Dolphin Alarm Clock for iPad – Review
We are very impressed with this app, it’s a great way to wake up and certainly ticks all the boxes for unique content. Despite there being quite a lot of alarm clock apps in the App Store, there are none like this. Read our review below.
We recently interviewed the developer of this great app, Mark Linthicum, you can read that here.
This app retails for $4.99 in the App Store and you can download it here.
If you’re looking for an alarm clock for your iPad that’s a bit different to the norm then this app could be just the thing. As well as some outstanding footage of real dolphins that was shot by the developer and his team for a movie (Beneath the Blue) 10-percent of the proceeds from sale of the app is being donated to the Sea Shepard Convservation Society, which is dedicated to protecting not only dolphins but all wildlife inhabiting the worlds oceans.
The app is a visual treat, yet it’s restful, should you be setting it up late at night for a bright and breezy start in the morning, which is kind of the point.
An auto-dimming night mode is a rather neat addition.
The quality footage (over 1GB in fact) gives the impression you’re viewing the dolphins from some kind of submersible. There’s something deeply calming about it. And the latest update, version 1.2, has even more dolphins than before.
Setting the alarm function couldn’t be simpler. The clock can be displayed in either 12- or 24-hour mode and you simply tap the corresponding digits – no scrolling involved!
If there’s a niggle you can’t select multiple alarm times throughout the day or program new times over different days. You can choose the day or days, say Monday thru Friday, or Monday thru Sunday even, but if you want a lie-in at the weekend, for instance, you can’t set a different (i.e. later) time for Saturday or Sunday. But this is easily rectified with a future, albeit as yet unannounced, firmware upgrade.
As well as access to your music library (from your iTunes account) there are 32 different tunes to choose from for your alarm.
If the app is open this is what you’ll see when you wake to the alarm. From the preferences, you can program the snooze feature to sound the alarm again at any interval you like, though the default is set, sensibly, for a couple of minutes.
If the app is closed (as is the most likely scenario) then the alarm can still be heard (you must have the volume set beforehand) and you’ll see a message like that seen above. We’ve hit the snooze button here a couple of times, hence the time.
Unlike the iPhone the iPad isn’t bundled with an alarm clock, and, while that seems like an oversight to us, apps like this are particularly welcome. With the lack of setting multiple alarm times the only real niggle, the beautifully shot footage and simple functionality mean this app should be on your iPad. Highly recommended.
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: [email protected]
