The Mudita Harmony 2 is coming out soon via Kickstarter and, at the end of May, will be available for most people to buy. The Harmony 2 is an E INK Alarm clock, and the main selling point is a larger battery, so you won’t have to charge it as much; there are five new clock faces and a front-lit display so that you can see the clock during the night, there are ten different levels of brightness.
The contemporary alarm clock features a 2.84-inch E Ink display with a 480×600 resolution and 270 PPI and supports 16-bit grayscale, making the clock screen easy to read in normal light. Underneath the hood are an Arm Cortex-M7 600MHz processor, 4 GB of internal storage, and 12 pre-loaded songs for the alarm clock. Mudita told me they would release a firmware update for users to use their sounds or music for the alarm. I am unsure of the battery size, but the original had 2600 mAh and I was told it was doubled. Powering is done via a USB-C cable.
There are multiple soft-touch buttons on the top. One is a back button, helpful in returning to a screen; one adjusts the front-lit display, and another access the settings menu. The settings menu is where you will adapt what clockface you want and alarm music you like. There is a prominent speaker on the back, which is quite loud. This is due to it pumping out a maximum of 3.5 watts.
One of the nice things about the Bell is the sounds; it is not your typical alarm clock. Mudita used sounds and melodies recorded acoustically by a Canadian musician, Nick Lewis. He used a variety of instruments, including a guitar, ukulele, Tibetan bowls, and koshi bells. Mudita Bell also features a collection of nature sounds prepared by a famous Polish nature sound artist, Marcin Dymiter. The collection of sounds features audio landscapes from Mudita’s country of origin, Poland. The 3W speaker allows you to experience carefully composed melodies and sounds full. Mudita Bell’s sound is clear, natural, and undistorted.
I like the meditation timer. It is another simple yet valuable feature for meditation enthusiasts. You can select the length of the desired meditation session and the number of intervals, which will start and end with a resounding gong sound.
Wrap Up
Mudita is really the only company in this space. They basically the only ones that are making E INK alarm clocks. This makes them very unique in the market. Everyone is making e-readers, e-notes, price tags in grocery stores, picture frames and digital signage with e-paper. There are even dedicated monitors with E INK, but an alarm clock, there is something that almost everyone needs.
Mudita Harmony is your sleep companion which helps you establish healthy bedtime habits, improve the quality of your sleep, as well as bring you a sense of calm. Remove your phone from the bedroom and wake up to carefully crafted sounds without all the unnecessary distractions and information overload. A very sound philosophy.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
