Need a teenage riot to get you out of bed? This might just do the trick., 18 Nov 2008

By 

Mr. C. S. Green (UK) – See all my reviews

  

I’ve had this Sony ipod alarm clock for around 4 months now and I must say I am relatively impressed. Sure you may think it is quite pricey for an alarm clock but rest assured it does so much more. I personally was sick of the horrible tin can sound of my old alarm clock and decided that I wanted to wake up to something that actually sounded decent. Don’t let the 3W RMS fool you, this alarm clock packs a punch and surprisingly a decent amount of undistorted bass (providing you don’t crank it up to its maximum volume – and even then distortion only occurs in songs with a prominant bass track. The sound is also surprisingly expansive for such a small unit and would happily fill a small room – though you wouldnt want to replace your hifi.

This clock has dual alarms which can be easily changed through the press of one button corresponding to alarm 1 or alarm 2 – ensuring you don’t get rudely awakened at 6am on a non-work day. You can choose to wake to Buzzer, Radio or any track on your iPod. Unfortunately you have to pause the ipod on the track you want to wake to, which isnt really ideal but I think its all the other alarm clocks do. A nice feature is the fact that the unit comes with a fully functional remote allowing you to change between FM/AM or ipod, and then control all functions of your ipod from it. I must say though that from a distant any more than a couple of feet, the text on the ipod screen itself is so small that you can’t really see the menus you are selecting. (I have mine at the foot of my bed).

There have been alot of complaints about the brightness of the clock display, and I must say it is quite bright even on the lowest setting. This is because the whole LCD is backlit instead of just the numbers/characters that need to be displayed – which isnt really the best design, but you do get used to it. Be warned though, it will add a good deal of light to your room, so if you can only sleep in the pitch black – you should consider covering the clock at night or buying a different product!

All in all though, if you are looking for an alarm clock radio with added ipod functionality, or even if you are just looking for a small unit for the kitchen that allows you to “whistle while you work” – you can’t go far wrong with this.

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Function over form, 7 Jun 2009

I purchased this item to replace my alarm clock radio. (I originally purchased the Logic 3 I-Station, but that was not good as an alarm clock, – The volume control to wake with was either too loud or not loud enough such was the difference between volume setting – so I sent it back. It also mucked up the volume control on my I-Pod touch). Whilst, in my view, the I-Station looked nicer the Sony is much more functional for my purposes as a morning alarm.

It is very intuitive to set up and whilst the display is fairly bright is does not effect my sleep. A decent quality display – nice and crisp. The display contains the time, plus it shows the active alarm settings, (there are two alarms), including the time and method of waking, radio, buzzer, or I-Pod. In the I-Pod and radio alarm function the both stay on until you turn them off. So in the morning when the radio wakes me I just hit the sleep button and the radio stays on for 90 minutes which means I can get ready, whilst listening to the radio and forget about having to turn it off. (A useful function for my purposes).

The I-Pod docks very easily and is controllable from the remote control. You can set the sleep function and drop off listening to your favorite tracks or even the radio. Also charges the I-Pod.

The sound quality is good, but not the normal above average Sony sound. There is a mega-expand function, but I don’t think it improves the sound at all so I don’t bother with it. I don’t think you would want this as your main music player – its not very loud and the sound quality declines above say number 10. The radio reception is mostly good but I think the FM ariel wire could have been a bit longer to reach the extra reception quality.

The control and setting buttons are located on the top so easy to access and use, even in the dark you can feel your way around.

In conclusion, there are much better looking alarm clocks than this, but if you want a quality clock display, a decent sound to wake up to and drop off to, either with a radio or I-Pod, that is really easy to use and charges an I-pod touch, I don’t think you will go far wrong with this. I have spent a few hours looking for the above criterion and this plus the I-Station are the only ones to fit the bill.

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Good sound quality and a well designed compact alarm clock, 1 Jan 2009

By 

D. J. Burton (UK) – See all my reviews

  

  

I bought this item as a present and have had a good chance to listen and use it over the last couple of weeks.

