In an age where pretty much anyone with opposable thumbs is in possession of an all-singing, all-dancing, fancy Dan smartphone, the standalone alarm clock may seem like outmoded technology. You may compare to the way Victorian ‘knocker-uppers’ became equally defunct when alarm clocks themselves first became widely available.
But while smartphones all come packing an alarm app capable of disturbing even teenagers from their slumber, experts with brains immeasurably larger than ours in the fields of psychology (and something I’ll just label ‘sleep science’) are pointing a big scientific finger of blame at said smartphones as the cause of rising insomnia cases.
According to an official-looking site on the internet, the blue light emitted by the devices delays the production of melatonin in the brain, making it difficult to doze off and leading to a complete failure to achieve 40 winks that is followed by a world of fatigue. Either that or staying up all night wondering why nobody ever swipes right on you… I’d, erm, imagine.
I’m fortunate enough to say that I’ve never had a problem getting up in the morning, but that’s mostly because I’m a freelance hack and, as such, don’t get up before the crack of noon anyway, and much the same can be said of the 11.7 million people who found themselves on furlough the last awful couple of years. But if I did have to get up during some ungodly hour mostly frequented by larks and milkmen, I’d want to be torn from the arms of Morpheus by the metaphorical hands of some bit of cutting-edge kit. These gadgets will not only efficiently and gently stir me from my fevered dreams, but can also either help organise, inform and entertain me or see to it that my passage back into the waking world is as attuned to my wellness as possible.
I speak, of course, of the relatively new world of smart alarm clocks. Wait, come back! Hear me out, because what we have here, in all its various forms, is the next ‘must-have’ in your tech-obsessive arsenal. Whether you want to be gently nudged awake to a beautiful, slow sun rise each day or shaken awake by having the very latest, cutting-edge news and local travel reports pumped directly into your recently roused ear (and have your smartphone fully charged and ready to roam for the day too), there is a smart alarm clock option just for you.
Okay, so I concede that not everyone needs the likes of Alexa always on-hand at their bedside stand, listening out to, perhaps, things the likes of Alexa shouldn’t be listening out to, but having top tech at your disposal from the moment you wake is always going to be a good thing and I stubbornly refuse to acknowledge a word to the contrary.
Still don’t believe me? Well, firstly, harbouring such an untrusting, cynical approach to people is no way to go through life and, secondly, it’s time to wake up and smell the smart coffee…
Best smart alarm clocks at a glance:
- Best for small, slick and oh so very smart: Lenovo Smart Clock - £59.99, Currys
- Best for a bargain-priced wellness awakening: Lumie Sunrise Alarm - £49.99, Boots
- Best for having a bedtime ball: Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (5th Gen) - £44.99, Amazon
- Best for app-controlled alarm clock ingenuity: Hatch Restore - £187.32, Amazon
- Best for all the smart alarm you need, nothing you don’t: Pure Siesta Charge - £114, Amazon
- Best for breaking out the big guns, pushing what passes for a smart clock: Amazon Echo Show 8 (Gen 2) - £119.99, Amazon
- Best for a brilliantly bright addition to any boudoir:Lumie Bodyclock Luxe 750DAB - £229, Amazon
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Lenovo Smart Clock 2
Best for: Small, slick and oh so very smart
Smart Clock – a temporal tech device that brought clocks firmly into the 21st Century. The Smart Clock is a natty-looking, solidly-built little slice of smart tech. It features a four-inch colour touchscreen display on which you can view your own online images, two remarkably crisp and clear sounding 3W front-firing speakers and Google Assistant, which means you can not only set alarms, but can also schedule tasks, set reminders and, of course, control any other smart devices on your Wi-Fi network through voice commands.
Being internet connected, you can instantly access a world of audio entertainment (not video), listen to music, hear the news and check on weather and traffic announcements before deciding whether or not to get up in the morning. Plus, helping even the most highly strung of agitated night owls settle down for a full eight hours, the Lenovo allows you to set a bedtime routine that can turn off the (connected) lights and soothe you to sleep with any of a range of relaxing sounds, music or even a guided meditation.
