Have you ever noticed that some mornings waking up takes no effort at all while other mornings waking up feels like the hardest thing to do in the world.  Believe it or not, when you sleep at night, you are not in one constant “state” of sleep.  Rather, a night’s sleep is made up of cycles (or phases) consisting of different levels of sleep.  If you are awoken during the “right” phase, waking up is as easy as can be.  However, if you are awoken during the “wrong” phase, waking up takes a monumental effort.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could somehow wakeup during the right phase every morning!  Well, that is exactly the promise of the Sleep Phase Alarm Clock from aXbo.  Just how does aXbo’s alarm clock differ from your standard alarm clock and how well does it work?  Read on and find out.

Packaging:
The aXbo Sleep Phase Alarm Clock comes packaged in a cube box.  Pictures of the clock at various angles are shown on two of the boxes opposite sides.  The adjacent sides briefly describe the clocks key features.  The bottom of the box displays an example of a sleep phase chart highlighting the optimal wakeup times.
Inside, the main alarm clock unit is secured in place with Styrofoam.  The various included accessories are also secured in place via various Styrofoam crevices.

Contents:
•    Alarm Clock Unit
•    Two wrist bands (one small, one large)
•    Two sensor units
•    International AC adapter
•    USB cable
•    User manual

Technical Specifications:
•    Battery Pack (main clock unit): AAA Ni-MH 700 mAH
o    Minimum Initial Charging Period: 8 hours
•    Adapter: 220V/110V
o    Output: 6V/200mA
•    Radio Frequency: 2.4GHz
•    Sensor Battery: Typical service life 4 years
•    Weight
o    Clock: 225g
o    Sensor: 17g
o    Wristband: 16g
•    Dimensions (H x W x D)
o    Clock: 122mm x 132mm x 143mm
o    Sensor: 57mm x 45mm x 8mm
o    Wristbands: Large – 85mm x 65mm, Small – 80mm x 65mm
•    Operating Temperature: 0C – 45C

Design:
The aXbo Sleep Phase Alarm Clock (S.P.A.C) first and foremost consists of a main alarm clock unit.  Right away, this alarm clock differs from your standard run of the mill alarm clock with its slick and stylish design.  Shaped like a rectangular doughnut, the front and back sides of the clock is made of a smooth white plastic.  Complementing this is a matte silver which wraps around the outer edge.  To top off the designer chic, the front left edge of the clock has an orange rubber tag (ala Levi jeans) which reads the clock’s initial’s of S.P.A.C.
At the center of the aXbo clock is a transparent LCD window where, among other things, the time is displayed.  Navigation through the clocks menu is performed via a scroll wheel and two buttons located at the top right corner of the unit.

On the left side of the clock is a speaker where all sounds are played through.  The back of the unit features a 3.5mm “headphone” port which the included AC adapter plugs into for charging the internal batteries.  This same port can also be used to connect the aXbo clock to the computer to download data regarding your nights’ sleep as well as to update the clock’s firmware when new ones become available.

In order to actually keep track of your body during a night’s sleep, the aXbo S.P.A.C includes sensors units that you would wear throughout the night.  Two terrycloth wristbands are included (one large, one small), each containing a slot where a sensor cartridge would slide into.  The wristbands are gray and have aXbo’s logo embroidered on them.

Features and Functionality:
As alluded to in the introduction, the aXbo S.P.A.C is capable of waking you up every morning during the optimal moments where waking up is easiest.  It does so via motion sensors you wear while you sleep (studies proving correlation between motion and sleep cycle can be found here).  Like a normal alarm clock, you would set the time of when you would like to wake up in the morning.  That time then becomes the end of a 30 minute window.  Any time during that half-hour window, if the clock senses you are in a light sleep phase (where it is easiest to wake up) the alarm will sound.  If it happens that during that window you do not go through a light sleep phase the alarm will sound at the end of the window.

