[Alarm : Clock] For iPad Leaves Us Wet

Lifelike Apps, Inc. recently unveiled their newest app for the iPad, [Alarm : Clock]. The $3.99 app is a follow-up to the company’s popular Alarm Clock’ app, first released in June 2010. While we found the original app innovative as well as practical, this one has left us scratching our heads. At its core, Alarm : Clock tries too hard to provide  both “realism and customization options" and ends up over complicating and ruining the user experience. The Clock The app includes 22 “super” realistic alarm clock case designs. In addition, an in-app purchase lets users create and save their own timepieces using a combination of clock styles, background textures and the like. Unfortunately, among the nearly two-dozen clock styles, only a few actually look nice. The others range from the mundane (Back to the 60’s clock) to the outlandish (Cardboard clock) to the just plain tacky (Born in the USA). Plus, the app’s built-in music player, which looked fantastic in the Alarm Clock’ app, appears here only as an afterthought. No matter the clock style, the player looks out of place and should we say, very unrealistic. The Weather Forecast Where Alarm : Clock shines (pun intended) is with its weather forecasting. Here, the app’s background changes depending on what’s happening outside. Best of all, Alarm : Clock includes detailed forecasts for the next 48 hours, as well as a five-day forecast. Other weather features include:

• Automatic location detection: the app detects where you are and displays the weather accordingly
• Option to override the auto-location and enter your location manually by name or zip
• Memorize multiple weather locations so you can switch between them to check distant weather
• Worldwide weather and display in either Fahrenheit or Celsius

Clock + Weather The app’s biggest failure isn’t its clock, but rather its overall design. In portrait view specifically, the weather forecast is too small next to the clock. In landscape view, the design is better, but again, it contains too much space. Summary Alarm : Clock is a work in progress with an expensive price tag to boot. While we like customization tools embedded in our apps like everyone else, in this case, it was overkill. Luckily, Lifelike Apps has a great track record in releasing impressive apps for both the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad. Our hope (and expectation) is that [Alarm : Clock] will improve significantly with future updates. Until then, however, the app does not come recommended and should be avoided.

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