Best Alarm Clock App – A Comparison of “Alarm Clock” and “Nightstand”

As all those with iPhones know the alarm clock app provided with the iPhone is a rather lacklustre and just plain boring.  This facilitates the need to download an alarm clock app – of which there are plenty.   Based on reading the descriptions and reviews for all the alarm clocks that came up on my search I have narrowed my search to the top 2 for testing and reviewing: The unpaid versions of “Alarm Clock” and “Nightstand.”  (My assumption is that the paid versions just offer more of the same and so I should be able to determine which app is best and then make a second decision if the paid version of said app is worth it.)

1)   Wallpaper – Right off the bat Nightstand wins for having a much more appealing screen to look at. You can choose from a variety of scenic photos from which to display the clock. Alarm Clock on the other hand looks like a plain digital alarm clock (you can change the color though).

2)   Weather Conditions & Date – Again the win goes to Nightstand, this time because of the size of text.  While Alarm Clock has the weather and date it is in the tiniest font and there’s no option to increase its size.  This is a criticism I have of both apps though as you should be able to increase the type as much as you choose.

3)   Background Alarm/Short Sound –Background Alarm or Short Sound is the alarm that goes off should you forget to leave the app running at night.  Both apps allow you to turn this option off.  Nightstand offers only 4 sounds and each is very abrasive sounding.  Why can’t you choose from the full array? And Alarm Clock only offers 6 and one is “standard notification sound” which I am unsure of, but it could mean it defaults to the same sound set for your alarm?? So Alarm Clock wins this round but only by a pinch.

4)   Alarm Sounds – Nightstand only offers 15 sounds to choose from and I only found 2 of them to be something I’d want to wake up to (flowing water or spring sounds).  I’ll pass on the wailing sirens and beeping horns, thanks.  Alarm Clock provided even less sounds (only 6!) and I only found one non-abrasive sound one (mystic river).  Nightstand wins again.

Overall Nightstand beat Alarm Clock on 3 out of 4 criteria.  Basically everything else about the apps are identical.  It should be noted that each lets you wake up to your own iPod music when you buy their full versions and both are 99 cents at time of writing (January 18^th 2011).

Here's links to a couple other bloggers that have also put some effort into reviewing iphone alarm apps.

• 10 Best Alarm Clock Apps - Includes pics! Nifty.
• Four awesome alarm clock apps - Reviews by CNET are always decent
• The Best iphone clock apps - Reviews 10 apps, includes pics and prices