Round Up: The First Impressions Of The Nintendo Sound Clock 'Alarmo' Are In

Sleeping on the job

by · Nintendo Life
Image: Nintendo

Nintendo's new sound clock device 'Alarmo' is now available in select locations around the world and the first impressions have already gone live.

If you are curious to know a little more - even after everything Nintendo has revealed, we've put together this brief round up highlighting a few outlets that have already tested it out. So here's the rundown so far...

We'll start off with The Verge discussing the setup process, but also admitting it's "very cute":

"That setup routine is actually quite lengthy and might prove to be a bit much for a child. You choose the date and time, of course, but you’re also led through configuring the clock’s motion-detection features, which takes a bit of time, and I didn’t see any way of skipping it. Alarmo’s millimeter-wave presence sensor works with bed sizes ranging from twin to king, and the screen is meant to face the middle of your bed... Is this thing absurdly expensive for what it is? Certainly. But for its demographic, it’s very cute, and there are small, thoughtful Nintendo touches throughout the experience — and I’ve barely dug in."

CNET was also able to get this new device 'day one'. It shared some fun facts while noting how it seems like an expansion of the NIntendo brand:

"If you want to keep yourself surprised in the morning, you can randomize it between one game's wake-up sounds or randomize it to switch to any of the alarms available. There's also sleep tracking. All the motion sensors also help keep a record of how much you move around in your sleep, and the records are kept for one year... In a lot of ways, this clock almost sounds like the type of product Disney would sell. With Nintendo already having retail stores, movies and theme parks, maybe that's the point. $100 is a lot for a novelty gift, but this also looks like a smart device that will actually update over time."

If we see any other first impressions of this new Nintendo device, we'll add them to this round up here. In case you missed it, this clock has also received a day one update, bumping the firmware up to Version 2.0.0.

Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo

Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo

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Are you sold on this new clock from Nintendo? Let us know in the comments.

About Liam Doolan

Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief. He's also got a soft spot for Sonic the Hedgehog.

Comments 42

I do like the aesthetic of the Alarmo's own UI quite a bit. Hoping we see a bit of that at play with the Switch successor - would also be cool if the idea of themes directly themed around games, even pulling from their UIs, is carried over too

@PikaPhantom I'm imagining everyone getting angry that the Switch still doesn't have themes but the $100 alarm clock does. It's hilarious.

Are there any comparisons with similar products on the market?

Is it wrong that I really, really, really want this lol, like really bad?!

My definition of success is a life without alarms.

@Snatcher I think it’s a neat idea. I wouldn’t mind having one myself either.

I think the overall assessment (and my personal opinion) is that it's cute, useful, totally Nintendo, but ridiculously overpriced. If it comes down in the future, I might pick one up.

Question : Are you sold on this new clock from Nintendo?

Me: Nope. I can wake up naturally without alarm clock. Also, I still prefer Yokai Watch Jam wrist watch.

Presumably ports of Doom and Skyrim are yet to be announced.

@LikelySatan My definition of success is seven sealed boxes of every piece of hardware Nintendo produces.

I'm not there yet, but it's good to have stretch goals. What are you going to do when you've rid yourself of alarms - sell your story to Netflix?

If this is an extension of the switch 2 or switch pro or SwitchO!

At this price, Alarmo should use stereo speaker instead of mono, and add the ability to play fan favorite night time game BGM (from Animal Crossing, Xenoblade, etc.) with sleep timer to improve sleep quality.
But Nintendo chooses to use the music to wake people up. Are they trying to make people hate their music?

You'll be needing this to get notifications and friend requests from you new switch 2 system.

I'm not interested until Digital Floundering have confirmed the framerate and resolution...

@Snatcher I guess it's only bad if you would of scoffed at the idea of alarm-o if Microsoft did it for xbox first

@Snatcher you're not the only one. 😂

You can tell they probably designed this for a circular OLED screen to match the round case instead of a square LCD that’s buried between bezels

@gcunit whatever I want.

