Why ask for the time when you could just see it on these smart speakers?
Smart home devices are all about convenience. They're designed around voice control systems such as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa to make it easy to manage lighting, sound systems, and smart appliances completely hands-free. So why not consolidate your home electronics by combining your smart speaker with an easy-to-read clock? That's two birds with one stone and one price.
Whether you're looking for a voice-controlled alarm clock, easy-access smart home controls, or a speaker that's good at playing music and telling time, there's a variety of smart speakers to choose from that are also outfitted with clocks. We've done the work for you here at AP by rounding up the best smart speakers with clocks.
A significant upgrade over the 3rd-generation device, the latest Echo Dot with clock offers the same widespread compatibility with smart home products that you'd expect from an Amazon smart speaker. In fact, it's one of the best smart speakers you could have in your home! The microphone array does a great job of picking up your voice commands, and the speaker carries them out with impressive quickness. It's both compact and affordable, which makes it a great bedside alarm clock.
Since it's so small, it won't deliver particularly great sound quality, although you can connect two of them for stereo sound. You can also connect it to any speaker with Bluetooth or line-in connectivity, thanks to a 3.5-millimeter audio out jack. In case you're worried about ongoing security, Amazon guarantees at least 4 years of updates from the date of purchase.
When it comes to pure sound quality, nothing tops the Bose Home Speaker 500. The two drivers inside face opposite directions, with one intended to point at a wall, so the sound reflects and adds depth to the music. It gets surprisingly loud and has a better bass response than you'd expect from something its size. The microphone array picks up voice commands from a decent distance away and lets you make hands-free phone calls with significantly better audio than other speakers.
It works great whether you're connected via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and even supports Airplay 2 for those invested in the Apple ecosystem. While expensive, it's hard to find any competition for this powerful smart speaker.
You don't have to invest in an expensive and bulky piece of advanced equipment to bring smart voice control to your nightstand. The Lenovo Smart Clock Essential is as straightforward as they come. In fact, you probably wouldn't even know it's a capable smart display at first glance. That makes it a great choice if you want access to news, weather, security cameras, and other interactive functions, but don't want to add any clutter or complexity to your morning routine. With that in mind, it's extremely compact, but not great at playing music.
Where it shines is in its practicality. It uses the versatile Google Assistant to deliver a wide range of functions. There's also an Alexa-enabled version, but the Lenovo Smart Clock 2 is recommended if you prefer to use Amazon's voice ecosystem. All in all, the Essential is your best bet if you want instant access to voice commands when you wake up, but don't want to spend a ton.
If your schedule varies throughout the week and you want to program all the alarms you'll need in advance, there's no better alarm clock than the Doppler Sandman. Originally a crowd-funded device, it lets you use Alexa or the specialized app to set multiple alarms and control a wide variety of smart home devices. It doubles as a white noise machine and delivers impressive audio quality for something that isn't directly marketed as a hi-fi smart speaker. In fact, unlike most smart speakers, it boasts stereo speakers and a bass port that enhances low-end response.
There are two versions; each has six USB ports, but one features three Type-A and three Type-C ports. While you can't customize the appearance of the clock face, it does support automatic dimming, and you can change the color of the numbers. The only real drawback is that it's pretty costly.
One glance tells you that the Amouhom Smart Bedside Lamp is quite a bit different from the rest. Instead of an unassuming speaker meant to blend in, it's bold, bright, and built to stand out. It has extensive color options, and you can control various lighting modes and special effects. The clock face displays the current weather, so you don't even have to get out of bed to check.
The speaker does a good job playing music, especially considering the device's modest price. In addition to your favorite tunes, the Amouhom offers several white noise options and other soothing sounds to help you sleep. It's a fun choice for both kids and adults, although several users complain that it's not the easiest to control. You'll need to connect it to Wi-Fi, navigate a standalone app, and then connect to Bluetooth for music streaming after it's all set up.
If you're searching for a no-nonsense smart alarm clock that offers voice control from the second you wake up, the Lenovo Smart Clock 2 should be high on your list. The touchscreen and convenient interface combine to deliver an especially intuitive user experience. In fact, its control scheme isn't very different from a smartphone's, which means there's basically no learning curve for Android owners. It offers more even backlighting than its predecessor and serves as an effective nightlight with customizable color warmth levels.
