Ember Perfect Temperature Control Mug 2

The mug does keep our drinks hot (we ordered two of the large mugs) and the build quality is great, but in less than one month the paint is peeling / chipping from the rim of the mug.We do not want to consume ceramic paint despite claims that it may be non-toxic.I saw at least one other reviewer citing this paint chipping problem which continued after their mug was replaced twice. I can’t see myself going through that. I would need to have very strong assurances the replacement wouldn’t have the same problem…and I’m more likely to simply throw these mugs away.I have seen in the U.S. they have created metallic versions (possibly without paint – like the stainless steel version.) They are probably giving up on fixing the paint chipping/peeling problem…but they don’t currently offer the metallic versions in Europe as far as I can see.

Tl;dr – Software and user interface let this product down. For the price I paid I expected better. I would still recommend it, but with a inescapable sense of disappointment and a hole in my pocket.For many months now I’ve seen influencers the length and breadth of YouTube with Ember mugs in their backgrounds and on their desks. As a wannabe influencer and a massive tea drinker who works from home it was only a matter of time before I found some excuse to buy myself this gift.I bit the bullet last week and at first I was satisfied with it’s simplicity and elegance. It had all the hallmarks of a great scandi-influenced minimalist design product with great utility. Was a bit disappointed to see an old school ac adapter for the charging base instead of the now ubiquitous USB charging (meaning I can’t charge the mug from my desk without a free power adapter and an extra cable.)Unfortunately having now used the product for a week I think the minimalism goes one step too far so you can never quite tell what “state” the mug is in, whether your brew is being kept hot or slowly going cold takes a bit of divination.See, the mug itself has an LED light indicator, which pulses different colours to indicate different things, but unfortunately these indications are both inconsistent and sometimes confusing.Green means your battery is charged, not that your temperature is correct.Pulsing white means your liquid is heating, but only if you added boiling liquid to begin with.Red means your battery is low… not that your mug is heating.Oh and you can also choose a “custom” colour to identify between multiple mugs in your house… but the default colour is also Red.Then there’s the app…The app allows you to remotely set the temperature of your mug by bluetooth… if you’re lucky!Pairing the mug was seamless the first time. Unfortunately you have to re-discover it every time you use it. I imagine in an effort to save battery they disabled the auto-search feature like most other bluetooth devices have, what would have been better here is maybe to have it search once every 15 minutes maybe? As it stands I have to reselect the device in the app… every time my phone has gone out of range.The app also has handy temperature presets for different beverages, great. But it also has a tea-timer… which stops timing if you switch app while you wait; not great.Now let’s talk about the mugs fatal flaw – heating.In a perfect world you would pour scalding water straight into your mug every time to brew your coffee or tea, the mug recognises a sharp change in temperature and takes its queue to wake up and monitor the temperature. But unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world.If you pour any liquid that is below about 60c (in my tests) like say… if you brew leaf tea or filter coffee in another vessel (like anyone who cares enough to spend £130 on a mug probably does!) Then sometimes, not every time, but often enough to plant the seed of doubt in my mind, the mug doesn’t recognise that you’ve put anything in and despite the temperature reading 58c or whatever – actually your brew is slowly going cold and you’ll never know until you reach for your dreams only to be met with the cold slops of reality as you imagine how much your friends would laugh at you if they could see you now.The only way to “wake” the mug, seems to be to stir or swirl the tea and wait for the app temperature gauge to catch up and get back to work. Often it seems like a pint of blood and your first born child wouldn’t be enough of a sacrifice for the Ember gods to smile down upon your sorry luke-warm soul.8/10 times it’s fine and works perfectly, and those last sups of 60c tea are joyous. But those two-in-ten times are just enough to always have me glancing to the side as I work and saying a quick prayer that the odds are in my favour this time.Great idea, mostly well designed except for the ac adapter, app needs work and connectivity could be improved.UI with the lights needs a rethink, they’ve sacrificed clarity for simplicity.If I had bought this for £40 in Argos I’d be absolutely delighted with myself.

As others have mentioned, there are problems getting the mug to stay connected to the app. This affects all features of the app, from setting temperatures to changing colours and performing updates. I found a workaround on Reddit that works for me that involves pairing the mug first through your phone settings, then through the app:1. Hold down the power button on the mug for about 14s until it flashes red, then release.2. In the app, go to your list of devices and long press your mug to delete it.3. Open the Bluetooth settings in your phone, forget the mug.4. Once the mug LED flashes white, hold the button down for about 4s until it flashes blue5. In the Bluetooth settings app in your phone, find the mug in the list of available devices and pair it6. Open the app, it will tell you you have no devices paired, follow the instructions to pair the mug, including holding down the button for 4s again and pairing the mug through the app.Once I had done these steps (the key part is pairing it first through the phone) I was able to perform an update and the mug reliably connected to the app each time.Once this was done I have been happy with the mug.