For most of my grownup life, I’ve been ready for one thing just like the Ambient Dreamie smart alarm clock to avoid wasting me from my very own late-night scrolling impulses. After a month of testing, I can verify it’s the actual life-changer I’ve wanted, trumping all the flamboyant sunrise alarm clocks on the market. While these clocks have iterated on the way you get up, the Dreamie helps me go to sleep at bedtime, which is far more essential, and it pulls this trick off with out utilizing my cellphone in any respect. Here’s all the things I like in regards to the Dreamie smart alarm clock, and why I believe you’ll discover it value its hefty price ticket.
This pleasant alarm clock contains tons of soothing sounds to go to sleep to, and it’s including podcast help we have been capable of take a look at for this review.
From testing The Brick to utilizing the Twelve South Valet as a charging stand to discourage myself from checking my cellphone, I’ve gone all-in on attempting to scale back my screentime. As such, I used to be very keen to check out the Dreamie as a result of it regarded just like the alarm clock would assist me get the phone-free bed room I’ve wished. Yes, the Apple Watch Series 11 I’ve been testing works as an alarm clock on my wrist, however I would like greater than only a wakeup name. This is the place Dreamie’s podcast help, which I’ve been beta testing earlier than it debuts later this month, comes into play.
No matter if you wish to go to sleep to white noise or an episode of considered one of your favourite podcasts, the Dreamie has you lined. When choosing a sound in considered one of its three phases of sleepy time, you’ll discover Podcasts as an choice proper beside Relaxation, Environments and Noise, so in case you’re not searching for white noise variants corresponding to pink noise or brown noise or soundscapes like a crackling hearth or whooshing forest winds, you are able to do what I do and go to sleep to the sounds of your favourite podcast hosts.
This is not any offense to the podcasters I select, both, as a result of I all the time take heed to episodes I’ve already heard. While you possibly can play your favourite exhibits within the ambiance (daytime) or bedtime cue (nighttime) modes, I solely take heed to podcasts on the Dreamie through the Wind Down mode, which prompts an computerized 30 minute timer. The one bone I’ve to choose with the Dreamie’s podcast performance is which you can solely entry the 100 most up-to-date episodes of your exhibits, and there are some exhibits the place my favourite episodes to go to sleep to are additional again within the catalogue.
This functionality has modified the sport for my night routine. Now once I go to mattress, I merely swipe down from the highest of the Dreamie’s display screen, and the Wind Down mode activates considered one of my favourite episodes of the podcasts I apparently can’t cease listening to. From there, I shut my eyes, and earlier than I do know it I’m asleep. My different strategies have included twiddling with my cellphone in mattress to allow a sleep timer or turning on a podcast in a distinct room and enjoying it from a Bluetooth speaker (that I can solely hope is powered on) in my bed room. Dreamie’s answer requires a lot much less thought, and it helps me keep away from my mind spinning up into troubleshooting mode when one thing goes incorrect.
Your podcasts will sound good on the Dreamie, which has sound high quality on par with the equally sized Ultimate Ears’ Wonderboom 4, which I always deliver on trip with me. If you share your room with somebody who doesn’t need to take heed to your favourite exhibits, although, the Dreamie additionally helps Bluetooth headphones, and it really works like a attraction with the Soundcore Sleep A30 Special earbuds which might be made to sit down in your ears when you sleep.
My different favourite factor in regards to the Dreamie is that even easy quantity or brightness changes really feel elegant. If your ambient noise or podcasts are too loud or quiet, you merely rotate the round high of the system, and also you’ll see a visualization of the amount pop-up on the display screen in actual time. Then there’s the sunshine management strip on the highest of Dreamie, which helps you to management the power of the lights coming from its sides. You also can regulate the place these lights emanate from the Dreamie by shifting the round button that seems on display screen whereas adjusting the brightness. Speaking of that gentle, I’ve discovered it’s the proper brightness for bedtime studying once I’m attempting to wind down. It’s not brilliant sufficient to maintain me awake, but it surely’s brilliant sufficient I can learn a guide with out every other gentle.
If this all sounds a bit futuristic, then I’m glad, as a result of each time I regulate these settings I really feel like I’m utilizing gear from a Star Trek ship. You additionally get all the sensible fashionable clock settings, with choices for a digital watch face and a clock with shifting arms, with or with out numbers. I like how the seconds hand is a bit crimson needle that rotates round hypnotically. Combined with the system’s curves, dimension and weight, the Dreamie’s show makes me really feel like I’m utilizing a futuristic model of one of many elegantly designed Braun alarm clocks I admired rising up.
