Test of the “Remi” from UrbanHello: a connected companion alarm clock for everything you need to help children sleep

UrbanHello is a
French manufacturer of connected objects known mainly forRemi, an awakening
connected for children introduced at CES 2017 and crowdfunded
on Indiegogo. Remi is an accessory connected to the iPhone
a little special, since it is intended for the child and the learning of
sleep rhythm. Its main promise is to give autonomy to
the child in relation to getting up, by teaching him when it is time to
get up for example. With one objective among others: the hope for parents of avoiding
to be woken up by an energetic child at 5 a.m.: a dream
that Remi wants to make come true.

The connected alarm clock
Remi from UrbanHello is available here

And as part of anew test in our series to be found here, we have precisely
was able to try this cute little alarm clock. It is now
time for youdeliver our impressions:

Discovery and getting started

In the box, we find the alarm clock, a USB cable of approximately 1m50 and a
power adapter plus a small manual.

The alarm clock is an all-plastic case displaying a rounded shape on
the top, with the following dimensions: 11 cm long, 15 cm high and 5 cm
of large.

At the back, there is a small speaker and the power cable,
immovable.

Below Remi, 6 control buttons are accessible and
allow you to manage the volume, playback or stopping of music,
Bluetooth connectivity as well as the night light.

The front panel serves as a display, the time is visible as well as the face of
Returned once the alarm clock was plugged in.

UrbanHello offers several colors for its alarm clock, including yellow,
blue and red. The white test version in any case looks a little
bland for a child's room. We would rather recommend
turn to one of the other variations.

Concerning the first start-up of Remi, the manufacturer specifies that it
you have to plug it into a Mac or PC and download a firmware file,
to place on the alarm clock like a file on a USB key. It is
relatively simple to do, even if a little daunting, but nothing good
embarrassing. A long initialization procedure is the lot of many
connected accessories.

Application and features

For the rest, everything takes place in the Remi iOS app,
free here on the App Store. This allows you to connect Remi to Wi-Fi,
but also to settlemany settingsto personalize
the behavior of waking up according to the rhythm of the child who benefits from it.

Good point, the features are numerous. It is in fact possible to
from the iPhone, fromchoose Remi's face on the alarm clock(no face,
face awake, face asleep), to enjoy amode
baby monitorto listen to your child or speak to them through
alarm clock and iPhone, but also to viewreports of
child's nightsthanks to a sleep analysis, to program
different times during the week for Remi to wake up and go to bed, and
finally, ofcontrol lullabies and musicpresent in
local to the internal storage of the alarm clock.

It should be noted that Remi can act asspeaker
Bluetooth, and that from the iPhone you can broadcast any
audio content, a nursery rhyme on YouTube, a story on Spotify or
music from the iPhone simply. On the other hand, if we want to send a
file on the alarm clock, to enjoy local reading without Bluetooth, it
Remi must be reconnected to a computer to upload the MP3 files.

The possibilities offered by the Remi app are therefore numerous, we appreciate
for example the option which allowsturn off Wi-Fi at night
once Remi is asleep, which limits wave emissions in the bedroom
the child during sleep.

Small criticism however to make about the app: it is not a
design template. And even though the background can be colored in different colors,
not everything is easily readable. We hope for improvements in
next app updates. Please note, however, that everything works very well.
Well, the settings are saved, even after Wi-Fi is turned off.
This review only concernsthe aesthetics of the app.

On the case side, the observation can be similar. The features are
very practical, you can adjust the intensity of the display, the intensity of the
night light and even control music and lullaby playback directly
under the alarm clock.

But as far as design is concerned, it is less attractive, at least for
this white version of Remi. This one indeed looks a little dull, and in
black with equally white lights, one could even say that
waking up is not reassuring.

Perhaps we should have offered lights of another color to
this white version of Remi? Still, once again, we
advises turning towards a more joyful variation,
choose between blue, red and yellow.

Conclusion

Remi from UrbaHello is a really feature-rich little alarm clock.
Can act as a baby monitor, but also as a music player
Bluetooth. It can be a very good companion for a child's nights, with
in addition, this desire to teach him when the time to get up arrives, thanks to
face displayed on the front panel.

The potential is there, but the manufacturer could do better on some
points, especially the application, which deserves a much more modern design than
the one proposed. The same goes for waking up: it may be a simple
a matter of taste, but for the version tested, the gray plastic shell and
white LEDs do not necessarily make Remi a very reassuring friend for
the child… Fortunately other colors are available.

The connected alarm clock
Remi from UrbanHello is available here for 89 euros

What we liked:

Configuration simple
Very complete application
Wi-Fi can be turned off at night
Bluetooth speaker function

What we liked least:

Very austere app design
White version of Remi a little sad
Can't send MP3 from iPhone

Not to be missed:notre
summary of accessory tests in images.

Etnos tests
recent iPhone accessories, dont :

Remi's alarm clock
UrbanHellois noted4stars out of 5par iPhon.fr

i-nfo.fr - Official iPhon.fr app

By : Keleops AG

Editor-in-chief for iPhon.fr. Pierre is like Indiana Jones, looking for the lost iOS trick. Also a long-time Mac user, Apple devices hold no secrets for him. Contact: pierre[a]iphon.fr.