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Nintendo’s Alarmo is cute and cozy — but it’s still just an alarm clock

A photo of Nintendo’s Alarmo alarm clock.
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

I have always had an adversarial relationship with alarm clocks. They are gadgets designed to ruin my most precious time, and in order to work effectively, they must be as annoying as possible. Which is why I was intrigued by Nintendo’s surprise reveal of Alarmo. (Once I got over my surprise of it not being the long-awaited Switch 2 announcement.) What if getting up in the morning could be a little more playful? Maybe what I really needed all along was Princess Zelda’s soothing voice or the chirps of tiny pikmin to ease me into consciousness in the morning.

After a week with Alarmo, I have to admit that it hasn’t changed much about my sleep patterns. It has some clever ideas, and it looks great on a shelf, but ultimately, it’s still an...

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