By Ahmed Abdelsalam
Amazon has introduced the Echo Time, a new spherical smart alarm clock designed for the bedroom that can monitor sleep cycles without requiring a wearable device.
Sleep monitoring without wearables
The device uses Amazon's Omnisense technology to track breathing and movement throughout the night. It listens for transitions from deep to light sleep during a customizable window of 10 to 60 minutes before the set alarm time.
Smart alarm features
If the user has entered light sleep, the clock brightens its display and plays gentle wake-up tones that mimic a sunrise. If the user remains in deep sleep, the alarm sounds at the scheduled time. Sleep sensing can be disabled, and it turns off automatically when the microphone is muted.
Design and pricing
The Echo Time features a circular touch-sensitive screen, no camera, and more than 100 clock faces. It comes in a range of colors, including "galactic grape" and "cosmic lime" from the Kids edition. The device is priced at £185 on Amazon.co.uk.
