At CES 2007, I met with iHome, manufacturer of portable devices and speaker systems made for the iPod. I was particularly interested in the iH4 Alarm Clock for iPod ($50), so I decided to review one. What I like about the iH4 is (1) the modern design, with blue accent lights that you can dim, (2) the ability to sleep to and wake up to your iPod's music, and (3) you can use it as a decent speaker system.
The iH4 is great for teens and dorm rooms. It features SRS TruBass (it really makes a difference to the music when this feature is turned on), line-in, CR2032 button cell backup battery, AC adapter, snooze/dimmer, volume control, and play/pause music. It comes with docks for the 30GB and 60GB video iPods and the iPod nano (1st and 2nd gen).
To wake up to your iPod, make sure the iPod is docked. Press and hold the Alarm On button. Then press Hour and Minute to set the desired alarm time. The unit will then beep when the alarm is armed. Adjust the playing volume of your iPod to ensure that it's loud enough to wake you up. Then turn off your iPod so it turns on at the desired alarm time. Your iPod will play for one hour if the alarm is not turned off or if snooze is not pressed. I was surprised that the music quality sounded pretty good for an alarm clock. It doesn't feature an AM/FM radio, but you're mainly going to be using it for your iPod anyway.
Click on through to learn more about the iH4 and watch a video of it in action!
To set the clock, press and hold Time Set for 3 seconds. Press Hour and Minute. Press and hold Time Set again to keep the desired time.
When no iPod is docked, the alarm clock will beep instead. When snooze is pressed, it will silence the alarm for 9 minutes.
The volume goes from 0 to 40. Sleep mode lets you fall asleep to your iPod, from 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes. When sleep mode is selected, the alarm clock will automatically lower the playing volume to 10.