And though the clock’s single-speaker output can be a bit tinny for playing music, it can get surprisingly loud and is just fine for alarm tones and answering Google Assistant prompts. Fortunately, the clock’s two microphones (one in the front, the other in the back) are very sensitive and able to discern commands, even when we used a hushed volume at night.

To set the alarm, adjust the volume, or turn on the night-light, it was always much easier to summon help with a “hey, Google …” instead. There’s also a tap at the top to enable the snooze feature, but it sometimes required another touch to register. Unless you’re looking at them from above, the buttons are discernible only by touch, and I often fumbled at night or in the early morning while trying to turn on music or adjust the volume. Even though the clock is outfitted with four evenly distributed buttons-for volume, turning on music, and the alarm settings-they are obscured from view due to the angled wedge design. Most everything this alarm clock can do is hidden, accessed using its built-in Google Assistant voice controls or with the Google Home app.

Soft alarm tones