf Umbra Cup Smart Lamp

5/ 10

With its cup-shaped base, this appropriately named lamp is a perfect desk light that will also help keep tools organized. Makes a great reading light and adds personality and storage wherever you need it.

Pros

• Plenty of intuitive lighting options
• Fantastic app
• Provides desktop storage
• Includes USB-A charging port
• Compatible with Matter

Cons

• Expensive for just one smart lamp
• No USB-C connections
• Metallic finish scratches easily
• Looks a bit weird

$130 at crutchfield $130 at Nanoleaf $130 at Umbra

How We Test and Review Products

Price and Availability

The Nanoleaf Umbra Cup Smart Lamp sells for $130 and can be purchased through the Nanoleaf Shop, Umbra Smart Lamps, and Crutchfield.

Specifications

Brand

Nanoleaf / Umbra

Integrations

Matter, Thread, Bluetooth, Alexa, Google Home, Apple Home, Samsung SmartThings, IFTTT

Multicolor Capable

Yes

Service Life

25,000 hours

Price

$130

Control Methods

Companion app, voice assistant (requires Matter networking)

Expand

A Little Umbrella for Your Desk

Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek

From the moment I unboxed the Cup, I knew I was going to have a tough time getting used to it hanging out on my desk. After two full weeks, my feelings didn’t shift much. Plain and simple, part of the issue was the appearance. Standing just over 12.5 inches tall, Nanoleaf and Umbra went for a beach umbrella appearance, an aesthetic that some will like and others won’t. I am in the latter camp, though I did find it convenient to be able to stick a pair of headphones or other items on top of the lamp.

At this time, the only color option is black. Do be careful with the metallic finish, as I noticed a couple of small scratches on the interior portion of the cup when all I had placed inside it was a USB cable and a notepad. A plastic knob acts as a manual power on and off with dimmer controls, while a sole USB-A charge port hangs out on the back of the device.

Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek

The LEDs are housed under the umbrella hood and deliver up to 320 lumens and over 16 million colors. Getting the lamp set up was about as straightforward as it gets. Just plug it in, download the Nanoleaf app (and create an account), add the light, connect to Wi-Fi, and install any available firmware updates.

Lighting Features Galore!

Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek

Under the umbrella hood is where the lamp’s LEDs are located. These aren’t your typical A19 bulbs (though we do have a roundup of the best smart light bulbs ). A translucent covering hides what I’m assuming is a grid of tiny LEDs, like you’d find on an LED-LCD TV. According to Nanoleaf-Umbra, the lamp is capable of producing over 16 million colors, along with 1 to 100% dimming and tunable whites. Other than power and brightness, lighting controls can only be accessed through the Nanoleaf app. There’s no remote control either.

That being said, this is one of the best smart lighting apps I’ve ever used! There are all kinds of customization options at your fingertips, but I never felt overwhelmed by the choices I could make. Quite the contrary, I was excited whenever I’d find another tucked-away setting that could enhance illumination even more.

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If you’re the kind of person who wants to fine-tune every aspect of your smart lights , I recommend starting with the “Basic” dashboard. By default, you’ll see a color wheel with a small circle for you to drag around the shape. Whenever I selected a new color, the Cup changed quickly. Raising and lowering brightness was just as fast. I liked having the ability to switch the color wheel over to color temperature, which can be adjusted from 2100 Kelvin (warm white) up to 6500K (daylight).

I never usually care for the scene creation tools that most smart lighting products are capable of, but I found myself using the “Scene” dashboard in the Nanoleaf app quite a bit. The app gives you several premade scenes to choose from, each of which can be customized further by tapping the menu icon next to the preset. Additional settings include color modification, along with the ability to choose between Fade, Highlight, and Random transition effects. Each of these three transitions can be further fine-tuned.

It was convenient to be able to “like” a few of the presets, which logged them in my “Favorites” tab for easy access. You’ll also be able to create your very own scenes by tapping the Plus icon in the Scene or Favorites settings. Oh, and last but not least: I was completely blown away by the Circadian Lighting feature. When set up, the lamp will automatically mirror the color temperature of the sun, based on time zone data or manual settings.

A Smart Lamp Stumped by Wi-Fi

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Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek

The Cup works with Matter and Thread systems. The smart lamp can be integrated into smart ecosystems that are powered by Alexa, Google Home, Apple Home, Samsung SmartThings, and IFTTT; but only when the lamp is connected to Matter-Thread peripherals.

I had a difficult time getting my Alexa app to link, only to realize that the Cup will only work with smart assistants that are Matter-enabled. This was a bummer to find out, considering smart lights that cost way less than this desk lamp can connect to regular Wi-Fi and smart ecosystems.

While the Nanoleaf app requires a Wi-Fi connection for firmware updates, the Cup’s app controls are handled by Bluetooth connectivity. This means that you won’t be able to control the Cup remotely, and may have range issues when you’re more than 30 feet away.

Should You Buy the Nanoleaf Umbra Cup Smart Lamp?

As much as I loved its mighty trove of app controls, the Nanoleaf Umbra Cup Smart Lamp has too much working against it. Not only is it more expensive than many other smart lamps, but the fact that you can only control the Cup over Bluetooth or a Matter-Thread setup is going to be an immediate detractor for most folks.

If this specific Smart Lamp isn’t for you, there are plenty of other products—Nanoleaf Lines Squared , Nanoleaf Shapes Ultra Black Triangles , and Umbra Cono —that might fill a similar need.

Nanoleaf Umbra Cup Smart Lamp

5/ 10

With its cup-shaped base, this appropriately named lamp is a perfect desk light that will also help keep tools organized. Makes a great reading light and adds personality and storage wherever you need it.

$130 at crutchfield $130 at Nanoleaf $130 at Umbra