[review] Math Alarm Clock

[konzern]

Hello once again A/C, konzern here once again bringing you yet another GREAT app and great app review :D

http://ne.edgecastcdn.net/8003A4/www.cyrket.com/image/7750975865106335023

NAME
Math Alarm Clock

PRICE
$0.99

DIRECT DOWNLOAD
http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=100x100&chl=market://search?q=pname:com.av.mac

Yesterday some members were discussing alarm clocks and how most of them are lacking one way or another and, for the most part, i couldn't agree more. Then i remembered a developer coming into A/C to talk about his new app and how in order to snooze you had to solve a math equation, at the time i thought it was a great idea but had totally forgot about it till yesterday.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma.png
The first thing you see when you open the app is a change log, here you will see that the developer has done a lot of updates to make this app the best it can be.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma1.png
At first glance this app looks like every other alarm clock out there but don't be confused by the simple UI this app has more options than i have fingers :cool:

so many options that i couldn't fit them in one or two screen shots
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma2.pnghttp://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma3.pnghttp://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma4.pnghttp://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma5.png

lets go through a couple of the "main" settings shall we

ALARM VOLUME
you have 4 settings to choose from, anywhere from "very low" to "high." I personally always use the high setting because im a bit of a heavy sleeper.

VOLUME RAMP UP
This is the length of time before the volume reaches max level. You can choose from 0 seconds up to 120 seconds

LENGTH OF TIME BEFORE ALARM TIMES OUT
5 minutes ---Never
somehow i overlooked this option when i was testing the different math difficulties and i couldn't figure out the problems so i was getting a little frustrated lol.

HOW MANY TIMES ALARM CAN BE SNOOZED BEFORE SOLVING MATH
0---6
This is a great feature if you want to snooze a couple of times before actually waking up or if u wanna wake up on the first alarm then you simply choose 0.

NUMBER OF MATH PROBLEMS TO SOLVE CORRECTLY IN A ROW
1---6
while i was testing this app i chose 2-3 in the easy math settings and 1 on the other difficulty settings.

you also have options to
-disable math great option if you just want to use this as a regular alarm
-disable nap math
-dismiss requires one more math problem than snooze
-increment number of equations to solve after each snooze
-multiple choice

MATH DIFFICULTY
-easy
examples 27+11 25+23 44-41

-medium
examples 37+84+63 89-(91-53) 58+34+21

i dont know if im just bad at math or im used to solving with a paper and pencil but i found this setting to be difficult especially when half asleep, maybe im just bad at math.

-hard
example [(6x9)-(2x7)]-(8x4)

-expert
example (18x16)-(19x15)

SNOOZE SETTINGS
-snooze the alarm by flipping the phone TWICE
-snooze the alarm by shaking the phone
-snooze the alarm by shaking the phone lightly
-large snooze button

Remember these are just the general settings, you can also customize the settings for each alarm clock you want.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma6.pnghttp://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma7.png
When you add a new alarm the screen that comes up is very familiar because it looks alot like the native alarm clock

The first couple of options are the same as the native app so i wont go over them, but you can choose the math difficulty for the individual alarm as well as how many problems to solve.

Ringtone
You have alot of options as far as what ringtone u want to hear when the alarm goes off. You can choose a specific song or a random song from a specific artist or album. You can also choose to use one of your playlists and get a random song from that playlist. Even though i dont use playlists i do like the option to randomize a song based on a specific album or artist VERY COOL :cool:

Once you save the alarm it will show up on the main page, i named mine "android community" but it only shows android c
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma8.png

When the alarm goes off this is what it looks like if you chose the multiple answer option
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma9.pnghttp://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma10.pnghttp://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma11.pnghttp://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma12.png
Notice on the top right of the popup it shows you the number of problems u have solved and the number of problems you need to solve (solved/needed) I checked the option to solve one more equation in order to dismiss the alarm. While i was about to solve the 4th equation it snoozed on its own (i dont know if this is a bug or its meant to do that)

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma13.png
when you snooze, a notification will show on your notification bar telling you when the next alarm will go off. If your done sleeping you can just click on the notification and solve the problems to turn off the alarm.


You may have also noticed on the main page that theres a button on the top that says quick power nap, this is for when you want to take a quick little nap but dont really want to make a new alarm. Just click on the "custom" button on the top center and you can create a quick nap alarm

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma15.png

You can choose anything from 2 minutes to 240 minutes for your power nap.

You can create a permanent (not really permanent you can delete it by long pressing) button so that you wont have to go through these settings again
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma16.png
notice the new button next to the "custom" button

Also there is an option to create a home screen shortcut
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/rating/ma17.png

SUMMARY
This alarm is like nothing i have seen before AND THATS A GOOD THING. If you are looking for an alarm that will really wake you up in the mornings or at any time of the day then this is the alarm for you. One of the best IF NOT THE BEST alarm clocks in the market to date. Everyone should spend the 99 cents and get this alarm even if you do not like math because you can always turn that option off.

PROS
-very customizable
-different levels of math difficulty
-you can freshen up on your math skills

CONS
-no clock on the actual app
-very simple UI (yes i know im always complaining about this)



KONZERN'S RATING

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/konzern_one/acs-5of5.png

5/5 STARS

[constellanation]

great review. the only problem that i have with the app is math normally puts me to sleep ;)

[konzern]

well its a great app even if you dont like math you can disable it

[CiscoGeek]

I am laughing hard here! you actually did it! XD

[konzern]

of course, thats what us "app gurus" do

[ChrisInAZ]

Thanks for the review. I think this is a great idea. It might also be a nice feature for a future update to set it so that you have to solve a problem to turn the alarm off. I have a horrible problem with just turning my alarm off, and falling back asleep! haha

I think I'll end up giving this one a try.

[konzern]

to remove the actual alarm or to turn it off every day? cuz you can already do that, you can set a certain amount of problems to solve before you get to snooze/turn off the alarm OR you can set 1 more problem to turn off the alarm (ie if you set 2 to snooze you will need 3 to turn off the alarm)

[ChrisInAZ]

ooohh... I must have misread your original post. I thought the math part was only to snooze, not to turn off.

I'm definitely picking this one up now! Thanks for the clarification

[konzern]

yeah its a great alarm clock