iLuv SmartShaker vibrating alarm review

Sharing a bed or even a room over night can lead to difficulties in the morning, especially if your alarms are set for different times. How can you have a wake-up call that won’t annoy those that don’t have to get up yet? Well, the iLuv SmartShaker could be one answer.

The SmartShaker is a small alarm unit that you shove under your pillow which will wake you up whilst not waking up anyone else in the room, or in your bed.

This little device from iLuv, as you may have guessed from its name, wakes you up with good vibes. Literally.

iLuv states that:

The long battery life means it can be used for a month before needing to recharge. SmartShaker is the perfect wake up alarm for couples, roommates, heavy sleepers and people with hearing impairments”

Let’s have a look at it then.

The little vibrating SmartShaker hooks up to your mobile phone via Bluetooth and a free downloadable app and then you’re all set – just remember to mute your phone before you hit the land of nod.

iLuv SmartShaker design

The iLuv SmartShaker looks somewhere between a shrunken robot vacuum cleaner, a hockey puck and a metal cookie – I was sent the black and grey one.

Around its edge is where you’ll find a microUSB port for charging, an on/off switch, a reset point and the all important snooze button. Who actually gets up as soon as the alarm goes off?

Most of the smart stuff is actually taken care of by the app as, once you’ve paired the puck with your phone it’s the app where you’ll set everything up.

The iLuv SmartShaker app

The blue colour scheme is pretty clear and is mostly intuitive. Selecting an alarm to edit or to add one is straightforward enough, once you’ve figured out what needs pressing and what needs swiping.

If you’ve used any clock/alarm app I am sure you’d be able to figure things out in no time.

I was quickly able to set my working day alarms as well as my Saturday one which is needed so I can head of to the rehearsal studio. The one’s during the week I had set for a silent wake-up and the weekend one an audible alarm.

The process, albeit rather clunky, gets the job done well enough.

There is some overlapping on some of the text on the Settings page.

iLuv SmartShaker alarm review conclusion

I like the idea but I did have issues in pairing the SmartShaker with my HTC One M9. The app could be slicker and the vibrations perhaps stronger or even adjustable.

iLuv could well have a winner here and with some little tweaks a sure fire hit. Still, at only $19.99 direct from iLuv or £13.99 from Argos it’s worth a try.