Whenever I have an early start I have to set an alarm to wake me up, as I’m sure quite a lot of you do. I am also one for snoozing in the morning once I hear the alarm go off. Usually, I’ll snooze for about half an hour before I know I really should wiggle my toes, shake my legs and get up before I end up being late. Normally I’ll just use my BlackBerry alarm to do this but now I use Get set, Get up! for the BlackBerry PlayBook. Join me after the break to see how I rise and shine in the morning to this app.
Setting the alarm and snooze time
This one was quite weird for me at first. Normally, alarm clocks work by setting the time you want to wake up, then you’d snooze a bit after that time. What I found with this app was that the time you set was actually the time you would get up after snoozing. So, if I wanted to wake up and 7am and snooze for half an hour I would actually set up the time for 7:30 am then choose the snooze time of 30 minutes so that the alarm would start at 7am. This didn’t occur to me the first time I set it up, so I actually woke up earlier. I actually had to run an afternoon alarm to clarify this. It seemed a little odd but I’m used to it now and I wake up at the same time each morning so I don’t have to set the alarm every time.
You can snooze for a maximum of 90 minutes which is perhaps for the weekends or days you can lie in a bit but on those days on which I don’t tend to use an alarm anyway. As for snooze intervals you can’t change this, instead the length of snooze time gets shorter every time, preparing you to get up. For a 30 minute snooze, it will go off again 13 minutes after the first alarm, then 10 minutes after that, then 5 minutes and the final one two minutes after that, giving you your 30 minute snooze. If you still tapped snooze at 30 minutes, about 30 seconds later you will get a nagging beeping sound warning you that if you tapped OK, no more alerts will sound after the beeps. It is quite an annoying sound so I find it does make me get up.
You can set the sound it plays from your music collection but I keep it to the default Winter Empire. The option is there for those who may require something different. I also like how you can touch anywhere on the screen to silence the alarm, however this does not stop the alarm or go into snooze mode, it merely gives you time to figure out what you want to do. To turn off the alarm all together just swipe down from the top bezel and tap on alarm off.
Write yourself a message or reminder
I like the idea of being able to write a small note to yourself, sort of a little reminder of what you need to be done during the day, or even before you leave the house. You can write quite a bit and you can also separate each message on each line. It scrolls along the top when the alarm goes off and continues to scroll while you are snooze mode.
Voice Notes
Another option you have is to play yourself a voice note while you’re snoozing. Maybe you’d rather hear the messages in the morning as opposed to reading them. Or perhaps you want to hear something motivational to get you out of bed. In order to use voice notes you actually have to record them using the PlayBook’s built-in Voice Notes app, then browse for them within the Get set - Get up! app. I’ve tried this one but the scrolling messages is fine for me, unless I can get someone really motivational to record a message that would really get me up in the morning.
App options and other features
The app has an Options section that allows you to set the the alarm volume, separate from the PlayBook volume. You can also choose whether you prefer a 12 or 24 hour clock. There are also a couple of language selections too.
You also have the ability to adjust the brightness of the screen while in the app. To dim the screen just swipe downwards (not from the bezel) and swiping upwards will brighten the screen. There is also a nifty light feature which turns the screen a bright beige like color to help you see in the dark if you needed.
Overall, I am loving this app. It is now the alarm clock I use instead of the my BlackBerry device. Since I charge my PlayBook overnight it makes for a a great beside clock, if I don’t fall asleep with it that is. I do recommend having it on charge if you were to leave it on as you wouldn’t want it draining your battery overnight, you do have the option though to turn off the back-lightning when unplugged. You do have to have the app running for the alarm to work but it doesn’t necessarily have to the app running in the foreground, as long as the app is running the alarm will sound. Though it can be a bit of a struggle in the morning when you’re trying to find the app half asleep in order to snooze it. I did make the mistake one night of forgetting to open the app, needless to say I didn’t wake up on time that morning.
I certainly recommend the app if you’re looking for something different. The developer also suggests that it could be used during the day, during office hours to run you through your day or as a countdown to home time even.
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