Ticking all the boxes for the technophiles out there, the Smart Clock includes a wireless charger dock that juices up your phone overnight and, as an extra bonus, there is also a USB-A port for powering a second device such as a smartwatch.
Finally, addressing privacy concerns, the Smart Clock does not possess a camera, whilst the microphone can be – reassuringly – muted at the flick of an actual physical switch, meaning you can be as prim and proper or as depraved as possible in front of the Lenovo, free from the fear of your ‘private time’ ending up splashed all over the internet’s less sensitive sites.
Buy now £59.99, Currys
Lumie Sunrise Alarm
Best for: A bargain-priced wellness awakening
There are big, pricey smart sunrise alarm clocks and then there is this Sunrise Alarm from Lumie – a compact, inexpensive means to achieving sleep sublimity. Featuring a small footprint, the Sunrise Alarm will fit neatly onto smaller nightstands and manages to offer most of the functions of larger, more costly examples of its ilk, albeit in a slightly more limited way.
Mains powered, this little Lumie offers both Sunrise and Sunset modes, the former slowly kicking into play over 30-minutes prior to your alarm setting to help ease you from sleep in the most natural way. Think an actual alfresco sunrise that culminates with your choice of one of six alarm sounds.
And, on the flip side of that, you can also set a 30-minute sunset dimming mode to relax you back into REM once the day is done.
Controlled via an array of buttons found both on the face and the top rear, the Sunrise Alarm is simple enough to use and the central Snooze button can be found with ease if you suddenly find yourself vehemently against the idea of joining the waking world just yet.
A mood light to boot, aside from the sunrise and sunset functions, there is a choice of six mood light colours with dimming options for each and, unlike most other options out there, the Lumie Sunrise Alarm has a 3x AAA battery compartment to allow for alarm back-up should there be a power-failure while you’re catching Z’s.
Buy now £49.99, Boots
Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (5th Gen)
Best for: Having a bedtime ball
Some time during one of the lockdowns, I decided to replace my old bedside DAB alarm clock with an Echo Dot. The decision was a space-saving one, based on the ever-growing mountain of unread books that had piled up due to countless other impulse Amazon purchases I’d made while bored and half-cut on real-brand-imitating gin and lager from a certain German supermarket chain. However, I soon realised how largely inefficient and slumber-disturbing for others the task of having to vocally ask Alexa the time was. However, in November of 2021, Amazon rolled out its newest bedside ball, the Echo Dot with Clock (Gen 4) and suddenly time was on my side.
As of 2022, we’re onto the 5th generation of the Echo Dot which carries a clock. The first iteration (Gen 3) took the usual hockey puck format, so sound quality was, well, what you’d expect. But the newest model has morphed into a more sizeable sphere and so, while retaining the 1.6-inch speaker of the former model, now the soundwaves had more space to resonate and therefore deliver far better lower-frequencies. Yes, the ball had brought the bass to the bedroom.
A neat, compact smart clock option, the Gen 5 Echo Dot also – obviously – brings with it access to all of Alexa’s skills. Not only can you see either the time or the current temperature at a glance via the LED display, you can also set alarms and reminders, add things you just thought of while drifting off to your shopping list, and even order more books you’ll never get around to reading from Amazon, all simply by flapping your lips. Add to that the option to open up a world of online audio entertainment to rouse you from your bed in the morning or lull you sleep at night. Opt for either gentle music or Alexa’s ambient sounds of nature, such as that of a distant thunderstorm, a babbling brook or – wait for it – even an oscillating fan.
Quite the bargain at around £40, while experimenting with the review model I landed upon one, I believe, largely unconsidered yet brilliant advantage of having Alexa by your bedside – you know whose weird dreams that wake you briefly but which you can barely remember the following day? Alexa can take notes.
