For some strange reason, Ipad is not shipped with an alarm clock. And third party developers quickly grasp the opportunity to develop alarm and clock apps. Among them Night Stand is probably the most interesting.
It looks good. The clock is nice, kind of makes me want to look at it all the time. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I always know the exact time to make a decision whether or not to go back to sleep.
I think showing the current whether is a good feature. At least it helps me to mentally prepare in case of bad whether even before I wake up. But social integration: is it really necessary? Yes it's true that checking Facebook, Twitter, email is now my first thing to do in the morning. But what's the difference from hitting the back button and going to the real Facebook app? I'm fully wakened up already and conscious enough to remember how to check my Facebook and email. I think it's just a redundant feature that distracts people from the real purpose of the app.
What will happen if the app crushes or my Ipad runs out of battery? I'll be late for school, work, or appointment definitely. It's too risky for me. I would prefer to use my phone as alarm and use this app as a night stand or desk clock.
The voice control is a nice suggestion by the presenters. But wouldn't it be dangerous when you can turn off the alarm just by saying "Shut up"? I don't think people are that lazy to stretch their arms a bit to grab the Ipad :P
Conclusion: Night Stand is a cool app, but it kind of goes too far from what it's supposed to do. My suggestion is that it should stick to be an alarm and clock app. Too many features may confuse users. And lastly, unless the developers find a way to guarantee me a never-going-to-crush app, I'll still be using my phone alarm for now.
I guess the trend nowadays is to put in as many features as possible to try to appeal to as many people as possible. Its like shooting many arrows and hoping to hit a target. Besides, having a single app that handles all your first parade tasks does seem to be quite handy.
ReplyDeleteIMO iPad for an alarm clock is indeed creative. its novel. Its cool and handy to have around.
But there is there any real practical use for that?
just my 2c .. ^^;
btw i totally agree with you there. Snoozing by saying 'shut up' can be really dangerous :D
Would be nice though, if i could say 'time' and it reads out the time instead. Then i wouldn't have to bend over to pick it up and force my eyes open lol
Kenny :D there is another point actually !!
ReplyDeleteif you use your ipad for alarm clock, you lose the fun of abusing it in the morning!
im using a pillow alarmclock in the morning, and i get to slam it in the wall everytime it pisses me off :D which is like... everytime it rings :D
Yeah, I'm kind of agree with your view: social integration is such an overkill for this apps.
ReplyDeleteI mean, yeah, sometime for app, we developers always want to bundle more and more cool feature. But the problem with NightStand is that they're going a bit too far from an alarm clock. If I were looking for an alarm clock app, I'd rather having some apps that has nice UI, good music =) (or annoying one), and maybe some methods to make sure that users won't just do: wake up, throw the iPad away and continue sleeping :)) (force them to do some mini exercises? ).
Moreover, having all Facebook, Twitter and whatever in just one place does not save u that much time. And sometimes, yeah, trying to load all things into one can increase the chance of breaking things much higher =)