As the image betrays, the unit is obviously compatible with the iPod touch and iPhone 3g/3GS/4, as well as MP3s played from a USB stick or your FM/AM dial.
Two 3.5 inch speakers provide the tunes, which can be delivered in the aforementioned “slow to rise” manner described above. Called IntelliAlarm, the system lets you select the audio source and then awaken gradually thanks to some proprietary high frequency filtering technology and volume management. Eventually, should you not rise (but are still alive), the system beeps.
Additional details, via a press release from Yamaha this afternoon:
The TSX-140 offers a USB mini-B connector that facilitates iPod/iPhone syncing to a computercwhile charging in the dock. In addition to the illuminated buttons oncthe top panel, three front panel controls give access to source, volume, radio presets, alarm clock and equalizer functions. LED indicators show which function has been selected for simple, fast tuning. A brightness sensor automatically adjusts all display LEDs to suit the ambient light level.
The unit will set you back $US400 and can be purchased in black, brick or grey.
bobbob
Wednesday, December 1, 2010 at 2:14 PMI’ve been looking for a decent alarm clock with slow wake for years. There have been plenty around but most are borked implementations. Most either define gradual volume increase as ‘keep turning up the volume in 10 increments every 30 seconds or so’ which isn’t gradual in any sense of the word or the most they allow for is 15-20 minutes of gradual wake up which isn’t really long enough.
When i slept with a PC with an alarm clock winamp plugin in my room i found you need at least 60 minutes of gradual wakeup to make it so you are not woken up by shock. Obviously music selection is important however 1 hour of soft gentle music was ideal.
There are some iphone alarm apps that supposedly offer this feature but i have found most of them are borked with similar problems as above\ or Apples stupid background application limitations which means you can’t put the phone to standby mode and need to leave it on with the clock slowly burning out your LCD screen.