iHome iC50BY Android Alarm Clock Speaker Dock

• Play and charge your Android Smartphone; FM Alarm Clock Radio allows you to wake & sleep to radio or tone
• Works with iHome Sleep alarm app for enhanced wake & sleep options (free Android Market download)
• SmartSlide dock with custom Quick Charge micro USB cable; AUX line-in for music playback with included stereo audio cable connection to your smartphone or other music device
• Specially designed stereo Reson8 speaker chambers for superior audio performance; built-in EXB sound enhancement
• Battery backup ensures your alarm sounds during a power failure

I bought this product because I was excited about the fact that someone had created a clock with Android compatability. This thing works, in a technical sense (in that it tells time and charges your phone) but the usefulness stops there.

There is no real compatibility or interface between the clock and your Android. There is a micro USB cable, and a standard headphone cable (both of which must be plugged in for this to work; and by "work" I mean it charges your device and allows you to use the clock as a speaker). That's it. Otherwise it's a pretty mediocre alarm clock. The clock has 4 brightness settings: 1. blinding, 2. way too bright, 3. still too bright, 4. and off. The dimmest visible setting was bright enough to bother me while I was trying to fall asleep.

The clock has an alarm on it with a nice big convenient SNOOZE button in the middle. But if you want to use your phone as the alarm, (thereby making use of the "compatability") the snooze button does nothing. You have to use your phone as the interface.

My Galaxy Nexus looked as if it would fit quite nicely in the dock, but after trying a few combinations of cables sticking out every which way, I discovered that the only way this would "work" wold be with my device bobbing around precariously with all of its weight on the micro USB cable. This made me pretty uncomfortable, as a bump or jolt could potentially snap the phone off of the cable, breaking the cable, the phone, or both.

I returned this thing after a week of trying to like it. But it's basically broken. I'd recommend getting a nice phone dock instead. This thing is a trumped up alarm clock that provides the "convenience" of charging your phone. Do not recommend.

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Got this at BestBuy and will be returning it.

PROS the micro USB stand works well enough, and with the adapter, you could just circumvent it if you want to, which I consider a good thing as you could connect and charge any micro-usb device. The aux-in 3.5mm jack also works. The included cord is a little short, but is still able to reach the top-side jack on my Samsung Galaxy S2, which is a pretty big phone.

CONS my main complaint is that the clock number display is illegible. I posted a photo to Amazon of the clock showing 9:19; it looks like 8:18, because 6s and 9s display just like 8s, no matter what the brightness setting. It's possible that this is a lemon, but really, LCD displays have been around far too long to be getting screwed up. For $50, this is an indication of unacceptable quality control.

It's also lame that there are no radio presets.

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Volume is great. Goes upto 40 and sounds great. Dock is great and keeps phone steady because my micro usb port is on the side and not under neath. Got it at bedbath for half price with 20 percent coupon because the box is all beat up. But the unit was mint. I like the dim feature so I can finally sleep now and don't stay awake with all the bright light. Was a little confusing at first (but hello, instructions are thrown in the box for a reason) but now works great. Alarm fade in is great also. But confusing at first because it makes you think it is not working. Also alarm can be set to any station you want to wake up to. Or you can use your phone connected to the headphone jack. All in all good clock.

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The one thing that made me jealous of the iPhone was the litany of devices (including iHome's) that worked with it. I had this vision that I'd be able to dock my phone in, and play audio off it while charging it.

Sadly, no.

Strike 1: In order to work, the phone needs both a USB connection and a 3.5mm line in. When I think about it, it does make sense, since there's no standard for playing 2.1 channel audio out of a microUSB connection.

Strike 2: As other reviewers have alluded, the iHome can't really hold the Galaxy Nexus with any sort of stability--the phone wobbles in the dock if I touch the screen.

Strike 3: There is no integration whatsoever between the phone and the alarm clock.

However, the thing that made me ultimately return this device was that for no good reason, audio would suddenly stop playing, and I'd have to turn it back on again.

Save your money, get a speaker dock instead.

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This seems to be the only dock currently available for the Android phone. While it has it's faults, the sound is pretty good. My complaints are as follows & prevent tis from getting more than 3 stars.

I have the HTC Shift with the charge port on the bottom left. This prevents the dock from holding the phone in a proper position. It sits way off to the left & looks silly when docked. The port is hard to align when docking my phone. Phones with the port on the bottom should have a better experience. The radio has no presets. I switch between a few stations & would love to have a few saved. To allow the dock to play via the phone, you have to plug in an auxiliary cord to the headphone jack. Not very convenient. The built in alarm clock works great. Today I downloaded there app but can't comment yet as it looks a bit overwhelming. More time with it would be fair & I may append this review at a future date.

So for now, this dock is great if you need an alarm clock, charging cradle & quality radio. Relying on the phone for the sound source is a bit inconvenient.