Australian technology news, reviews, and guides to help you
Australian technology news, reviews, and guides to help you
Lenovo Smart Clock

Five ways to make your nightstand tech savvy

We typically add accessories to the desk to make it more tech savvy, but your nightstand is likely a USB cable and maybe another charger, and there are better options out there.

Our bedside may be home to the a spot where we can charge our phones, but it can also end up looking a little like a mess. Excess cables from a phone, a wearable, and maybe a pair of earphones, plus an ornament or two, and maybe something else.

But depending on the technology in your life, you might be able to take advantage of a newer gadget that can clean up your bedside.

In fact, if you’ve updated your phone in the past few years to something decent, you may be able to tidy up your bedside by cutting back on the cables with a wireless charger. If you have an iPhone from the iPhone 8 onwards, which means an iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro or 11 Pro Max, you’ll have wireless charging built in.

The same goes for most Samsung Galaxy S phones in the past few years, with the S7, S8, S9, S10, plus the Note 8, Note 9, and Note 10 variants, too. Quite a few other brands sport wireless charging, too, so check if yours has it. If it does, you’re a shoe in for some of these gadgets to tidy up the bedside.

IKEA Hektar

IKEA Hektar wireless charge lamp

Price: $99

You might not typically think of IKEA when it comes to technology, but the company behind the Billy and Kallax bookcases has been dabbling in bedside tech for a little bit of time.

Aside for those Sonos-compatible Symfonisk speakers, IKEA also offers a few wireless chargers, and while one of them is a simple circular wireless dock, another is integrated into a lamp.

The IKEA Hektar is more of a work lamp than a standard bed side lamp, and is basically the IKEA equivalent of a Luxo lamp of sorts, but if you’re the sort that fancies this style of design next to your bed, you can get it with a charger built in, allowing you to leave your phone resting on top, and then charge something else with the USB port on the back, too.

Belkin Powerhouse 2-in-1 iPhone & Apple Watch Charging Dock

Belkin PowerBoost Dock

Price: $149

Built to take a little less space on the nightstand compared to the Belkin Boost Up we saw last year, the PowerHouse Charge Dock is wireless charging stand for an iPhone (or any other wirelessly charged phone), and a charger for an Apple Watch.

Much like Belkin’s other wireless docks with the Apple Watch connector, you can’t charge other wearables here, so a Galaxy Watch or Fitbit won’t work here, and you can’t replace the connector and mount your own.

But if you have an Apple Watch and an iPhone, the combo in the Belkin PowerHouse Charge Dock won’t take a whole lot of space, either, and could just make that bedside a little tidier.

Mophie 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Dock

Mophie 3-in-1 wireless charger

Price: $249

If you’re an iPhone owner with an Apple Watch and a pair of those wirelessly charged AirPods or the recent AirPods Pro (because they come with a wireless charge case, too), you may want to check out Mophie’s take on the charging dock.

Built to handle three wireless charging devices, it’s about as savvy as a bedside gets, removing the need for three cables and using wireless charging for it all. There’s a spot for your phone, a spot for your Apple Watch, and a spot for the AirPods with a wireless charging case.

And Android users, you can use a wirelessly charged Android phone and a pair of wirelessly charged earphones, too, such as the AirPods Pro, or anything that supports the Qi wireless charging standard, such as the Altec Lansing True Evo..

Lenovo Smart Clock

Lenovo's Smart Clock with Google Assistant

Price: $129

The alarm clock isn’t quite what it used to be, but the Lenovo Smart Clock finds a way to bridge the gap between smart display and alarm clock. When we first reviewed the Lenovo Smart Clock, it lacked some of the features of a typical Google smart display, but since then, it has seen some updates, and now we hear it’s more like a smart display that’s been made small.

What’s more, it’s also one of the only smart displays to include a regular USB port at the back, meaning you can tidy up those cables and plug in your phone to the back of a bedside smart display. It’s a feature so unique, we’ve not seen it on any other small smart display, and is missing on the Google 7 inch Nest Hub and Amazon’s comparative Echo Show displays.

Bariseur Tea & Coffee Alarm Clock

Bariseur Coffee Alarm Clock

Price: £345.00 (GBP)

For someone with a rather large amount of nightstand space and a desire to wake up to the smell (and taste) of a fresh brewed cup of tea or coffee, the Bariseur Tea & Coffee Alarm Clock is a one-of-a-kind modern alarm clock that wakes you up with your beverage of choice.

It’s definitely unique, and a little ornate, but if you’re someone looking for a different take the alarm clock to a level virtually no one has, this modern alarm clock could definitely add a nicety to your nightstand.

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