Noticed it says 'sold out' on the UK site, but also has the black banner at the top saying 'available later this week'. Have the scalpers been already or is it not live yet? I need one of these but not at an inflated scalper price!

EDIT;
Nevermind, I managed to get one 2 minutes after posting this 🤦🏼‍♂️

I think I'll prefer the playing cards thank you.

It probably cost 2-5 bucks to make and could have been sold for 25 bucks at most if greed weren't involved.

There is no way this is worth more than those Google and Lenovo touch alarm screens which can do by far more for less money.

Well different stuff for different tastes, right. Personally I feel this is hot, intrusive garbage.

I am happy to hear it already got a "stability update"! 😊😉

Can't wait for Let's Play Alarmo.

we have to at least be impressed by how this came out of nowhere! They announced and released it on the same day, and no one had any idea. No leaks or nothing (to my knowledge), thats pretty cool.

@Snatcher Nope, it looks great. Price might be steep but then again there are wake up light alarms that go for 200 bucks easily so

Does this look good---YES
Will I be getting one----NO

At £49.99 I probably would have got one, but for ninety bones, I'm ooooout.

It’s a cute concept as per Nintendo but hearing coins as I fidget, trying to get to sleep is a no go for me!!!! It will of course sell like hot cakes and make a perfect collectors piece!

@MjJmediablogger I agree that it wasn't clear in the video, but I assume it only does this in the morning after the alarm has gone off?

No reason for it to do it all night as then many people would not sleep.

I'm not getting this myself anytime soon if ever considering its price and also that thankfully I don't currently need an alarm clock (the bells ringing close - luckily not too close as that would a problem instead of a solution - to my home are enough and I have regular alarm clocks in case I really need one), but the concept is pretty cool and I hope those going for it will enjoy it!

@Kiz3000 That’s what I thought. My Mrs doesn’t want Mario nosies as well as my snoring lol

I really like the design of it, it’s both very Nintendo cute and a bit mid-century design. But the noises and the motion I don’t really care about (definitely don’t want Splatoon guitars and gunfire as I wake), and the price is hefty. £50 I’d have bought one for the sheer collectibility and novelty of the item, but £90 is a lot.

But then my partner kept talking about how much she wanted one and several friends asked if they could get one in the same order as mine, presuming I was going to get one, so I ended up ordering a few for other people!

I used to use Wake Up Club on my PSVita, so maybe it’ll be like using that again.

I would never use this as an alarm clock, but it does have interesting features, and it's a cute collector's item!

Perfectly happy with the alarm on my mobile phone thanks

@Toastmaster
Lenovo looks like it is using tech that we have already seen. That doesn't look very different from using an alexa powered device. Alarmo at least has new technology (for clocks), whether it is warranted or not we will see.

From the Video Game maker that sold you Cardboard at $100 comes Alarmo!

I actually really want one but would never buy it. I'll stick to my trusty radio alarm clock.

We literally just want Pokemon games that don't run at 10FPS

@riggah Yeah. Lenovo uses the same Google system as the official Google clock. Both are similar to Alexa.
I own both Google and Lenovo touch screen clocks.

"You choose the date and time, of course"

For something that costs $100 and is hooked up to the internet we should NOT have to set the date and time, no "of course" about it. I'm in the US where we change the time twice a year and pretty much the only device I have to do that on is our microwave oven. So, do we have to change the time 2x a year on this $100 WiFi enabled device or is it smart enough like every other internet connected device in our house to do it on it's own? We have a 5" Amazon Fire show I bought new for like $35 at Target, does more than this. To be fair those devices are $100 now, and don't have motion sensors, but they still feel like a better purchase than these.

Meh, I'll pass. I can use my phone and if I need someone to wake me up I live with someone else right now. Besides, I can use a Rhythm Heaven thing for my phone, which Alarmo cannot.

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