Broken: alarm clock design

I'm amazed that there really aren't any alarm clocks with 10-digit keypads on them. After all, we see them everywhere: computer keyboards, alarm systems, garage door openers, and so on. (David Pogue first made me wonder about this.)

I have added a note to this photo:

6. Call reception and ask for a wake up call.

I have this alarm clock, my third one in 2 years. Every morning when it goes off, I inevitably press the wrong button to turn it off. It used to take me almost a minute to turn the darn thing off, turing everything else on (CD, Radio, Buzzer) in the process. It's especially a problem when you're getting up at 4:30 am. I've solved the problem by putting a piece of blue painter's tape next to the off switch.

A long while back in Manhattan I went alarm clock radio shopping w my girlfriend. Our shopping technique: pick two likely units, put them on the counter and race each other to make them ring in a minute.

If you can't figure a clock out immediately, you have no hope in the dark, half asleep.

I've been holding back a rant on this same subject for two weeks now. I purchased a new car sterio wanting to be able to easily play my IPOD in the car. The new sterio is so hard to use that I'm certain I'll drive off the road just trying to change the radio station. I had to refer to the manual to figure out how to turn the dang thing off -- apparently I can not. I had no idea a car sterio could be so complicated. It must have taken a lot of work to make it so bad.

I have run across this alarm clock several times and always opt for the wake up call. I seem to find that most hotel alarm clocks are trying to do too many things, like setting 2 alarms, radio, etc...As you suggest, opting for the simple set alarm and use the snooze button is much simpler for all.

I had some thoughts on this a while ago:
http://joshua.schachter.org/2006/05/clock.html

I've been looking for an alarm clock with a 10-digit keypad for years! It seems like such a simple, basic thing. One button for each number. Why is alarm clock design such a challenge?

A successful example: In considering travel clocks I cannot be persuaded to abandon my Westclock Travel Alarm. There is a screen with the time, two sliders - set time/alarm, alarm on/off, two buttons for setting hour and minute, and a big light/ snooze button; and a compact flip form. No confusion (unless of course you stop at PM when you mean AM - but it only happens once ).

Why bother trying to set up a different alarm clock every time? I use my cell phone, (which gets the local time from the network) and use the wake up call as a back up five minutes later

I have an alarm clock that runs on a AA battery. It's almost as easy as the old alarm clocks with a knob on the back to set the alarm.

What we can learn here is User Interface design, if you have to go through more than 3 steps to get somewhere on a site, you are doomed.

To the first comment: GE actually made a clock radio with a numeric keypad around 1980. I got one back then and it still works great! I don't know why they dropped it. It's far better than anything available today. I can only assume that some GE beancounter figured that 2 buttons were cheaper than 10, and that was the end of it.

I travel frequently, so I see a great variety of clocks in hotel rooms, and even the high-end iPod-compatible units are a puzzle to figure out without instructions. Anybody who comes out with a numeric keypad now should be able to sell a boatload.

I had this alarm clock during a hotel stay (must have been the same Crowne Plaza?), except I didn't have the friendly card. To set the alarm, I had to google the model number, bring up a PDF of the instructions, wade through 10 pages of Spanish to get through to the three things I needed to do to set the alarm. Awesome!

After failing to get an alarm quite a few times in hotels, I've always opted for the wake up call. However, there's one device that's perfect for alarms. It's the cell phone. That one I always have with me and I know how to use it. Case closed (unless I forget to set the timezone).

That is one good lookin' clock! Hey, everytime I look at it I just start giggling... but when I'm in a hotel I always use the wake-up call service. Clock is very amusing, though, thanks for a good laugh!

Reminds me of a Panasonic radio/CD player I recently donated to junk pile...I simply could not remember how to set the alarm without pulling out a detailed instruction pamphlet each time. The device looked great but it was so frustrating I tossed it.

The best clock setting interface was on a Westinghouse oven my family bought in 1987. It was a knob. You held down the button and turned the knob to set the time. If you went past the actual time, you turned the knob in the opposite direction. My current microwave oven works the same way.

I just bought Sony's latest version of the "Dream Machine" (same clock I had in the '80s growing up). It had similar confusing instructions. I had to read them because they automatically pre-set the clock on Eastern Time and I couldn't figure out how to change it by simply pushing "Time" and the "Hour" and "Minute" buttons to Pacific. I was so frustrated to even attempt to try to set the alarm!

My poor exchange student (who we bought the clock for)!

In our workshop "Obtaining and Using Customer Requirements" we guide participants to defining a "good" alarm clock based on understanding customer requirements. 95% of participants are typically dissatisfied with their alarm clock, be it Sony or others. So finding customers to interview is not a problem among participants. The standard alsrm clock is a complete aberation, and the requirements that people generate in such workshops are indicative of how user-blind alarm clock manufaturers typically are. One of the reasons, obviously is that they think in term of products (the "alarm-clock") and not in term of experience "Getting to sleep and waking up."
As a results, alarm clocks are stucked into the same paradigm it has been in since its invention. It is a commodity product competing on price. There is an opportunity for an innovative company to reinvent the experience, and make a small fortune.

There's no such thing as an affordable well designed alarm clock. My only conclusion is that there is an until-now undiscovered law of the universe that no company is capable of creating an affordable clock that looks pretty good, is easy to use, is well made, and has a non-annoying chime sound. (The best I've found is the overpriced [not affordable] Salubrion Enso alarm clock (salubrion.com).)

Hmm, actually, does the iPod have an alarm clock mode?

Possibly interesting to note that the ipod touch has an alarm and the ability to use a keypad but chooses to use a spinner. I am not sure about the keypad, how often do we enter time on a keypad? Usually we enter it through a dial.

>Jerry Michalski I love that test, superb.

PS I have not left a comment before and did not know I needed to enter my email. It did not tell me until after I submitted the comment and then I could not edit my comment. I had to back up and hope it had saved my comments.

Your comment about Sony, "...with all it's design resources" is pretty laughable. Most design work is bid out to agencies who are forced to focus on aesthetics mostly because of the pitch process. Sony literally does not care about user experience design. Either that, or they are shooting for a very low-brow demographic.

Here's another one: A Phillips clock at an Intercontinental. This instruction list has 9(!) bullets.

http://www.damniwish.com/2008/07/life-shouldnt-b.html

I have an alarm clock made by Advance and purchased from Walmart, nearly 20 years ago. It has the 10 number keypad! Now my daughter would like one. Not a chance anywhere.