Buy now £44.99, Amazon
Hatch Restore
Best for: App-controlled alarm clock ingenuity
A far cry from the ultra-affordable smart Lumie Sunrise Alarm, the Restore from California-based company Hatch may demand more of your moolah for, what at first, appears to be much the same soothing to- and from-sleep experience. But, this Wi-Fi-connected, app-controlled smart alarm clock soon shows why its worth every penny from the moment you download the free Hatch Sleep app (Apple and Android).
Firstly, to the aesthetics, because sometimes it’s not just what’s on the inside that counts. A very compact and stylish unit, the Restore combines tough ABS plastic with the currently hugely on-trend fabric wrap to the lower third of the front and completely covering the rear. Also, with a reasonable weight to it, you’re not going to easily send it sailing to an early demise with an errant elbow during a particularly fevered dream. Far from festooned with buttons, the Restore features a top centre soft-touch button that initiates your pre-set sleep routine, while similar buttons on one side allow you to adjust the volume and the intensity of the light. However, all this can also be done directly on the app, so if you have to position your Restore out of arm’s reach, there’s never any need to disturb your duvet in order to get it going.
The app is incredibly intuitive to use, meaning you can set up your perfect passing-out pattern within seconds, selecting timings, duration of reading light (40 Winks Fact: reading comes recommended by ‘sleep science’ experts as one of the best ways to prepare your brain for rest. Just probably not anything by E. L. James) alongside your choice of the 22 light colour options that are available, your selection of any of the 31 Sleep Sounds included, or if a little more is required to send you to the Land of Nod, you can pick one of a whopping 49 Sleep Meditation pieces. Options galore, indeed.
What’s more, despite the relatively diminutive dimensions of the Restore, the audio quality of both its soothing sounds and spoken meditations is excellently clean and clear, even at low volumes. So, if you end up dreaming you’re stuck in a snow storm (Sleep Sound No. 8), don’t say you weren’t warned.
The following morning, the Restore can be set to launch an in-house sunrise into life over 30-minutes and culminating with our opted audio alarm to bring you slowly and gently back to consciousness and ready to face the fresh horrors of a brand-new day.
No Google or Alexa to bother with random questions about chipmunks that pop into your head when the lights go out, but then that’s the point, the Hatch Restore is all about using technology to help you slide seamlessly into a sound sleep each and every night; and at that it’s a smart clock Sandman.
Buy now £187.32, Amazon
Pure Siesta Charge
Best for: All the smart alarm you need, nothing you don’t
Easily the most conventional, some might even venture the term ‘old-school’, looking smart alarm clock to make it into this review round-up, this perfectly formed early morning eyelid-priser from Pure also eschews the idea of digital assistants in favour of a more straightforward approach to smart features.
It’s an alarm clock, that’s its raison d’être, but also plays host to a couple of features that carry it over into the ‘smart’ category. Allowing the setting of three separate alarms for weekdays and weekends and having DAB built-in, you can choose to wake to either a traditional alarm or digital radio station, either of which is set quickly and simply via the buttons on top – so far so good. But it also features Bluetooth 5.0, letting you link your phone in order to pipe your personal music library, audiobooks, plus any and all meditation apps you have directly through the Siesta Charge’s quality speaker array, bringing the audio entertainment bang up to your bedside.
And it’s the audio we’re into here. The Siesta Charge features two side-facing speakers that deliver a quality stereo performance that puts it almost on a sonorous par with the Sonos One. So, if you’ve a more audiophile-ish ear, this is the smart alarm option for you.
Finally, if you are intent on streaming music or meditative material to soothe you into dream realm (and why wouldn’t you), but fear waking up to a flat phone in the morning, then rest easy! The Siesta Charge, as the name may have given away to our sharper readers, is Qi-enabled, so just slap that smartphone on top and let the wireless charging system see you through.