The base model is relatively affordable and takes up very little space on your nightstand. Alternatively, there's an upgraded model that includes a dock with a USB port and wireless charging pad. If you want to keep your smartphone and smartwatch topped up at night, the charging dock bundle is a great choice.
A pared-down version of Amazon's full-size smart displays, the Echo Show 5 is every bit as capable as its larger relatives when it comes to voice control. Its small footprint makes it the perfect Alexa-enabled alarm clock. It sports the same impressive integration of Alexa and third-party apps and products that Amazon's first-party smart devices are known for. Plus, the 5.5-inch screen gives you plenty of multimedia options, including a smart picture frame and even streaming movies and TV shows from popular services.
While the speaker is small, it's surprisingly loud, and perfect for alarm clock purposes as well as making casual video calls. If you're concerned about security, rest assured, because the Echo Show 5 has a physical camera shutter and a tactile button for turning the mic on and off.
The second iteration of the Google Nest Hub is a simple and reasonably affordable smart display that does a good job of controlling smart home devices via the Google Assistant. By far, its most interesting feature is the radar-based Soli technology. Google has been looking for a way to implement its novel radar technology into smart devices for a while now, and the Nest Hub 2 sees the first successful such attempt in the form of sleep tracking. Unlike wearables, which many people have issues using while asleep, the Nest Hub's radar tracks a single user's sleep with surprising accuracy.
Its data doesn't quite have the intricacies of some wearable sleep trackers, but the overall results are basically on a par with premium choices like the Fitbit Charge 5 and Apple Watch. As far as its clock functionality goes, it's loud enough to wake up pretty much anybody, and the voice control is simple and effective. In fact, Google's latest smart display utilizes machine learning to keep your most common commands at the ready, which decreases waiting time and streamlines your experience.
However, outside of controlling Google-compatible smart devices and serving as an alarm clock, it falls short in some areas. For example, it's not very good at playing music (although it does podcasts well), and there's no camera, so it can't make video calls. If you're looking for a capable smart display that supports sunrise alarms and doesn't cost a fortune, though, it's a great choice.
While everything from fridges to garage doors and more gets the smart home treatment, clocks are an obvious place to integrate voice control and smart features. After all, clocks are usually in easy-to-see parts of common spaces. They are essential for timing, especially when fixing dinner, rushing out the door, or starting a fun activity. It makes sense that a standard clock can benefit from voice control integration.
The alarm clock is another perfect candidate for smart features. For example, maybe you've woken up to immediately check the news, weather, and traffic on your phone. If you've done that more than once, you've probably also dropped your phone — maybe even on your face (but it's early, so you get a pass for being clumsy). The right smart display eliminates that risk by adding a speaker, microphone, touchscreen, and dependable wireless connectivity to a capable alarm clock.
If sound quality is one of your priorities, it's hard to go wrong with a Bose Home Speaker 500. It sounds better with nearly any genre of music than any other smart speaker, although the price is a bit much for some. For peak price-to-performance ratio, consider the 4th-generation Amazon Echo Dot, which punches well above its weight class in terms of sound quality.
If you want customizable alarms without any confusing bells or whistles, the Lenovo Smart Clock Essential is worth a look. It's affordable, capable, and equipped with Google Assistant. On the other hand, Alexa fans should opt for the Lenovo Smart Clock 2. If you want a highly capable alarm clock that's also great at playing music, the Sandman Doppler might be your best option. It's one of the few smart speakers with stereo drivers, and it's essentially the most direct descendent of the classic clock radio in terms of appearance and functionality.
If you're looking for something a little different, consider the Amouhom Smart Bedside Lamp, which boasts bright, customizable lights and doesn't cost much. Also worth a mention is Amazon's Echo Show 5, which makes an excellent alarm clock and smart home control point. Finally, the 2nd generation of the Google Nest Hub offers some immersive and helpful features, including the radar-based Soli sleep tracking that does an impressive job of telling exactly when you fell asleep and how deep your slumber was.
We hope you like the items we recommend and discuss! AndroidPolice has affiliate and sponsored partnerships, so we receive a share of the revenue from some of your purchases. This won’t affect the price you pay and helps us offer the best product recommendations.
Chris started breaking computers decades ago in his dad's basement while seeing how fast an Intel 486 processor could go. Since those days, he's destroyed considerably less computing equipment (but not zero). Chris has a keen eye for useful and reliable electronics and he claims to know what the people want. One of his life goals is to travel centuries into the past with a smartphone and convince people he's a wizard.