Product Type: Smartphone Case | Manufacturer: LuMee | Price: £69.95 | Where to buy: Apple Store | [et_social_share]
The LuMee Duo is an improvement on its predecessor with excellent selfie capabilities but still feels too bulky and cumbersome for everyday use.
The LuMee Duo is the latest addition to the range, sporting LEDs to help illuminate your face in a variety of surroundings. Design has been much improved over its predecessor, which was by all accounts a plastic box with lights. It’s now rubberised around the edges, while materials in general feel much higher quality. The back has a much nicer matte Gold finish, though this bit is still plastic. Although it will probably protect from a few drops, we wouldn’t feel comfortable using this as a safety case. It’s still incredibly bulky and will add significant chunk to your Apple iPhone. It’s also very difficult to get the case on and remove it again, meaning some users could be stuck with it. We had to apply considerable force to get it out. A micro-USB port on the bottom is used to charge the case, which will last anywhere between a few hours and a whole day. When you consider that you’ll only be using the LuMee in short intervals, that’s quite a long battery life.
The Duo gets its name from the fact there are two sets of lights on the front and back. The front LEDs follow a familiar strip pattern around the edges of the handset, while the rear ones are oriented down the sides. Testing them, they are both significantly brighter than what we saw on the previous generation LuMee. Cranking the light up to max is pretty intense and has a tendency to make images a little overexposed; perfect for if you want to hide unsightly blemishes. Hold the button and you can turn the brightness down to more acceptable levels. We found that around half way seemed to be the best blend of light and exposure. Interestingly, the rear lights don’t seem to be as powerful as the front. The quality of light they emit is quite warm in colour and seems to be based on a medium skin-tone. This is a good choice as it hides imperfections and adds colour to pale complexions. We found it very useful in adding subtle colour to a selfie, even when used on the lowest setting.
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