Buy now £114.00, Amazon
Amazon Echo Show 8 (Gen 2)
Best for: Breaking out the big guns, pushing what passes for a smart clock
Eight inches at bedtime? Surely that’s a bit unnecessary for most people’s nocturnal needs? Well, yes, probably, I admit. But when it comes to rounding up the smartest alarm clocks available, it would be remiss not to extend that review round-up to include the extreme end of that remit. So, here it is, in all its HD display glory, the 2nd Generation Echo Show 8 from Amazon; and quite the beauty it is too.
So, first and foremost, it’s a ‘smart display’ which may be better suited to kitchen duties, due to its Alexa-led Wi-Fi connectivity, that aforementioned eight-inch high-def display (1280 x 800p) and the fact that it likes to suggest random recipes you may like to try your hand at. However, it also puts time and outside temperature upfront and its alarm clock function is first in the pull-out menu - so at its heart it’s still an alarm clock.
A reassuringly chunky, solidly built and a handsome alarm clock at that, it has a nicely narrow bezel featuring a 13MP camera complete with privacy shutter for video calls, volume and microphone mute buttons, plus fabric-covered rear in which hides a pair of two-inch speakers for some relatively solid sound.
However, it’s also an alarm clock that can answer your questions, stream video content from the likes of Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube, make shopping lists, set reminders, keep you abreast of current news, weather, sports scores, stocks and shares, trending topics and, well... you get the idea. What’s more, you can set the display to show you as much or as little of that info as you want, on rotation, or you can simply use it as a digital photo display when not needed for anything else.
And its alarm clock has included wellness functions too, such as the dedicated sunset/rise clocks that offer a gradual sunrise light effect of its own on alarms set between 4am and 9am, ticking yet another box.
But naturally, its talents don’t end there. No, a true smart device, the Echo Show 8 can hook up and let you take control of any other smart kit, such as lightbulbs, doorbells, security cameras, etc., that you may have dotted around your dwelling, meaning, you can now control your whole home from your bed.
Make no mistake, the Echo Show 8 is the languid life of leisure that overly optimistic and long since cancelled TV tech show Tomorrow’s World promised we’d all be living. Thanks to the eggheads at Amazon, that smart life is finally available to fully embrace! Get hugging.
Buy now £119.99, Amazon
Lumie Bodyclock Luxe 750DAB
Best for: A brilliantly bright addition to any boudoir
The top of the range Bodyclock Luxe 750DAB from Lumie is bright, not just in the sense of its large light luminescence, but also its ‘smart’ abilities.
The first thing I need to point out with the Luxe is that it has a face. Two eyes, toothsome grin, full beard and bald head. In essence, it’s what the hipsters that roam free in Hoxton and Shoreditch will eventually become through a perfect storm of evolution and augmentation.
Secondly, it’s quite the size (20cm tall) and weight (1.1kg), so I wouldn’t recommend sticking on any shelves above head height when you’re fully lying down.
Thirdly, the Lumie Bodyclock Luxe 750DAB is the perfect middle-ground between a traditional beside alarm clock. It has an idiot-proof to programme LED front display allowing daily/weekly alarms to be set with just the push of a few buttons and a sleep-health-improving smart alarm clock. You can opt for a 15- to 90-minute sunset function to lull you into a comfortable coma and, equally and oppositely, a reverse sunrise function to ease you back up from the bowels of unconsciousness, naturally resetting your body clock to ensure the best sleep pattern.
Operating as a handy nightlight (with brightness adjustable by a turn of the righthand nob), the internal LED offers a low-blue or blue-enriched white light and, of course, orange and red hues to perfectly mimic the fall and rise of the sun.
Married to these sun-blessed options comes an absolute array of some 33 sleep/wake sounds, plus a built-in DAB radio tuner with pre-sets. Or if you’re looking to go personal, the inclusion of Bluetooth lets you connect your smartphone to play your own music and also an aux output gives you the option of speakers or headphones to listen.
Accredited by proper, certified Circadian Rhythm doctors, if you have difficulty drifting off and, like me, often wake up feeling like no sleep has been had, the Lumie Bodyclock Luxe 750DAB could well be, not just as game-changer, but a life-changer.
