An iPhone dock that lets you customise your alarm with a mobile app

iPhone/iPod Dock Review: iHome iA5

by Trevor Tan
02:10 PM Oct 07, 2010

These days, many people set their wake-up alarms on their mobile phone instead of using a conventional alarm clock. Now, how about using an alarm clock that charges your iPhone and lets you customise your alarm with a mobile app? The iHome iA5 lets you do just that.

Weighing less than 1kg and measuring 237x148x99mm, the iA5 looks like any iPhone/iPod alarm clock in the market and has a big snooze button and an on/off button on top. The speakers and the display screen lay behind a meshed grille, while the dock connector sits prominently in the centre.

The design of the dock is simple and practical. There is no need for adapters with the open dock connector. But at $169, the dock is expensive. And the pricing is even more glaring when you realise the dock lacks an FM radio.

What truly distingushes the iA5 from other iPhone/iPod alarm clocks is the app powering it.

Download the "iHome + Sleep" app on your iPhone or iPod Touch and you can customise your alarms by creating "Sleep Cards", such as 15 mins for your naps. You can specify tunes for specific activities as well. Once that's done, simply swipe your desired Sleep Card into a slot on the app and dock your iPhone or iPod to the iA5. The Sleep Cards will only work when docked.

With this app, you can also sync the time of your iPhone to the iA5, receive weather information, set reminders, and activate "overnight news" (your friends' Facebook and Twitter updates) to be downloaded so that you can read it when you wake up. You can even send messages on your Twitter or Facebook to tell your friends you have slept or woken up!

Despite the wealth of information on the app, there is very little displayed on the iA5's screen, except for the time, an alarm sign and a logo to show the app is running. Even the date is not displayed. But the good thing about the screen is that you can adjust its brightness simply by tapping on the snooze button.

You can play music from your iPhone or iPod when it is docked. Just don't crank up the volume too much as the speakers aren't spectacular.

The iHome iA5 would have been great if it were cheaper and if it included an FM radio. Nonetheless, it's a nice iPhone/iPod charging dock and alarm clock that lets you customise your alarms and broadcast your sleeping habits to your friends. Just make sure your boss is not on your Facebook!

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