Echo Wall Clock: Amazon just redefined time itself, just in time for Amazon Prime Day

Organise your life better with an Echo-compatible clock to add visuals to all your timers and alarms

Amazon Wall Clock
(Image credit: Amazon)
Duncan Bell
By Duncan Bell
published

Can't wait for Amazon Prime Day – or July 15, as it used to be known – to roll around? Us neither, so we have set an alarm for it with Amazon's new Echo Wall Clock. Amazon has already redefined the concept of time by making Amazon Prime 'Day' last for 48 hours and now it's done it again with this Echo-connected clock! 

Amazon Echo Wall Clock is an oddity in the Echo range in that it does NOT have Alexa built in. Instead, you link and sync it to whatever Echo devices you already own, specifically: Amazon Echo, Echo Plus, Echo Dot, Echo Spot, Echo Show 5, Echo Show, or Echo Input. Said Echo must be 'within 9 metres' of the Echo Wall Clock.

It then provides a visual representation of your timers. Oh, and it tells the time. I think you have to think of this as a clock which, for £30, is quite attractive, and then the added timer functionality is just gravy. 

Amazon Echo Wall Clock

Amazon Echo Wall Clock is your new kitchen essential

(Image credit: Amazon)

The Wall Clock, described as 'easy-to-read' by Amazon, uses 60 LEDs to visually display all the multiple timers and alarms you have set for cooking, online time for your kids, and… other things. Amazon even suggests using it for HIIT interval workouts. Sure, shouting 'Alexa set a timer for 30 seconds and 60 seconds' every minute whilst pushing your heart to its limits seems like the stupidest idea ever to me, but maybe you'll love that.

Amazon Echo Wall Clock

A waxwork, using Echo Wall Clock

(Image credit: Amazon)

Remember: none of this is actually done via the clock. The processing is provided by your Echo; the Wall Clock just adds a visual element. But then it is only £29.99.

Setup is simple. Just add four AA batteries, say, 'Alexa, set up my Echo Wall Clock' and Alexa will do precisely that. Since the time is synced via Alexa, it's always accurate, and you don't need to worry about changing the time when Daylight Saving comes along.

What is Amazon Echo Wall Clock for?

Amazon has these suggestions. They are so frivolous, it's not clear that even Amazon quite knows what its Wall Clock is for.

• Keep track of all your dishes by setting multiple timers – just say “Alexa, set a pasta timer for 12 minutes” and “Alexa, set a steak timer for 10 minutes.” You can even setup your Echo device to announce when dinner is ready!

• You’d like to limit your kids’ (or your own) screen time. 'But Mum! 10 more minutes!' can be too common of a phrase. Your response? 'Alexa, set a 5 minute video game timer.'

• Always late for work? You’re getting ready and need to leave in 45 minutes. Just say, 'Alexa, set a 45 minute timer,' and watch time count down before committing to just one more outfit change. 

• You’d like to take 10 minutes to set your goals for the day every morning: Set a timer for the full 10 minutes before work to set your intentions for the day.

Amazon Echo Wall Clock: verdict

This seems like an attractive and affordable clock that would look good on many a wall. The additional functionality – automatic time syncing and visual representation of your Echo timers and alarms – is not essential but also not a bad thing to have. For a 30 quid clock, who can grumble?

Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years. 

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."


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