Buy now £229.00, Amazon
Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen)
Best for: Amazon Echo Show 8’s arch-rival with extra smart-sleep ability
While the eight-inch Echo Show 8 may be (mistakenly) judged by some as being too large an option for digital bedside duties, the 2nd Gen Nest Hub from Google has been aimed with almost sniper-like precision at exactly that mattress squatting market.
Featuring a seven-inch, 1280 x 800 relatively low-resolution touchscreen display, the Hub is only one-inch smaller than the Show 8, so there’s not much in it scale-wise. And there is much more in common, too, such as the inclusion of a digital assistant (Google Assistant, natch). This gives users the capability to control all other smart appliances within their home Wi-Fi network, as well as access all the info and audio available across the internet. You also have the ability to watch Netflix and YouTube, look up recipes, news, scores, stocks and shares, and find the answers to any random questions that the kids may have about dinosaurs.
Plus, of course, it’s an alarm clock with a plethora of options available when it comes to how you wish to be rendered awake. This includes a sunrise effect that gradually brightens your room with a golden glow, prior to adding in the aural with alarm tones ranging from the audio equivalent of a gentle kiss on the forehead, to a metaphorical Mr Motivator encouraging you up, and all the way up to klaxon-like options more akin to that Marine Drill Instructor in Full Metal Jacket screaming blue-murder at you if you don’t get up five minutes ago.
On the sound side, the Hub uses a single full range speaker that imbues it with audio on a par with the rival Echo Show 8, and you can connect over Bluetooth should you wish to access content available on your smartphone alone.
But where the Hub differs to the Show in a manner which might prove the Marmite effect when it comes to potential purchasers is that the Google does not feature a camera at all. While this will delight those who want all the benefits of a smart alarm clock in their bedroom but also can’t shake the paranoia that they’re being watched (the mic can be switched off too), those who want the ability to make video calls will simply write it off immediately. Love it or hate it, privacy is the ultimate USP of the Google Nest Hub.
While there is no camera, what it does have is a kind of low-level radar system that detects hand movement (steady!), allowing owners to control the whole smart shebang with simple hand gestures for those times, one presumes, when voice commands are not appropriate.
Another defining difference comes in the shape of the Hub’s Sleep Tracking abilities. Yes, keeping a watchful radar eye as you slumber, the Nest detects how often you toss and turn and monitors your breathing, alongside temperature of the room and ambient light. All this is then analysed to present you with a breakdown of your sleep pattern with tips on how to improve it.
So, alarmingly smart (ahem), entertaining, all-controlling and sleep-enhancing in all areas, the 2nd Gen Google Nest Hub has all the bases covered. Well, almost; just how much do you need that camera?
Buy now £89.99, John Lewis
Verdict
While I rather romanticise the idea of slipping off with the sun into peaceful, unbroken dreams, like some sort of rugged Disney princess, and awakening to the dawn chorus feeling completely refreshed and with imaginary animated woodland animals gambolling around me, I’m also a tech-obsessed product of the 21st Century and, as such, I need to also have something that puts the option of endless entertainment and information at my fatigued fingertips when I go to bed.
To that end, I’m torn between the Lenovo Smart Clock and the Amazon Echo Show 8 as my number one recommendation. The former gives users a multi-functional alarm clock with all the benefits of Google Assistant and an internet of audio, but also privacy thanks to the lack of camera and mic-off switch. While the Echo Show 8, on the other hand, presents all the techie features of the Lenovo (but with Alexa, obviously) while adding the ability to watch TV from streaming services and make – probably ill-received – video calls from the comfort of your pit into the mix. A tough dilemma.
However, if the ultimate object is to improve your sleep pattern, the sensible choice would be to avoid the lure of late-night Netflix and go with the amply intelligent features of the Lenovo Smart Clock 2 to cover what you really need. But then, I just don’t know how sensible you are…