The alarm clock additionally has a reasonably straightforward to make use of interface when you get used to its swipe down-to-advance controls. I admittedly had some hassle getting used to it at first, however solely as a result of my testing of the Dreamie coincided with a span of my life the place I had very dangerous sleep hygiene as a result of I used to be getting residence late.
Waking up can be fairly neat, although I’ve a lot much less to say about it. I choose calmer light-based alarms and am pleased you possibly can flip the Alarm Sound swap so that you simply solely wake with gentle. For heavier sleepers who need to attempt the lights-first transfer, set the alarm for 10 minutes after you’d usually get up, and use the Sunrise Light’s default 10-minute setting below Start Before Alarm.
Before I received the podcasts characteristic, I cherished the Box Breathing mode, which contains a calming, red-pulsing gentle that rotates across the Dreamie’s round clear high. This encourages me to go to sleep in a wholesome means, and it’s one I’ll resort to if and when podcasts aren’t working. Once the sleep timer completes the Wind Down stage, your Dreamie’s sleep routine prompts Noise Mask mode, which is the place brown, inexperienced or pink noise will assist drown out the world round you. Admittedly, it wasn’t sufficient one night time when egregiously loud building drifted up from the sidewalk, however that’s the place the Soundcore Sleep A30 Special’s noise-canceling mode teamed up with the Dreamie’s white noises to avoid wasting my sleep.
There’s no getting round it: This sleep prices a reasonably mountain of pennies. Given its $250 price ticket, you may anticipate the Dreamie to fluff your pillow and tuck you in. I’d have a tough time arguing with that, outdoors of that no different alarm clock packs the built-in podcast app and sleep timer. Well, besides to your cellphone.
If you’re OK with having your cellphone in your bed room, you can accomplish the Dreamie’s podcasts-to-sleep performance with a podcast app like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Overcast and the built-in sleep timers in your cellphone or the related app. But in case you’re like me, and also you’re attempting to do all the things to cease the scroll and get to mattress on time, you’ll stay with the Dreamie’s value as a result of no one else allows you to go to sleep on this specific means. Yes, the Hatch Restore has its personal sleep-focused podcasts, but it surely doesn’t allow you to add your favourite exhibits from different apps. And whereas I did like testing the Amazon Echo Spot, its voice-only search engine was dangerous at discovering podcasts, and I didn’t love its design almost as a lot. Amazon additionally loves to make use of its screen-bearing devices for ads, and I’m not falling for that once more.
If you don’t end up discovering the Dreamie definitely worth the money, the corporate allows you to return it for a full refund, together with delivery, inside 30 nights of receipt, and fortuitously, the Dreamie is subscription-free. Its one-year guarantee is about common for tech, although I want it have been a bit longer, contemplating its value.
If you’re attempting to go to sleep whereas preserving your cellphone out of your bed room, plug in your cellphone in one other room and pair it with this small Bluetooth speaker. It presents nice sound high quality and has a footprint just like the Dreamie.
You can maintain your cellphone charged in any means you want in that different room, however I like this 3-in-1 charging station that retains iPhones, AirPods and Apple Watches all within the inexperienced.
The Dreamie is the alarm clock I didn’t know I wanted and just about the final word reply for me. I like the way it operates fully independently of all the things else in your house, requiring an web connection just for updates. It has no reliance on any smart home tech. While I’m hoping the podcast help grows even additional so I can entry episodes from greater than two years in the past, I’m nonetheless extraordinarily proud of how the Dreamie has modified the way in which I sleep.
I additionally love that Ambient is continuous so as to add options and that it plans to place sleep well being monitoring in a future replace for individuals who aren’t already dedicated to a wearable answer just like the Apple Watch. I’d love for it to change into extra reasonably priced over time, as a result of I do know some people can’t even think about it at this value. But for anybody like me, who’s attempting to kick their cellphone out of their bed room and desires a friction-free answer that features the podcasts they like to snooze to? The Dreamie is your dream alarm clock. It’s considered one of my favourite tech merchandise I’ve reviewed in years as a result of it really makes my life simpler.
No. The Dreamie requires no subscription or account.
Not but. Dreamie can be introducing a sleep insights characteristic this summer time.
Yes, and it’s how I choose to get up. Its light pulsing lights can wake you up within the morning, or you possibly can set the Dreamie to begin the lights at a particular time earlier than the alarm chimes play.
NCS Underscored totally checks the merchandise we review and offers full transparency about our testing methodology. We’re made up of expert writers and editors who’ve a few years of expertise testing, researching and recommending merchandise, they usually guarantee every article is rigorously edited and merchandise are correctly vetted.
NCS Underscored tech author Henry T. Casey has been writing product reviews for almost 11 years. He’s additionally had horrible sleep habits for for much longer and is overjoyed by the concept that he’ll have the ability to go to sleep with out his cellphone by his facet.