Who remembers the venerable Alarm Clock Radio that sat on the chest of drawers or bed side table? The red glow of the LEDs and the sometimes audible turning of gears to flick over split-flap minute counter.
Personally, I gave up on an alarm clock radio since I have had a mobile phone. The mobile phone became my alarm clock and I didn't replace the radio but it was nice to wake up to the Radio DJ playing a tune or giving the traffic report.
Lenovo believes that their smart CLOCK with Google Assistant will be the revival of the Alarm Clock Radio. I am not really convinced because people would simply use their mobile phone and be done with it. So, let's take a look at the smart CLOCK and understand the reason why it is worth using this dedicated device.
The box is visually attractive with the image of the smart CLOCK on the front. Visually the imageis an appealing blue hue with large white numbers which conveys it is easy to see. Don't let the size of the box throw you off it is actually quite small which is a good thing. The old alarm clock radios were pretty big.
Features
The smart CLOCK is small but has pretty good specs. It has a 4-inch IPS touch screen with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels and let's not forget voice activated Google Assistant. There is also dual band WiFi (2.4/5G) covering a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. What about the rear USB port? I thought maybe it was for having a USB stick with photos or music but it is there for charging your mobile phone. Having the USB port ensures you won't need an additional power point to charge your mobile phone. You only need to plug in your charging cable. If you are into home control/automation the smart CLOCK is compatible with thousands of Smart Home devices.
Build Quality
The unit is very light and plasticky but the addition of the soft grey cloth makes it homely and with the neutral colour it will fit into most any home decor.
Ease of Use
It is all touchscreen, Google voice activated and has only two buttons on the top which controls the volume.
Navigating the available settings is a matter of swiping up, down, left or right on the screen. The user interface icons are also familiar enough that you can easily know which control is for brightening the screen, setting alarms and the usual Play, Pause, Fwd, Rev when in the YouTube or Spotify playback.
As there is Google Assistant you may also issue Hey Google voice activation commands to activate features or change settings instead of touching the screen. It's as easy as "Hey Google, set an alarm for 7am" You will get audio feedback from Google indicating the alarm is set.
If you really like automation there is a Good morning and Good night routine which you can fashion a sequence of steps to be executed. This is done through the Google Home app downloaded to your smartphone. Example, pressing the Good night icon will ask you to set and alarm and then turn on some soothing music/sounds to help you get into the mood for sleeping. For Good morning after the alarm is triggered you can simply say, "Hey Google, good morning." Google then tells you the weather and tells you what is in your calendar for the day and it can then play music or in my case I set it to stream Class 95 radio station.
Some actions for routines I would love to see incorporated as I think they'd be useful. If I'm heading to the office it would be nice to know how many new emails I have. It would also be cool if smart CLOCK could send a Wake-On-Lan signal to wake up my notebook or desktop computer. A complete list of commands that can be triggered from within the Routines would help in understanding the limit.
Price
With a suggested retail price of SGD119 it sounds expensive for a digital alarm clock but you are getting a lot more for your money. If you consider that a Google Nest Mini which is only a speaker and voice activated assistant is selling for SGD79 you are getting a touchscreen and alarm clock for an additional SGD40. But wait, at the time of this writing there is a promotion directly from Lenovo with the smart CLOCK selling for SGD79. Limited time offer available directly from Lenovo's Flagship store on Lazada.sg.
Conclusion
A little bit of retro reminiscing but using updated technology - touchscreen, voice activation and home automation connectivity. The Lenovo smart CLOCK also helps to ween you off late night mobile device screening which ultimately means better sleeping habits and rest. The issue some will face is having multiple alarms between husband and wife. Peace!
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