Most of us wake up to the blare of a smartphone ringtone. Is there a better way?
Alarm clocks that simulate police SWAT teams busting down your door. Alarm clocks that roll off your side table and around the floor, hysterically caterwauling until you get up. Alarm clocks that have helicopter propellors, so they can literally fly around the room, cacophonously blaring until you awaken. Alarm clocks that literally fire off laser-guided rocket launchers when you oversleep.
And so on. In an age when most alarm clocks have been replaced by smartphone apps, the remainder seem intent on differentiating themselves by being as irritating as possible. Into this crowded market space of mendicancy and mediocrity comes Kello, a new physical alarm clock that does something very different: it's designed to help you sleep more and better, not just wake you up with a heart or panic attack.
From an industrial design perspective, the Kello looks soft, friendly, and warm, if a bit bland. A rolly-polly speaker softly glowing with a bank of LED lights and a pastel-colored snooze button, the Kello neither calls attention to itself, nor distinguishes itself. In other words, it looks fine, and it will probably look okay on your night stand.
Where Kello shines, though, is in its smarts. The alarm clock has all sorts of advanced functionality aimed at making sleep a better experience, accessed through its app. When you're going to bed, you can tell Kello to emit a gently pulsing light for you to breathe along with, slowing you down to your natural sleeping rhythm. Have a hard time waking up in the mornings? You can set yourself a certain allowance of weekly of "snooze" button presses; go over, and Kello won't let you cheat anymore.
Want to become a morning person, or adjust your body clock before you travel so you don't experience jet lag? Kello will adjust the alarm every day, bit by bit, until you get there. It can even use your favorite streaming media playlist as an alarm, and integrate with smart home products like the Philips Hue and Samsung's SmartThings Hub through IFTTT, so you can use it to control things like your lights when it's time for bed.
After launching on Kickstarter, you can now pre-order a Kello in blue, gray, or green starting at just $89. Or, you can pay $199 for a Kello in any Pantone color you choose. Here's a hint: you don't want Masala.