Philips AJ3940 CD Dual Alarm Clock Radio by Philips
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List Price: Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Philips AJ3940 CD Dual Alarm Clock Radio
Digital camera Review: I like it, but
Summary: 4 Stars
I am, for the most part, very pleased with this cd alarm. As other people noted, the button layout is awkward to use. The CD player is pretty quite, reception is good. I can dim the clock down so it doesn't bother me. But WHY would they make it so when you turn off the alarm (and reset it), it BEEPS a loud beep (to confirm you turned it off) and you can't adjust the volume on this beep. It makes no sense to me. I try to slip out of bed without disturbing my wife (we are both light sleepers). The only way around this that I found is to turn the volume down and after an hour it will reset without beeping. This beep sort of makes the second alarm function useless, seeing the second person is already awake from the beep and the volume is down.Digital camera Review: LED. Please. Just use an LED.
Summary: 3 Stars
Seems like most clock radios over $50 use LCD numeric displays. Somewhere, at some company, there's a person who thinks this is a good idea. We should all team up and shine flashlights in this person's face at 2:00 AM.Once and for all: LCD's do not work on clock radios. For one thing, the viewing angle is too limited. I actually had to get a lower nightstand, 'cause my old one placed the clock to high, and the LCD faded out of view from pillow-level.
And much worse: unless the LCD is backlit, the contrast is much too low to be viewed. Do you wear glasses/contacts, but not to bed? Then keep looking, because this unit is NOT for you.
Philips solution (and Timex's, and every other LCD-clock maker's...): backlight the LCD. Well, to make it readable, the display has to be made extremely bright. We're talking shadow-puppet-bright, here.
It seems so simple. The user-testing of these clocks is either being skipped or ignored, or does not mimic how these products are actually used. Sure: if you're in a brightly lit room or store, the LCD is quite viewable; perhaps more so than an LED. But these clocks are mostly viewed AT NIGHT, during and around the time when people are trying to sleep.
The Bose Wave Radios at least gets it right with green LED's, but at that price point they should have all of this unit's features. And that's the frustration: this unit has all of the OTHER features of a high-end clock radio. Weekend alarms is probably my favorite...
Plus, the button layout/usability of this unit was laid out with some common sense: hold "Time", then click the buttons to change it. Unlike the Bose, where some random, early morning, fat-fingered fumbling can easilly change the clock's time while hunting for the Snooze bar.
Other good things: the sound quality is pretty good (it's no Bose, but then again it's not as bad as the $300 price difference would imply). The radio has great reception, the CD player has a core collection of features, including the ability to wake you to any track on a CD (this was a nice little surprise...).
So, my solution (embarassed to say...): this unit, with the LCD turned all the way down to minimum brightness, and cheap LED, big-numbered clock next to it.
Is this really such a difficult product to design? I admit: I would've bought the Bose, if it had weekend alarms and a user interface that wasn't moronic. But this is a close second, and the price is right. We'll see how the hardware & plastics hold up over the next few weeks...
Digital camera Review: Lovely Alarmclock
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had this clock for a few years now.. it's.. well.. awesome.. I love that I can wake up to any song I want to.. with it and my cd burner I can wake up to anything under the sun.. Putting up with traditional radio alarmclocks through my life was pretty hectic.. I never knew what stations were good in the mornings.. At one point in time I was jarred awake by the last 6 notes of the national anthem.. "DA DA DA.. DA DA.. DAAAAAA".. with this clock thats no longer a problem.. Allthough if I ever want to get nostalgic the radio function on it does work better than other alarmclocks I've ever had..
It's nice and small.. fits in lots of places.. and has big sound.. if I turn it up loud enough I can wake my whole house up.. lol..
Digital camera Review: Not easy to program, but worth the trouble.
Summary: 4 Stars
After several months, I am very happy with this Clock Radio. Especially useful are the dual alarms, and the great feature that automatically silences either or both of these alarms on weekend mornings. There are back-up batteries to save you if the power goes off overnight. The speakers are better than most bedside radios, and waking up to any specific CD track of your choice is a treat. Or you can choose a radio station or one of several (all too electronic-sounding) melodies. You can also easily adjust the brightness of the dial, from barely readable to a good nightlight.The trade-off for the cool features is this: it has approximately 19 buttons! So it's complex and a bit counter-intuitive to set up, and you need both hands. If you buy it, don't lose the instructions! Keep them in a bedside drawer, because you will want to check them any time you need to reset anything.
Digital camera Review: Over-Engineered
Summary: 1 Stars
Bought this a year ago and quickly came to the conclusion that this was a major mistake. The buttons and their location are the worst that I have ever seen on an electronics product. There was no apparent thought to ergonomics and it is entirely over-engineered. It takes two hands to activate any feature on the unit. One to keep it from sliding off the nightstand and the other to press the button. I would never buy this again.