Two sensors are included as the S.P.A.C is capable of monitoring two people’s sleep at a time.  Each person can have his or her own alarm window as well as distinct alarm sound.
In addition to sounds that wake you, the aXbo S.P.A.C also has a Chillout function where the clock will play one of three relaxing nature sounds until you fall asleep.
One of the newer functions of the S.P.A.C is the Powernap function.  This is the first function that was release after the initial launch of the S.P.A.C.  aXbo offers this function, as well as other future function, for free to S.P.A.C users via firmware updates.  As the name suggests, the Powernap function is meant to help you maximize those noon/afternoon powernaps.  When Powernap is invoked, the clock closely monitors your movements for the next immediate 30 minutes.
One of the final functions of aXbo S.P.A.C is that it can store two people’s sleeping phase information for up to 20 days.  This information can be uploaded and viewed on your computer.  Unfortunately, the aXbo’s software for this is still in beta and is only available in German.
The aXbo S.P.A.C is a battery powered clock.  This means the clock will continually work even through power outages.  This also means the clock can be easily moved around to different locations – like taking it to work to utilize the Powernap function.
aXbo claims the S.P.A.C features an intelligent charging system allowing you to leave the clock plugged in with no issues.  Supposedly, when left plugged in the battery will charge itself, then the clock will run off the battery until it is low, then recharge itself again.

Usage:
The aXbo S.P.A.C’s controls are one of the most intuitive I have ever experienced on an alarm clock.  The scroll wheel makes it very easy to navigate through the menu structure and change settings.  Whenever I activate any of the controls, the clock’s LCD becomes illuminated in blue which makes the LCD visible in a dark room.  
To test the aXbo S.P.A.C, I simply used it for a month.  Though it felt a bit weird wearing an armband to sleep for the first few days, I quickly got use to it as the armband is quite soft and comfortable to wear.

Of the 30 days I tested the S.P.A.C, 26 of those days I the alarm sounded before the end of the window.  For those days, I must say during the moments when the alarm sounded it was quite easy to wake up and get out of bed.  Of those days, I was all over the place in the time window – some days the alarm would sound early in the window, some days late into the window.
I did find that about 10 of those days I did feel that I was practically awake before the alarm sounded.  Hearing the alarm only confirmed that it was about that time in the morning.  Of the other 16 days, the hearing the alarm was a bit more unexpected though it was still easy to wake up.  Out of the 30 days, there were 4 mornings where the alarm sounded at the end of the window.  When this happened, a more crude prototypical alarm sounded instead of the one of five more pleasant alarms.
As mentioned earlier, the S.P.A.C is capable of monitoring two person’s sleep.  Each person can have his or her own sleep window as well as alarm sound.  However, being as the two individuals would be in the same bed, or at least same room, when the alarm sounds for the first person, the second person would most likely hear it as well.  While monitoring two people’s sleep does work, the second person just has to get use to hearing the other’s alarm and then going back to sleep every morning.
The aXbo S.P.A.C’s Chill function is a nice novelty function.  It works just like if I were listening to a CD of nature sounds except the S.P.A.C has the advantage of turning off shortly after I fall asleep.
The Powernap function worked fairly well.  Of the 20 days I tested this function, 14 of those days the more pleasant alarm sounded while 6 of those days the crude “end of window” alarm sounded.
On a full charge, the clock’s battery lasted a little over 2 weeks before I got an indications that the battery is low.

Hooking the aXbo S.P.A.C to the computer to view and archive my sleep patterns is a very nice function.  However, as mentioned, the software is still in beta and in German so I had to rely heavily on the pdf manual to navigate the software.  Basically, the program takes all of the movement data for each night’s sleep and displays them in bar graphs of movement vs. time.

Conclusion:
The aXbo S.P.A.C is certainly one of the most stylish alarm clocks available today.  As for its touted ability to wake you up every morning when it is easiest to wake up, it certainly does do that.  While it is capable of pulling double duty and monitor two people’s sleep, the person who wakes up later will have to get use to hearing the first person’s alarm.
In addition to waking you up every morning, the S.P.A.C can also help you fall asleep at night with its Chill function.  Furthermore, for those who take naps thorough the day, the S.P.A.C’s new Powernap function can help you maximize those naps.  For anyone would like to be able to have an easier time waking up every morning, the aXbo Sleep Phase Alarm Clock is definitely worth trying.
14 Days Return Guarantee
For a device like this that promises what it does, it is tempting to want to try it to see for you self whether it works for you or not.  Luckily, aXbo offers a 14 day return guarantee on the S.P.A.C.

Pros:
•    Stylish design
•    Easy to use controls
•    Portable
•    Very effective at waking you during the “right” time
•    Sensor is comfortable to wear with armband
•    Can monitor two people

Cons:
•    When monitoring two people, both people can hear each other’s alarms

Overall: Very Good

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