The Ingrein Smart Clock ($450, currently on Kickstarter) is an attractive wooden timepiece that doubles as a notification device using light, sound, and a built-in display. You can control what's shown on the display by setting up recipes on If This Then That (IFTTT) so that it automatically responds to information like sports scores, Tweets, weather updates, and more. There's even a motion sensor you can program to do things like activate your Nest Thermostat when you walk through your front door. But while the pre-production model we tested is promising, a number of kinks need to be worked out before the final version is released.

Design and Features

The Ingrein is a big, square clock. It measures 13 inches on each side (HW), is 1 inch thick (D), and weighs three pounds. It comes in a number of different finishes; our test model is made of different types of wood, including cedar, castelo boxwood, ear tree, and mahogany. You can see hints of the various tree parts in the subtle horizontal striping that runs across the clock face.

There are two black metal hands in the middle and a 3.5-inch, 420-by-320-pixel color LCD below. There are no marks for minutes or hours. The metal hands feel flimsy, and shifts out of place if the clock is moved. The minute hand moved an entire five-minute increment once during testing, so you might want to double check the time on your phone. The display is easy to see close up, but it becomes difficult to read email subject lines or text messages from across the room. There's also a noticeable amount of glare. The back of the clock is lined with 71 LEDs that glow different colors to indicate incoming alerts. There's no battery. Instead, an included ten-foot USB cable must be used to provide power.

There's a flat, tiny knob on the back that adjusts the time. It's hard to get a good grip, so it takes some effort to get it exactly right. A Daylight Savings Time switch next to the knob is set to On by default, so the clock will automatically adjust.

As for features, it's all about the notifications from apps and other devices, some of which you can control via Ingrein's own Web app, though most are entirely reliant upon IFTTT. That could be a problem if the IFTTT service is down, but Ingrein says you will eventually be able to control everything from its Web app. For now, you need to go to IFTTT's site to set up recipes so the clock will react to various triggers. For example, you can set the clock's built-in motion sensor to detect when you enter a room and have your Philips Hue White ($14.99 at Newegg) bulbs turn on. Or you can program the clock to send you a text message if the motion sensor detects someone in your house. Or it can simply display emails and Twitter mentions, accompanied by a flashing LED and alert sound. When there are no notification alerts, the screen can display traffic or weather information by entering an address in Google Maps on the Ingrein Web app. But you can only view one piece of info at a time, so there's no way to see both traffic and weather.

Setup, App, and Performance

Connecting the clock to Wi-Fi and multiple devices and services seems daunting at first, but it's actually fairly simple, if time-consuming. First, you have to connect the included USB cable to the back of the clock. Then sign into the Ingrein site and connect your computer to the clock's Wi-Fi network. After that, you need to connect the clock to your home Wi-Fi network. I was also able to connect via the Safari browser on an Apple iPhone 6.

In the Ingrein Web app, you can adjust a variety of settings, including screen brightness, aura speed (how fast the LEDs flash), and what's shown on the display, including weather, travel info, and time, which is a bit redundant (but given my problems with the clock hands, potentially useful). Weather is self-explanatory; you'll see icons for sunny or cloudy weather, along with the day's highs and lows. Travel lets you choose a location on Google Maps to see how long it takes to get there. I selected my home in New Jersey and the clock displayed "45 minutes," which is accurate when traveling home from the office. This could help you figure out whether or not you need to leave early for your daily commute. In addition, the site lets you choose the time zone, units of measurement (for distance and temperature), and the type of weather conditions the screen can display (current or forecast). You can also turn the motion sensor on or off.

To test the clock, I signed into my IFTTT account, activated the Ingrein Clock Channel (currently in private beta), and created a couple of recipes. I set the clock up to sound an alert and glow pink when I received new Gmail messages. I also set it up to notify me with blue light and sound when someone mentioned me on Twitter. Finally, I set up Gmail calendar reminders with yellow light and sound. You can choose from several colors, and there's an option to turn the clock's sound on or off. All the notifications went through, but they were all delayed. About ten minutes passed between when my actual Gmail client received emails and when the clock notified me of them. That's quite a bit of time. What if the email or text is something urgent? In that case, you'll probably want to keep your phone handy. Also worth noting: the alert sound is unpleasant and tinny, and feels more like it's announcing an error than a notification.

The Ingrein Smart Clock is an interesting idea, but the execution needs some tightening. If Ingrein wants you to put your phone down, and still keep you up-to-date with Tweets and sports scores, then the clock needs timelier notifications. The option to view multiple alerts at once would also help. And considering it's a clock, the hour hands should really stay in place. As it stands in pre-release form, the Ingrein is a cool concept, but you can't really count on it. We'll update this preview and add a rating as soon as we get a chance to test the final version.

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