When I got an iPhone, I abandoned the harsh wake up of my old alarm clock. (Love the “Harp” sound…) One of the first things I do in the morning is check the weather and read the online news. With Mendelini’s iPhone app, Glance, I can see the time, the weather and a scrolling RSS feed before my feet hit the floor. Considering there are over 200 different alarm clock apps in the iTunes App store… not to mention the very effective built-in Clock app… Glance is an elegant, customizable clock application for Apple’s iPhone or iPod Touch.
If you keep Glance on in a dock or stereo, and set the “Do Not Sleep” option, you’ve got three types of instant information at… well, a glance; clock, weather, and news. The button on the main display allows the user to dim the display for nighttime use. The alarm clock has nine possible sounds, none of which are system sounds. “Good Morning, Your Majesty” is my favorite, or maybe I just like the name.
The app displays a scrolling RSS feed and offers eight News Feeds: BBC, BoingBoing, CNN, Digg, Fox, Google, Onion and WSJ, Sports Feeds: ESPN or Sports Illustrated, Tech Feeds: Engadget, Gizmodo, Slashdot, TechCrunch, Mac News Feeds: Apple Hot News, Apple Insider, MacNN, Mac Observer, MacRumors, and TUAW. There are also two Gaming Feeds, four Entertainment Feeds and three iPhone/iPod News Feeds.
Glance went live in the iTunes store on August 1, selling for .99. The developer is actively seeking feedback through Facebook and Twitter, so new RSS feeds and additional sounds are sure to be added.
Mendelini’s Glance is a colorful and useful three-in-one app that will certainly evolve with time and user input. The scrolling RSS feed, weather and alarm clock all in one screen is handy and makes Glance stand out from the over 200 alarm clock applications available in the iTunes app store.
Product Information
| Price: | $0.99 |
| Manufacturer: | Mendelini |
| Pros: |
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Nice review! Looks like an interesting products, over all.
Sort of a Fisher Price color scheme, tho, isn’t it? I don’t think I’d like that collection of colors beside my bed – it would keep me awake, no matter how dim!
I do like the programmable alarm time, and setting weather by ZIP, rather than having to auto-locate. If you travel, you could just switch it over to locate until you got back home.
If it’s not going to let you use your sounds or songs for alarm, at least it would let you record your own. That could be interesting. I had a friend in high school who did that – had a recording of himself saying “Get up!” as an alarm clock.
I’m also irritated that you can’t choose the RSS feed. There are literally millions of RSS sites out there. No set collection is going to satisfy the folks who want to have this. I’d want “none”, personally. I don’t like to think until there is an increase in caffeine in my system.
So, will it rotate? Those who may need to bring the phone closer to read the news may bring it over while still horizontal – I’ve had this trouble with other apps. Reading while lying on your side no longer works due to auto-rotate.
Thanks again for the fine review!
I use the iTouch and am still amazed there are no? or few? clock apps that work with the device off. In the WinMobile sect, that’s usually a deal-breaker. Gotta leave the device on for a clock to work ? But Apple is the company who recently rolled out ‘cut & paste’ like it’s a technological advance.
Not too many copy and paste phones or MP3 players, Lex . . . the iPhone/iPod touch is still in it’s infancy . . . many surprises ahead, I’m sure.
@Lex: I totally agree with you. These fairly simple functionality should be a standard with advance phones like the iphone. I understand that it can be missing at lower end phones but the iphone has so much power in software and hardware that it should be a default functionality. I understand that the iphone is still in its infancy but technology in general is already in its advance stage. We shouldn’t be suckered in by companies that claim that some new update added a very simple functionality and they call it a “technological advance”. It’s like advertising a new 2010 car with an advance feature…”never before any car manufacture has done this but our new 2010 car will include cups that fit in their cup holders!! It is an advancement that no car manufacture has thought of!! Buy our car…it’s just better!!” Now would you think that as an cool feature? Or is it just as lame as having a camera in the iphone 3G that can’t take video to begin with?
FYI, Copy and paste has been a Windows Mobile functionality since their first non-phone PDA.
Cut & Paste has also been a feature in Nokia phones for ages [pre 2000 for the Communicator line]
The most basic Nokia has – for years – been able to turn itself on to sound an alarm [when travelling, my phone has always been my alrm clock]. I am about to buy an iPod Touch – is this functionality not built-in?
I use the iPhone/iPod touch as an alarm clock all the time… with the built-in feature. It was this program, Glance, that needed to be on to do the job.