I've been testing out the TimeVocalist talking button clock out for a few years now, and they just came out with a new hardware revision that sets the bar a lot higher for what a talking alarm clock can be.
What It Is
On the outside, it looks like your standard talking button clock. Think early 2000s to 2010s assistive tech. At first glance, it tells the time and date and has the aability to set aan alarm. It's also Bluetooth-enabled, and you can sync the time with an iPhone or Android device, set multiple alarms, and even activate pre-recorded reminders for common household chores, meal times, and medications.
What I Like
Multilingual Announcements
The company behind the clock clearly had some secret ace up their sleeve because this one unit supports 15 different languages on one device. That number climbs up to 21 if you count dialect splits. English alone has US, UK, and Australian English dialects, and that's just the beginning.
Customization
To make things even crazier, each dialect has two different voice options. You can select either a male or female voice depending on your preference, and everything is pre-installed, so there's no downloading voice packs or doing anything complex. You can also select between 12 and 24-hour time formats and three different volume levels.
Alarm And Reminder Settings
Once you connect to the app, you can set multiple different alarms and reminders (potentially up to 20 each). ss setting the time it goes off, you can also select specific weekdays aan alert goes off and choose between 20 different alarm tones or 20 different pre-recorded reminder messages. The reminder audio maps to whatever voice you're using, so if you have UK English with Amelia selected, your reminders will come out in that specific voice.
DST support
This clock will automatically adjust to Daylight Savings Time, but only the time adjusts so your alarms might go off an hour later than expected. I've notified the company about this.
Potential For Firmware Updates
The clock can receive updates over its connection to your phone when the app is open, so more features can and will be added over time where it makes sense.
What Could Be Better
- No hourly report
- App accessibility is OK but setting the time for alarms and reminders is kinda tedious
I heard somewhere that an hourly report could be coming sometime in the not-too-distant future.
Check it out here: TimeVocalist Talking Button Clock on Amazon
Curious to hear what you guys think.