Moshi Voice Interactive Talking Alarm Clock
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Moshi Voice Interactive Talking Alarm Clock
Customer Review: Good, but could be a lot better
Summary: 3 Stars
I just received my Moshi today, & already I agree with a lot of the other reviewers. The clock is nice but, if its not at eye level, it is unreadable. The disco nightlight feature reminds me of those old movies where there is a flashing neon sign right outside the actor`s hotel bedroom window. The clock is having a hard time understanding vocal commands ( eg. I`ll tell it to set the alarm to 2:15AM, & it will say "alarm set to 11:45AM ). The idea is great, but this execution of it is not so great.Customer Review: Great Idea!
Summary: 4 Stars
Bought this as a Christmas gift for my viually impaired brother and so far really like it and will buy another for another room. The only problems we had, as have been mentioned, was the loose power cord but once in place on the bedside table that resolved itself, and the snooze alarm not turning off. We've found a work around ~ once the alarm goes off or after the first snooze, tell it to set alarm to another time, say in the afternoon, then tell it to turn the alarm off. This silences it for the day. Moshi Voice Controlled Talking Alarm Clock
With more and more folks suffering from macular degeneration and other visual impairing issues this is a real breakthrough, despite its quirks.
Kathy in Maine
Customer Review: Great alarm clock
Summary: 5 Stars
I have owned this alarm clock for several months now, and have recently found out that there are several model numbers, so I can only speak for mine. The MLC498 DOES allow you to choose one nightlight instead of the "disco ball" that another reviewer spoke about. The controls are on the back of the clock. The only problem is that they don't let you choose the single color, which may have changed on it's new model, the MLC498. The voice on the clock allows you to choose from Low-Medium-High, so when set on low, it does not wake the other person. As long as you speak clearly, the clock understands your commands, as long as you say them the way you are instructed. Also, another reviewer stated that you have to reset the alarm every day. That is not true on this model. Once the alarm is set, when it goes off in the morning and you say the command to turn the alarm off, as long as you don't say it again, it remains set for the same time the next day. All in all this is a GREAT alarm clock.Customer Review: Great idea, some aspects well done, some really poor
Summary: 3 Stars
This would have been a fantastic product, but in some respects, the software is very badly written.
Once you have ever set the alarm to any time, it will keep turning itself back on for that time every day. If you don't want it to ring in the morning, you have to remember to "Hello Moshi" and "Turn off the alarm" every night before you go to bed. The ONLY alternative is to manually flip the switch on the back, which makes it impossible to tell Moshi to turn the alarm back on. It can't be turned on vocally, while that switch is off, but there's no other way to keep it from turning the alarm back on every day.
It really, really needs some quieter modes. Even when you turn the volume as low as it will go, each "Hello, Moshi" is followed by a way too loud "Welcome. Command, please."
And why does it have to take so long? When I want something, I have to say "Hello, Moshi," usually three times, louder each time, before it works. (Because in a silent environment, I don't start right out talking loudly enough to activate the thing.) Then, I have to wait for the slow speech, "Welcome. Command, please." Why can't its response be, simply, "Yes?" That would take so much less time. We're used to finding out what time it is, by just an immediate glance. Not after such a delay.
And why can't it stay in listen mode after it has answered the first request, in case I have a second request? If I want to know both the date and the time, I have to go through the whole "Hello, Moshi", and "Welcome. Command, please" again.
The clock face, and its numbers, are very large and readable...if you're looking at it from just the right angle. Anywhere else, not. The background can be lit (the command is "Night Light", but I don't see why it couldn't be left on permanently if desired), but that doesn't help the visibility from any but just the right angle.
The night light rotates through 6 beautiful colors, which would be fine for a party, but very hard to sleep through. But the lighting must have been intended solely for illuminating the clock face, not as a night light for the room. It does not illuminate anything but the clock face itself.
If you don't like to rotate through 6 colors, you can turn that off, and then you're stuck with exactly one shade of blue, no matter how much you dislike that one.
The concept of 3 sleep sounds that play for 5 minutes is so unspeakably ludicrous. What good could it possibly do anyone to have a sleep sound play for 5 minutes and then stop? One of the reviews said the documentation is wrong and it's actually 15 minutes. That's very close to being just as ludicrous.
All 3 of the alarm sounds are awful.
From the sound of my review, it's hard to imagine why I gave it a 3 rather than 2. But here's what I do like about it: I hardly ever have to get up at a set time. I go to work when I feel like it. So on the rare occasions when I do need to set my alarm, I can never remember how, on other clocks, since I do it so rarely. This one is impossible to forget! "Hello, Moshi." "Set alarm." "Six thirty AM." That's all, it's done. So easy! (Except that I first have to flip the switch on the back, which I normally have to keep turned off so the alarm won't ring on days when I haven't set it.)
Customer Review: Hello Moshi Alarm Clock ... Don't buy ... needs a lot more work ...
Summary: 2 Stars
The "Hello Moshi" voice activated alarm clock is an useful novelty, and probably somewhat more useful for the visually handicapped, but it is far from ready for prime time, even with some of it's recent upgrades (there is now a volume control switch). As many have also complained, I still haven't found how to shut off the alarm, it just goes automatically (or if you touch the display) into a 9-minute snooze mode, until it reaches the default 3 times. It can be a real pain to set the alarm ... for example, it has a very difficult time distinguishing "ten" (vs. "seven"), and "pm" (vs. "am"), and besides the trigger phrase "Hello Moshi", several other common phrases trigger it (e.g. "not much") during conversations, and while playing the TV or radio. The company is promising future voice activated products, but beware ... they probably shouldn't be given any critical or potentially dangerous tasks, as this technology, from this company, isn't quite there yet. If all of their future products don't come with a way to upgrade as the technology improves, their existing products will serve as tombstones for their future endevors.
Update Fall 2009: My Moshi was unrepentently crushed and then disposed of when it repeatedly when off during conversations and in response to non-prompt words from the TV once too often and after repeatedly failing to set the alarm to the time requested.
RIP = Rest-In-Pieces
Robert Haggerty