This Sunrise Alarm Clock Is My Favorite Sleep Essential, and It's $30 off for Prime Day
This sunrise alarm clock and sound machine helped me kick my late-night phone habit and get uninterrupted sleep at night. At $170, it's a significant investment for an alarm clock, though the $30 off sale for Prime Day knocks the price down. I'll share why I love my Hatch Restore 3 below, but don't miss the best Prime Day deals under $25, the top headphone deals and what's hot in tech right now.
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Why I love the Hatch Restore 3 alarm clock
The Hatch Restore 3 has features that induce sleep; it's CNET's choice for the best sunrise alarm clock. It combines all the benefits of a sunrise alarm clock with a sound machine into one nightstand essential that I'm pretty sure I cannot live without now. The complete library of sounds, colors and routines offers much customization to find your ideal bedtime routine. The app is easy to use, and once you establish your combination of lights and sounds, you put your phone down and relax.
My nighttime routine includes an evening reset of guided sounds for stress to relax me enough to fall asleep. I usually pair this with my usual nightly reading session. Once that's up, my rain sounds start, and I settle into sleep.
This is just how I do it, but there are many options. From true crime to mindfulness to podcasts to the collection of ambient sounds, Hatch has a lot. The library of sleep sounds is seriously massive. They've got something for everyone from denim to orange shag carpet to zodiac sounds; there's no way you won't find your ideal sound for relaxation.
The full library is locked behind the One Hatch+ subscription, which costs $4.99/month for all Hatch devices in your home. It's not a necessary purchase to use the device, so if you go through the 30-night trial and find that the cues and routines aren't moving the needle as much as the basic features, you still have the basics, which are some of my favorite parts.
The sunrise alarm -- which I have set to a lovely creamy orange -- is easily the best part of the Hatch Restore. The best part is that only one button on the Restore 3 allows you to snooze, silence and adjust the sound of your alarms.
Why this deal matters
The $30 off deal for Prime Day is the perfect time to snag a Hatch Restore 3 for less. Right now, you can get the new Rosy color, which is a soft pink. The sale only runs through July 11, and we don't know when the Hatch catalog will go on sale next.
If you're looking for a better way to wake up or need a gift for someone who loves their sleep, I can't recommend the Hatch Restore 3 enough. It has changed my mornings. I'm such a fan of the sound machine feature that I actually bought my niece a Hatch Rest. She's a fan of the purple rain sounds.
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Is Apple getting ready to launch a PlayStation and Xbox competitor?
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Yet perhaps that could be changing. Recently, I've noticed that Apple has been making moves that suggest the company may be on the cusp of turning the Apple TV into a full-blown PlayStation and Xbox competitor. Doing so would open up another potential billion-dollar revenue stream for the company. The new Apple Games app is currently MIA from tvOS 26 At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year, the company unveiled a new cross-device app called Apple Games. The app acts as a central hub and launcher for all the games you've ever bought on Apple's App Store or have access to via the company's Apple Arcade subscription service. The Apple Games app also gives you quick access to game events and challenges, and helps you discover new games to play and see what games your friends are playing. 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7 ways Google could make a Pixel Flip the best flip phone foldable out there
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Now Playing on the cover screen AssembleDebug / Android Authority One of my favorite Pixel features is Now Playing, as Google uses on-device machine learning to identify songs playing around you. It then displays the artist and track name on your lock screen for your convenience. Honestly, it still blows me away after all these years. This feature seems well-suited to a flip phone's cover screen, as these info snippets are short enough for the outer display's lock screen. Google could even implement album art like it recently did with Now Playing on its conventional phones. 