iHome iA5 alarm clock

Pros: The application that runs on your iPhone is an easy way to set up alarms. The sound is good, and it takes up less space than my old iP99. I love that this charges your iphone while the app is active.

Cons: You have to have the iphone docked with the app running in order to get the software alarms to work. Can't be backgrounded in OS 4.0, Finally the sound doesn't fade in when the alarm goes off like the iP99.

Summary: This device is quite good. I was able to catch on sale for $60 bucks and at that price I couldn't pass it up over the new iP99 which is $100 bucks. Usually when you see iHome units on sale, they must be bringing out a new model very soon. My current alarm clock would not charge my iPhone 4 anymore so I needed another one ASAP. You can set up multiple alarms for different situations and just lock them in and you are good to go. You have to remember to activate the application when you dock it otherwise, it will not go off. If the application launched automatically when docked that would solve that issue completely, but I'm sure that Apple will not allow that API.


I really like it since I do not have to remove my case every night to get this to work. The dock is perfect. They need to implement this into their other devices so you can keep your case on and still have this work perfectly. Its supported by the face of the clock so I will not break your device.


The sound quality was better than my old iHome alarm clock, but since it only has one speaker this unit does not have SRS or stereo for that matter, so the imaging was weak, but it was very clear a mid volumes, perfect for the bedside, but I would have liked stereo speakers at this price.


Considering the potential of this device is unlimited with the software that can be updated anytime, this is a good deal if you have an "i" device to run it. The only thing that could be better is if it had stereo speakers, volume that ramped when the alarm goes off, and access to iOS 4's backgrounding features, so you don't have to run this app in the foreground to get the alarms to go off. Other than that, if you find this device for $50 bucks its worth that much. If you are one of us who uses an "i" device to make it through our days this is a solid unit.