iHome Offers App-Enhanced Alarm Dock

By John Laposky -- TWICE, 3/8/2010

RAHWAY, N.J. — SDI Technologies is preparing to ship its new iA5 App-enhanced alarm clock speaker dock for iPod/iPhone that is optimized for the company’s recently released free iHome+Sleep app.

The speaker dock for the iPhone OS combines an interactive app with a dedicated bedside alarm clock.

The dock allows a user to wake to a docked iPhone/iPod, AM/FM radio or buzzer alarm. It features bass, treble and balance controls and two Reson8 ported cabinet stereo speakers.

The preset clock adjusts to time zone and international operation and a timesync button syncs the unit to iPhone/ iPod time.

The iHome+Sleep app provides an iPhone native-look, full-screen clock display with weather widgets, iPod control cluster and a customizable background image. Its Sleep Card function enables users to manage and customize their sleep lifestyle. Each Sleep Card contains the settings for a user-defined bedtime/ snooze/wakeup sleep cycle. Different music through custom playlists can be set for bedtime and wakeup.

A while-you-were-sleeping function can deliver a morning recap a user’s overnight Twitter, Facebook and other socialnetworking feeds.

The app tracks sleep stats to produce a running record of a user’s sleep habits such as snooze frequency, average bedtime, or hours of sleep.

The app also provides an interactive product catalog for fi nding user manuals and replacement parts for all iHome devices.

The iHome+Sleep app works with any iPhone or second-generation iPod Touch. It must be running for the advanced alarms and other functions to be enabled.

The iA5 retails for $99. The free app is available at www.ihomeaudio.com/apps .