Hale Devices Is Kickstarting a Better Android Alarm Dock
Get more sleep while still being too connected to the world.
There’s no shortage of alarm dock accessories for smartphones, but Hale Devices think theirs is the best. Their “Dreamer” dock features some nice looking hardware, but also uses an app to fully customize who can contact you while you snooze.
The Dreamer is seeking $35,000 from backers on Kickstarter, and they’re already at $10,771 with 24 days to go. As you can see in the above picture, the dock looks pretty cool. You can control the volume and screen brightness with knobs, and there are buttons for controlling the music, and even a physical snooze bar you can satisfyingly slam your half-asleep hand down onto.
Even if you’re not in the market for an alarm dock, you might consider kicking in $2 to the campaign to get Hale’s “Smart Silence” app. It controls who can notify you and how. It works as a more customizable “Blocking Mode” or whatever your phone’s equivalent is, and if your phone doesn’t have an equivalent, then you should really get the app. Customizing who can call you and at what times is the best.
Smart Silence lets you sleep soundly while not completely disconnecting from the world. You can make a list of contacts than can always reach you, and completely shut everyone else out, but more interestingly you make a custom list of people who get an auto-reply from you saying you’re unavailable, but that if it’s an emergency all they have to do is reply with “E” and you can be reached.
That sounds very useful in the event of an actual emergency, though it does seem like it might lead to a number of conversations with your friends and family about what constitutes an “emergency.”
The alarm itself is customizable through its own app. Set custom alarm sounds. Set the clock face. Change the length of the snooze. There’s even a “lullaby mode” to drift you off to sleep with music or white noise sounds.
If you’re looking to back the project there are a number of reward levels. The smallest being the $2 level which gets you the app, and I think that might be all some people are looking for. For $4 you can get a little 3D-printed Android robot stand for your phone. I bet they’d be able to sell a lot of both if they bundled them for a $5 level.
If you want the Dreamer itself there is one left at the early bird level of $59 at the time of this writing. Past that you’ll have to go to $69 to score one. For $220 you can commission a custom alarm tone that will be available to users, and for $1,500 you can have dinner with the team at Hale. Watch their Kickstarter video and decide if you want to have dinner with them:
They seem nice.
So if you’re looking for a better alarm setup than just your clock app and placing your phone on the nightstand, you might want to check out the Dreamer or the Smart Silence app to help you get some rest. You look tired.
(via Kickstarter)
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