Sure, there are lots of alarm clock apps out there but have you ever tried one that goes beyond the usual? Like, for example, when the alarm starts, you also get to see the latest updates about the weather. You also get to know if there are any other schedules that goes together with the time that you have set on your alarm. If you still haven’t, then you better not miss this app called AlarmPad.

What Is It and What Does It Do

Main Functionality

So what is AlarmPad? Well, its core function is to act as your alarm clock. Just like any other alarm clock apps, you get to set it to notify you about various things that you’ve set to do at a specific time. However, what makes this app different is that it brings context to your alarms. This simply means that it flaunts a bunch of value-added features that you normally couldn’t find on other alarm clock apps. With AlarmPad, you also get to see your on-going calendar activities as well as the current time and latest weather forecast. It can even speak the custom messages that you’ve created alongside with your alarms.

Pros

• Easy to use, easy to configure
• Clean, responsive, stable and well-designed UI
• You can create an unlimited number of alarms
• You can customize your alarms in any way that you want – it lets you type your personal message plus you can also opt to show other items like the weather, your calendar events and even the current time
• You can choose a different ringtone for your alarm
• Supports text-to-speech – If enabled, this app can speak the message that you have included in your alarm
• You can repeat your alarms at a given time interval – every hour, every day or every week
• You can pause, resume, cancel and edit your alarms
• Supports three home screen widgets of various sizes – 4×1, 3×1 and 2×1

Cons

• None that I can think of but it should be noted that the free version of this app will only limit your number of active alarms to five

Discussion

AlarmPad is very easy to use. It’s also very easy to configure. So when you’re done installing the app on your device, the first thing that you need to do is to launch it and there you’ll see that it still doesn’t have any active and disabled alarms. To create one, all you need to do is to tap the plus button near its settings but before that, you need to check its default settings first. In the app’s settings, you can opt to change or update its snooze time, alarm volume, weather location, text-to-speech engine, audio preferences, background transparency, etc.

Once you are done, simply go back to the app’s main page and then tap the plus button to create a new and active alarm. Thereafter, you will be prompted to set the alarm time in hours and minutes. You also get to repeat your alarm according to your preferred time interval. So it’s up to you if you want your alarm to ring every hour, every day or every week. Aside from this, you also get to create your own personal alarm message plus you can configure your alarm to show the following the items – greetings, current time, latest weather forecast and related calendar events. You even get to choose the ringtone that you want for your alarm.

Another notable feature of AlarmPad is its ability to speak your personal alarm messages. Since this app supports text-to-speech, you can set it to speak whatever it is that you’ve written as your alarm message. You can also opt to let it speak the message during the alarm or right after the alarm.

Anyways, what I like most about this app is its smooth implementation. Its alarm UI looks great plus it blends well with your device’s background image or wallpaper. Once your alarm rings, you get to choose as to whether to snooze it or to view its other details such as the weather, time and calendar events. The weather forecast is also very detailed and you even get to know the current temperature, humidity, dew point, wind speed, wind direction and chance of rain. Furthermore, this app automatically syncs itself with your device calendar. It also supports widgets of various sizes and you can place these widgets neatly on your home screen.

All in all, I can say that this app is really good and it also looks very neat and elegant. I also don’t have any serious issues with it as it very stable, responsive and well-designed. It’s just that when you are a free user, there is a limit to the number of alarms that you can set as active. Although you’re free to create as many alarms as you like, you can only set up to five active alarms at the same time. If you want to lift this limit, then you’ll have to purchase the app’s paid version. It should also be noted that this app is still on its beta version.

Conclusion and Download Link

I really like AlarmPad. As a matter of fact, it goes well with 500 Firepaper – an elegant automatic wallpaper slideshow app for your Android device. With AlarmPad, you’ll get a non-conventional alarm clock app that also helps keep you up-to-date with the weather. It also helps in reminding you about the upcoming events or schedules that you’ve listed on your calendar. So if you’re currently looking for a reliable and elegant alarm clock app, I would highly recommend that you give this app a try.

Price: Free, Pro – $0.99

Version reviewed: 1.2.1 (Beta)

Requires: Android 2.3 and up

Download size: Varies with Device

AlarmPad on Play Store