After recently reviewing the Govee Smart Table Lamp and Flow Pro Light Bars, I’m quickly becoming a fan of all things Govee. The smart lighting brand recently released a new portable lamp with support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, and as always, I was excited to try it out.
Design
The Govee Portable Lamp features a half bowl design that mimics the Philips Hue Go Light for less than half the price. The bottom of the lamp makes use of two little nubs that allow it to be positioned either on its side or facing upwards, and the power button is located at the base.
User experience
The Govee Portable Lamp puts out 360-degrees of soft diffused lighting using up to 16 million different colors, which makes it perfect for filling a room with some mood lighting. Plus, it can also display white light in warm or cool tones for when you want to use it more like a traditional lamp, or need a bedside lamp to read next to.
Additionally, Govee’s Portable Lamp has over 32 different “scenes” made up of colors that fade in and out or smoothly transition from one color to another. With this, the lamp can be a relaxation tool or even a party in a box thanks to its dedicated mode that reacts to music.
When powering the lamp on or off, you have a couple of different options to choose from. The first is by pressing the power button on the bottom of the lamp, but using the Alexa or Assistant voice controls are much more convenient.
Finally, the third way to control the lamp is by using the power toggle in the Govee Home app.
App
One of the best parts of owning a Govee light is the Govee Home app. It’s obvious that the brand has put a lot of time and energy into its app because it is chocked full of features and laid out in a clear concise way.
This makes the app so easy to use, which is very important because it allows you to select all the different lighting modes, choose the color, switch to different scenes, or even DIY your own scene.
In short, the app is a large part of the reason the Govee Portable Lamp is worth purchasing. Without such a well-designed and fully featured app, this light wouldn’t be half as useful. You can even set timers or have it gently wake you up in the morning or gradually turn off in the evenings.
Battery life
One of the standout features of the Govee Portable Lamp is the fact that it has a 3,350mAh battery which allows it to be used untethered to the power outlet. In my testing, I found that it is usually good for three and a half hours at 50% brightness.
Final thoughts
If you’re looking for a smart bedside lamp, a light to take with you on the go, or something to add a little mood lighting then the Govee Portable Lamp is perfect. However, when it comes to pricing, the Govee Portable Lamp is a little expensive coming in at $65.
That still makes it significantly cheaper than the Philips Hue alternative though, and right now, you can save 30% off of that price by clipping the coupon on Amazon.
If you’re looking for a more functional smart lamp and don’t need it to be portable, then I’d recommend the Govee Smart Table Lamp which boasts more features and brighter lighting for the same price.
