One of the most annoying, yet important thing that happens to me in the morning is; hearing my alarm go off. It literally separates my spirit and soul from my body. Sometimes, I get really angry when the alarm goes off. Especially when I didn't sleep for a normal period of time. But inasmuch as I hate the melody of my alarm, it is very important to me. One of the things I said at the beginning of this year was to be more productive. And having a productive day starts from the time you wake up(it could be any time though). Therefore, since the beginning of this year, I've been conscious of when I wake up. And the alarm has helped me a lot. Although on some days I choose to ignore it(sleep is really sweet).
There aren't so many standard alone alarm clocks(software). They are mostly embedded in a clock. And Clock apps are not in high demand. So we don't get to see them often. Honestly, I wouldn't be caught writing a review about a clock. Talk more about an alarm clock. I wouldn't do that(write a review about a clock) for an obvious reason, which is; it is always available. There isn't any device that doesn't come with a clock. It is software that we are least concerned about. But it is an important software nonetheless. I stumbled on one(alarm clock) lately(I've been stumbling on a lot of things lately), and I liked it. This article is about that app. I hope you enjoy it.
Alarmio; A simple alarm clock.
There's no need to go into details about what an alarm clock is. I'll just give the description of Alarmio. This description is provided by the project owner;
Alarmio is a simple alarm clock that implements many useful features while following regular design standards to ensure that it is quick and intuitive to use.
The project owner's description is very brief and concise. I mean, how else can an alarm clock be described?
The app has been available for quite a long time. In the next five days, it'll be one year since the initial version of the software was released. The app has been actively developed over time. Over 10 versions of the app have been released, and there are more to come.
Review of Alarmio; Your virtual wake-up machine.
The general concept of the app is an alarm clock. What kind of features could there possibly be on the app? I've never reviewed a clock app before. And it should be easy, but I find it quite weird and challenging. It would have been easier if the project owner provided a list of features, but he didn't. And that's sad. I can't possibly write a review talking about how the app works. Everyone knows how they(alarm clocks) work. So what I'll be doing is talking about the tangible(or physical) features of the app.
That includes;
- The User Interface
- Multiple functionalities ( stopwatch, timer, and alarm)
- Sleep reminder
- Slow Wake-up
- Time zones
Without further ado, let's delve into my review of Alarmio.
User Interface
The user interface (UI) of Alarmio is really impressive. I was impressed at first sight. The interface looked classy. There weren't many elements on the screen. It looked so clean and smooth. I had fallen in love with the app's interface even before checking if it had other UI customizations. I finally checked if there were other UI customizations, and fortunately, there were theme options. Naturally, there are dark and light themes. But on Alarmio, you have;
- Day (light theme)
- Night (dark theme)
- Amoled.
The dark theme (Night) and Amoled theme are quite similar. They both make the user interface of the app become dark all over. However, the AMOLED theme feels a little bit smoother and glossy. It should have been my preferred theme though, but I preferred the Night theme more. Another cool option the developer included in this settings is "Schedule". When you use this option, the app's interface switches between day and night, depending on how you set the schedule. For the few days I started using the app, I was utilizing the schedule option. But now, I'm permanently stuck on the night theme. If you are using a device with AMOLED display, I think you'll appreciate the AMOLED theme more.
Multiple functionality( stopwatch, timer, and alarm).
Alarmio; according to the project owner is an 'Alarm clock'. I expected that I'd only be able to set alarms with the app. The developer actually had more in store for end-users. Aside from setting alarms, the app has a stopwatch, a countdown timer. One can say that Alarmio is a complete clock app and not just an alarm clock. And the establishment of this fact brings me to a comparison with my device's stock clock app. My stock clock app is quite cool. And yes, it has a stopwatch and countdown timer, and definitely an alarm. So in a comparison between Alarmio and my device's stock clock app, they draw level.
Sleep reminder.
This is unarguably one of the major reasons I use Alarmio. The ability to set a sleep reminder. Now you could disregard the importance of this option by that I could always set a reminder to go bed. Yea, you are absolutely right. I could do that, but doing everything I need on one app is actually better. I can set my sleep reminder and wake-up alarm on Alarmio. That's pretty cool if you ask me. And this is something that I haven't seen another clock app do. Although I haven't used many of them though. But I can say that all the device's I've used, the stock clock app didn't have this feature. And that includes my current stock clock app. Seeing it on Alarmio, I think it is a feature every other developer needs to emulate.
Slow Wake-up
After reading the description of this feature, I appreciated it more. Normally, when the alarm goes off, it turns on your device's screen. And the alarm starts blasting immediately. That stuff can be annoying. Sometimes I feel attacked. But with this feature, the alarm goes off like a 'gentleman'. Instead of everything hitting you with full force at once, it becomes a gradual process. Your device's screen brightness and volume gradually increase. You are literally pampered to wake up.
This is a cool feature. My device's stock clock app lacks it though. So Alarmio takes the win again.
Time zones
We've already established the fact that Alarmio isn't just an Alarm clock. We've seen its prowess exhibited in other features I've reviewed. Time zone is one feature that's never missing in a clock app. And it is available on Alarmio. There's no special thing to say about Time zones, except that I'm glad that the developer didn't skip including it on the app(Alarmio).
Summary.
In this article, I've been able to review Alarmio. At first, it was thought to be just an Alarm clock. This assumption was based on the name of the app, and according to the description by the project owner. Half-way into my review, it was established that the app is actually a full-fledged clock. Bearing that in mind, I engaged in a comparison between Alarmio and my device's stock clock. From all indications, Alarmio emerged the winner of the comparison. My device's stock clock lacked some minor but essential features and abilities that Alarmio had. Even before this review, I had adjusted to using Alarmio instead of my stock clock app. I don't think I'll revert back anytime soon.
Thanks for reading.
Links
Project repository: https://github.com/fennifith/Alarmio
App download links: Google Playstore, All releases
Resources:
- The content of this post was created based on my knowledge of the project, and mostly from my experience. The images used in this article are screenshots from my mobile phone or PC. Other images used, have their source links provided just below them.