iPhone Flip Clock is Our New Bedside Clock

We have to admit we had yet to purchase one app from the iTunes shop for either of our 3G iPhone or the iPod Touch. Strange to spend so much on these devices and yet we're frugal (cheap?) about spending the money to purchase an app. No longer! We use the Touch in bed as a complimentary browsing tool, to snooze to tunes while we drift off to la-la land, and to control our Apple TV and iTunes with. But we we've found an app worth the .99 cents (with some caveats)...

If you remember our fun roundup of best looking free screensavers, you'd surely remember the Flip Clock Fliqlo, an ode to the ever classic flip clock design. Developer Larva Labs has now brought the same Flip Clock design for the iPhone or your Touch, making for a stylish bedside clock alternative. Perfect for us since the Touch almost never leaves the house and sits next to the bed. The large number display sure beats our cheap-o Sony, 1990's style drug store special; pair this up with a nice iPhone stand and you've got a minimal modern clock (or how about wood?). The one feature missing from this app that would make it a killer bedside app? An alarm...we'd pay $1.99...maybe even $3.99 for that additional feature.

[via Swissmiss]

Comments (9)

"The one feature missing from this app that would make it a killer bedside app? An alarm...we'd pay $1.99...maybe even $3.99 for that additional feature."

Luckily you paid for that app already...iPhone/Touch come with an excellent alarm that would have no problem playing through ANY app - including this one.

Any concern for the iPhone screen re: burn-in? Not something I've seen discussed re: the touchscreen. And this app is a natural ice-breaker since it has a history of burning into people's screens.

posted by mr.O on October 21st 2008 at 9:18am
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mr. O: The burn-in issue is one definitely worth noting, but one I guess I'm not too worried with since I put the Touch into sleep mode when I'm not using it. I'd like to have an alarm feature added so it would display with the flip-mode at designated time. I already use the included alarm, but don't love the graphical display as the large, easy to read flip clock...combine the two and we've got a winner (and maybe a anti-burn fade in and out feature to address your noted concern).

posted by gregory on October 21st 2008 at 9:30am
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so this app stays on? doesn't that kill your battery?

i use fliqlo for my laptop and i do think it's great. i'd consider using this to replace my alarm clock, but i'd be concerned about battery life. also, does the alarm function through this or does this app have it's own alarm function (with snooze of course)?

posted by Matt. M on October 21st 2008 at 2:12pm
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iflip clock PLUS comes with an alarm for 4.99

posted by taracakes on October 21st 2008 at 2:41pm
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I love the Flip Clock, except that it only works in landscape (phone on its side). That means that you can't leave the phone in the dock, where it would stay powered up.

posted by MisterR on October 22nd 2008 at 4:45am
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Combine this app with a flipped-open old cassette case as your stand, and you've got one sweet travel clock. Just be sure to keep it plugged into the wall.

I think Gregory's idea of an alarm that flips the clock on/off at particular times is genius. Obviously, a dimmer would also be key and I said as much in my iTunes Store review. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

taracakes: That's a different product whose graphics are IMHO inferior to Flip Clock's slick use of space...which is pretty much the number one feature I love about this app.

posted by mr.O on October 24th 2008 at 10:48am
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I got inspired by this post and downloaded the app. I built an iPhone stand by cutting a notch out of a used cartridge from the office coffee machine. Works great! Here's a photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lfb/3061161865/

posted by Ben from Cambridge on November 26th 2008 at 2:27pm
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The Blackberry Bold comes loaded with an elegant "bedside mode" to it's full-featured clock (alarm, stopwatch, timer, clock in analog, digital or "flip"). The bedside mode is dims nicely while it charges. You can see images at these links:

http://skypejournal.com/blog/images/BlackberryBold.Clock.jpg (shows the Bold in it's night-stand pod, in the analog clock form)

http://developerlife.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/12-07.png (shows the "flip" interface showing the display of the alarm).

It's all good.

posted by bbmatt on February 8th 2009 at 9:48pm
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The idea rocks indeed but they it means you should keep your iphone plugged all the time. And than it can scratch while you`re keeping it in the corner since they made no special support for that yet. My clock on iphone had the shape of a legal herb and I found that really cool.

posted by JoeAnna on June 15th 2009 at 12:04pm
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