2. Single Take on a Pixel Flip Hadlee Simons / Android Authority I praised the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Samsung's Single Take mode several years ago as a great way to take photos of my cat (when she looked at the damn camera). All I had to do was place the half-opened Flip on a flat surface, start Single Take with my cat in the frame, and the phone would automatically take shots and videos for up to 10 seconds. I didn't need to hold the phone, either, and could include myself in the photos. How cool is that? I would love it if Google embraced this hands-free approach with a Pixel Flip phone. The company already offers Top Shot functionality for its cameras, capturing a short video and letting you save frames as HDR pictures. It even had a Photobooth feature on older Pixels, which automatically captured photos by detecting smiles, open eyes, and kisses. These two features make for a solid starting point. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold's Made You Look feature would also be a fun addition, as it captures the attention of pets and kids so you can get a better photo. But do you know what I'd like to see? Google's own attempt at Single Take. In fact, the ill-fated Google Clips camera previously offered similar functionality, as it automatically captured content. If the Pixel Flip ever sees the light of day, similar functionality would be right at home. 3. Astrophotography without a tripod Ryan Haines / Android Authority Google pioneered the astrophotography mode on smartphones back in 2019, and it's still one of my favorite features today. This mode requires a tripod on Pixel phones, but the Pixel Fold and Pixel 9 Pro Fold let you use Flex Mode instead. That means they effectively act as their own tripods. It makes sense for Google to bring this functionality to a theoretical Pixel Flip, too. And the ability to adjust the tilt angle makes for a more versatile experience if you want to adjust framing. Sure, companies like vivo let you take handheld astro photos, but can I tell you a secret? I still prefer Google's natural-looking astro shots. 4. Pixel Recorder on the cover display Hadlee Simons / Android Authority I'll miss the Recorder app when I eventually ditch my Pixel 7 Pro, as it's still the most powerful and convenient voice recorder app on the market. It's also an app that would be well-suited to the cover screen of a Pixel Flip, especially in my line of work. We've previously seen voice recorders on cover screens, but the Pixel Recorder offers on-device transcriptions, speaker labels, and seamless cloud backup functionality. You can even share these recordings and the accompanying transcripts via a web link. 5. A ton of tent mode features Ryan Haines / Android Authority Another cool thing you can do with foldable phones is put them in tent or desk mode. This effectively turns your phone into a bedside clock or a photo frame. I can think of a few ways that a theoretical Pixel Flip could leverage this posture. Google already offers a variety of software features on Pixel phones when connected to the Pixel Stand. This includes turning your phone into a Google Photos frame, a smart home controller, and a sunrise alarm. Imagine having these handy little features when using a Pixel Flip in tent mode? Google could even take things further by bringing the Pixel Weather app and the At A Glance widget to this mode. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Motorola Razr phones already offer Gemini on the cover screen, so Google wouldn't be breaking new ground by bringing it to a Pixel Flip cover display. However, the combo of Gemini Live and tent mode is intriguing, effectively turning your phone into a smart display. 6. Call screening without unfolding the phone Andy Walker / Android Authority Pixel 8a One of the biggest reasons to get a Pixel phone is the call screening feature. A virtual assistant answers an incoming call on your behalf, asks the caller why they're calling, and lets you hear (or read) their response. You can then choose to answer or reject the call, saving you from spammers and other inconvenient calls. This seems like a no-brainer for a future Pixel Flip phone, doesn't it? After all, the alternative is to unfold the phone and then tap the call screening option. Why do all that when you can just tap the outer screen? Google also offers other calling tricks, such as Hold for Me and Direct My Call, which also seem like obvious cover screen additions. 7. Using Google Wallet with a folded phone Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority One annoying issue I had with older Galaxy Z Flip phones was that I couldn't easily use Google Wallet to pay for stuff when the device was folded. Galaxy Z Flip phones eventually gained this functionality, but it requires downloading the MultiStar Good Lock module. This was particularly annoying as Samsung Pay worked fine out of the box. The ability to use Google Wallet with a folded phone seems like another no-brainer for a potential Pixel Flip. However, it would be great to see more Google Wallet capabilities on the cover screen, like viewing boarding passes, tickets, and other documents. Follow
