aXbo Sleep Phase Alarm Clock

aXbo Sleep Phase Alarm Clock review: An alarm clock that will wake you up the right way

Good Gear Guide

  • Review
  • Specs
  • Images
  • User Reviews
  • Buy Online

The aXbo Sleep Phase Alarm Clock won't rip you kicking and screaming from your slumber; rather, it will coax you out of your light sleep phase gently with relaxing birdsong.

Pros

  • It works well -- if you follow the instructions

Cons

  • Expensive, if you forget to put the wrist band on then you wake up to a regular alarm

Bottom Line

Although most of us cannot justify spending over $300 on an alarm clock, the aXbo Sleep Phase Alarm Clock works quite well. We certainly found it more difficult to wake up after we our test period had finished!

Would you buy this?

  • Price

    $ 319.00 (AUD)

According to researchers, the average person goes through several sleep phases over the course of their slumber, alternating between shallow and deep phases. Furthermore, our mood can be affected depending on which sleep phase we come out of when we wake up. The aXbo Sleep Phase Alarm clock is designed to gently wake you up from your 'light sleep' phase. It can detect this sleep phase through a sensor that you wear around your wrist.

The sensor sits inside a terrycloth wristband and you pop it on before you go to sleep. During your lighter sleep phase in the morning, when your body's natural alarm starts waking you up, you will begin to move more and this is when the sensor triggers the alarm to start rousing you. Say you set the alarm for 7am: the sensor — once it detects movement within 30 minutes of the set waking time — will start making pleasant natural sounds and instead of the BEEP BEEP BEEP that a typical alarm clock invades your dreams with. Put simply, you wake up a lot better.

We tested the aXbo over the course of two months. It should be noted that it may take a while to get used to it, but after a few nights it seemed to being doing what it's designed to do. The aXbo Sleep Phase Alarm clock we tested was for couples: two terrycloth wristbands with sensors are included. Two separate alarms can be programmed and synched with the two separate wrist sensors, although your partner will still hear your alarm go off. You can use a button on the wristband to switch the alarm off.

Of course remembering to put the wrist sensor on is crucial. If you forget to (like this reviewer did) you'll be woken up abruptly by a more conventional blipping alarm. Furthermore if you forget to wear the sensor then the aXbo has no means of tracking your body movements and sleep phases, rendering it into just another alarm clock.

Given it costs $319, you should be fairly committed to using the unit as the instructions dictate.

Ultimately the aXbo Sleep Phase Alarm clock works well, though it has no other functions like a digital radio or an iPhone dock — its sole purpose is to wake you up the right way. And it does.

Keep up with the latest tech news, reviews and previews by subscribing to the PC World newsletter.

Read more on these topics: alarm clocks, aXbo, home appliances

Be the first to comment.

Post new comment

Users posting comments agree to the Good Gear Guide comments policy.

Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.

Most Popular

Tethering tutorial: How to use your iPhone as a modem
How to pick the right size TV for your living room
Capacitive vs resistive touchscreens
LCD vs plasma vs LED TVs buying guide
The most disturbing YouTube videos of all time

Best Deals on PCWorld

Printers & ScannersView all »
NotebooksView all »
TabletsView all »
Mobile PhonesView all »
Networking, Wireless & VoIPView all »