• Registered: 2007-11-27
  • Posts: 27

Topic: variable snooze time

i currently have an alarm clock that lets me set a variable snooze time once the alarm goes off - by variable i mean the following:

alarm goes off, i have the ability to hit the snooze button from 1 to 6 times, giving me the option of snoozing for 10 minutes, all the way up to another hour.

would it be possible to add some kind of functionality similar to this for the chumby? something along the lines of being able to hit snooze multiple times so the following effect is achieved: snooze time x snooze 'press' = time till alarm resounds.

  • Duane
  • Duane
  • Blue Octy
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  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
  • Posts: 8,200

Re: variable snooze time

Yes, of course, it's possible.

The feedback we get on the current "custom" alarm system is that it's already too complicated for most people and, as a result, all but a few people just use the "quick alarm" system.  It's a constant struggle trying to maintain a balance between usability and features.

However, I'll discuss it with folks here to see if there's a clean way to add this sort of thing.

Duane's Website

  • Registered: 2007-11-27
  • Posts: 27

Re: variable snooze time

thanks duane!

i'm not sure i consider the current system too complicated - perhaps a little verbose, but i can live with that given that i only need to run through the screen once to setup a repeating alarm.

  • Registered: 2009-01-25
  • Posts: 78

Re: variable snooze time

The current snooze button is an elongated bar; perhaps the simplest solution would be to divide it into 4 segments: 5, 10, 20 and 30 minute snooze selections. I'd think that would cover most use cases.

  • Duane
  • Duane
  • Blue Octy
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  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
  • Posts: 8,200

Re: variable snooze time

One of the most common complaints with the "snooze/stop" screen is that it's too hard to press the snooze button, and people instead accidentally press the "stop" button.  I think that breaking the snooze button into even smaller buttons won't help that issue.

People are groggy when trying to interact with this screen - which is why snooze can *also* be activated by pressing on the top of the chumby.  Asking them to now choose among *five* buttons (stop + 4 snooze) seems like a step in the wrong direction.

Duane's Website

  • From: Chicago, IL
  • Registered: 2007-11-11
  • Posts: 235

Re: variable snooze time

I would have to agree with Duane on this one. I would think a setting in the alarm menus that would allow the user to change the snooze time would be ideal. Now you could take this to mean 1 snooze legnth setting for all alarms, ie a global setting, or add another step in the alarm wizard to set snooze legnth on an individual alarm basis.

My opinion is one setting is good enough, but I am sure others will disagree. I guess you could have both a customizable default setting and then the option to change on a per alarm basis. It does sound pretty complicated though.

-HuckFinn
  • Duane
  • Duane
  • Blue Octy
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  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
  • Posts: 8,200

Re: variable snooze time

Users already have the ability to set the snooze time per alarm, however, each snooze on any given alarm is the same duration - this thread is asking for the snooze duration to increase each time the user hits the snooze button.

Duane's Website

  • Makr
  • Member
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  • From: San Diego
  • Registered: 2008-12-24
  • Posts: 21

Re: variable snooze time

Why does someone need to hit the snooze button 6 times? And have it incremet in 10min intervals up to an hour?
Meaning hit the snooze for 10 min, then again for 20, then 30 etc up to an hour.....
That means you would have to set your alarm for 3:30am to get out of bed by 7am.
You would be hitting the snooze button on and off for 3.5 hours??

How about get up already!

  • Registered: 2007-11-27
  • Posts: 27

Re: variable snooze time

Makr wrote:

Why does someone need to hit the snooze button 6 times? And have it incremet in 10min intervals up to an hour?

easy - mon - thurs i get up at 6am, fri 7am and i only want to create 1 alarm for all week days.

  • Registered: 2009-09-11
  • Posts: 2

Re: variable snooze time

I've been looking at getting a chumby as a bedside companion. However, variable snooze is a very important feature to me. Is this issue basically dead?

Perhaps this post is in the wrong place, but I looked at some of the developer info on the wiki and it seems you can create a "custom alarm ring screen", but there's no obvious way to accomplish the variable snooze. Are there API docs or something?

  • Registered: 2009-05-18
  • Posts: 25

Re: variable snooze time

Duane wrote:

People are groggy when trying to interact with this screen - which is why snooze can *also* be activated by pressing on the top of the chumby.

lol, Duane I love you for this :-)
I can't tell you how often i miss the button when trying to snooze while in a groggy state.  I had no idea that i could just push the top button.

  • Registered: 2009-09-11
  • Posts: 2

Re: variable snooze time

jhough wrote:

I've been looking at getting a chumby as a bedside companion. However, variable snooze is a very important feature to me. Is this issue basically dead?

Perhaps this post is in the wrong place, but I looked at some of the developer info on the wiki and it seems you can create a "custom alarm ring screen", but there's no obvious way to accomplish the variable snooze. Are there API docs or something?

I guess no response means it is dead and there's no reasonable development option.

  • Duane
  • Duane
  • Blue Octy
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  • Registered: 2006-08-24
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Re: variable snooze time

I haven't tried it, but a custom alarm screen should be able to set the snooze time with:

_chumby_alarm.alarm.snooze = 15; // in minutes

...before calling the snoozeAlarm() function.  I'll see if I can add a more "official" mechanism for doing it.

Duane's Website