Radio, alarm clock, wireless charger and speaker to help you sleep. All this is contained in a single object that has a very specific name: Anker Wakey, a speaker that our editorial staff has had the opportunity to try in recent weeks in order to evaluate its individual functions and appreciate its qualities in everyday use. .
It is not a simple Bluetooth speaker but a real bedside handyman , capable of assisting the user from the moment he goes to bed until he wakes up. It would be perfect if it weren't that … but no, this is not the best time to reveal our little wish, because Anker Wakey is in any case the best room speaker you could wish for for the next few months.
How it's made
Let's start with the design first. The lines are soft while the shape and the choice of materials make it overall beautiful to look at and easy to combine within a modern type of furniture. The satin finish of the external body is smooth and pleasant to touch, in short, Anker Wakey takes pleasure in it and if it is beautiful we do not just say it: this speaker in fact won the 2018 Golden Pin Design Award, an initiative led by the Taiwan Design Center and organized and supported by the Industrial Development Office of the Chinese Ministry of Economy.
The aim of the competition is to improve the correspondence of design objects, visual aspects and spaces with the desires and needs of “huaren” consumers, ie the Chinese-speaking market, currently corresponding to a quarter of the world market. , and whose prizes would guarantee the winners greater attention also from the international media.
Among the particular signs of this speaker we point out first of all the presence of a wireless charging system for the smartphone: it is sufficient to place a mobile phone compatible with this technology on the silicone ring visible in the center of the upper surface of the case to be able to immediately start the wireless charging of the internal battery.
Although you don't notice it when turned off, Anker Wakey features a small display well hidden under the front fabric cover that protects the drivers: the brightness is adjustable and you can use it to constantly show the current time like any bedside clock. , very convenient for reading the time at a glance at any time of the day.
Finally, Anker Wakey integrates a front strip of touch buttons that allow you to activate the various modes available and adjust some of the most important parameters, such as radio stations and the volume of the speaker. On the back there are instead several inputs including the FM socket for the antenna (supplied), two USB ports, a 3.5mm audio jack input and the DC socket for power supply.
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How does it work
In fact, since it is not a portable speaker, there is no battery and in order to use it it is mandatory to connect it to the power outlet: in our opinion this is one of the few limits of Anker Wakey, clearly desired by the company to ensure that it can only be used in at home and in fixed positions and guarantee a powerful and safe charging of mobile phones via wireless.
However, to date there are batteries capable of enabling this type of technology and if even a small capacity one had been integrated into this device it would have been at least possible to rely on its alarm functions even in the event of a power failure.
In fact, if you try to unplug the plug, the front clock turns off and there is no way to use it or turn it on: so if you program one or more alarms and you don't realize that the light has gone out in the house, the speaker will not work. and without an emergency alarm set on your mobile phone you may run the risk of arriving late for appointments.
Apart from this design choice which can be shared or not, to use the speaker in all its functions it is necessary to pair it through the Soundcore app (for iPhone and Android) installed on the smartphone. Listening to the radio or music sent from the smartphone via Bluetooth can also be managed using the buttons on the speaker but the app opens up a world of opportunities that we did not expect from a similar product.
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What can he do
But what are these functions? Read on because we will list them below describing them in detail one by one.
Watch We said it a while ago: there is a display under the fabric cover that constantly shows the current time. In fact, even when not in use, Anker Wakey is a bedside clock.
FM radio This speaker is also an FM radio. By connecting the antenna supplied, you can search for the stations available in your area and store your favorite ones (up to a maximum of 10) on individual virtual buttons accessible from the app.
Wake Up Anker Wakey is also an alarm clock. In the relevant section within the app it is possible to program even more than one by deciding, for each of them:
A speaker who cradles us Among the functions that we liked the most is the one that is collected in the app in the section called Better sleep quality. From here it is in fact possible to program and then listen to a series of sounds for a pre-configured period of time and whose goal is to relax the user when he lies down in bed.
They are purely environmental sounds and for each of them it is possible to adjust the volume level, thus recreating a unique environment and each time different from the previous one. In fact, you can activate or deactivate the chirping of birds, the roar of rain, the rustle of the wind, the flow of water in a stream and other sounds (there are ten in all) that can sometimes also be used in other contexts, such as when reading a good book.
There is clearly a timer, so that you can gradually turn off the series of sounds after a previously decided period of time so as to avoid what, if at first it is a very sweet way to fall asleep, then it could turn into a noise. harassment in the most important resting phase.
How it sounds
The audio quality of Anker Wakey is really high. The full-range stereo drivers offer remarkable sound immersion and, as per Anker tradition, does not distort even at maximum volume, offering pleasant and crystal-clear audio reproduction.
Conclusions
The strong point of this device is the application: without it it would be reduced to a bedside speaker like many others. The smartphone connected in Bluetooth also does its part because it is thanks to this system that, in the event of a power failure, you will not have to re-program the alarms or re-set the correct time, which is in fact acquired from the set one. on the phone.
In short, everything is nice, but one thing is missing that in our opinion could have been integrated – perhaps in the face of a higher price – to make it really competitive: the voice assistant. In fact, there is no microphone and this not only limits its use to the functions described above – that is, without being able to use it, for example, also as a speaker for hands-free phone calls – but it does not allow even those that are in this technological age to be enabled. literally depopulating.
After all, it would have been enough to integrate Amazon Alexa and Anker Wakey's opportunities would have increased tenfold, making the installation of one of the modern Smart speakers in the bedroom unnecessary. It is true that you can always connect an Echo Input, but having an integrated solution in a single product would have made everything much more elegant.
Price to the public
Anker Wakey is on sale on Amazon for € 99.99.