There are many dedicated alarm clock units out on the market but only a handful that could be used as a Hi-Fi system and fill a small-mid sized room with decent sound and volume. In this respect the Sony unit delivers with a respectable performance considering the price band it lies in.

The music is reproduced with a good vocal clarity, showing impressive mid range bass, however the compact size does compromise the low range bass and you won’t get as much “punch” as a Hi-Fi with larger speaker enclosures. The overall volume is restricted to a level which won’t distort the sound, but it will also struggle to fill a room over 5m x 5m in size. You could definitely use the unit at a small party and not be embarrassed by the quality or volume.

The design is neat and inoffensive. Good quality materials have been used and it should age well with the black colour. A nice touch is that there is an adjustable wheel which supports the back of any thickness of iPod – a problem with a lot of other sound docks on the market. This enables the iPod to be used without any front-back movement as you press the buttons.

As with most Sony products the functionality is very good, it’s easy to program the radio and 2 alarm times and the remote control is well designed.

The display is too bright for night-time use if you like a dark room at night, even on the darkest setting. Be prepared to cover the display with something handy – we use a sleep mask! This isn’t too bad but it does lose half a star because it provides a lot of illumination.

For the money I think there isn’t anything else on the market that comes close to the sound quality of the Sony unit that is designed primarily as an alarm clock (at least at the end of 2008).

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Works for iPhone 4, 13 July 2010

Got this for my new iPhone 4 and works perfectly. Gives a good charge current and keeps the power levels up even when using GPS and Nav software, iPod, 3G – all at the same time.

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Car Charger for iPod Nano 5G, 4 Mar 2010

By 

Jonathan C. Bruce – See all my reviews

  

Exactly what I wanted and allows me to keep my iPod Nano 5G charged in the car so I can listen to my favourite tunes all day long.

At the price hard not to rate this at 5 stars.

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Superb Value, 16 April 2010

Bought this mainly as a back up/emergency use in car for iPhone 3GS and it is brilliant.

Sure all it does is charge, but thats all I needed! No connection issues, perfect fit, perfect charge!

Could not be happier for a product at that price to actually do what it says!

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Excellent value for money, 6 Nov 2010

I bought three of these 4G Touch Black Silicone Protective Armour Case Cover & Screen Protector Kit for New Apple iPod Touch 4th Generation for Christmas for the three iPods Touches.

Its a practical and inexpensive way to protect these new iPod which does not detract from there stunning good looks. A great investment.

Excellent Communications from the seller, and ultra fast delievery, very impressed and would deffinately buy from them again.

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Ipod touch 4g leather case – idelta, 3 Nov 2010

I like this product, it fits well, it protects the whole ipod and does not restrict use of any of the functions. I can use the camera without removing it from the case and I can connect it, still in the case, into my computer to sync. Admittedly, I have to take it out of the case to charge it with the mains charger, but that doesn’t bother me.

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4G Touch luxury genuine black leather case & screen protectors, 21 Oct 2010

This product is very good especially value and also includes the hole for the camera so your ipod can remain protected at all times! This product was out of stock I presume due to popularity but as a gesture of good will the supplier idelta sent me a free silicon cover and some screen protectors while I waited for the product to come back into stock. Thankyou

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Black iPod Touch Case, 20 Sep 2010

Great value case, I was thinking at this price it wouldn’t be that good. I’ve seen worse cases than this for a tenner in supermarkets, so it really is great value and then it’s good quality too. Plus you get a screen protector also, no matter how difficult it can be to put them on. As long as you clean the rubbish off the screen and put it on where there is as little dust as possible it really does the job too. Can’t fault this item

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smashing purchase, 7 Oct 2010

was very pleased when i found this item, alot cheaper than any i could find on the high street yet same, if not better quality. item does not add any bulk to the player and still shows off its new slim feature. All the holes for the controls are aligned perfectly and came with a screen protector, which is a must have.

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not good, 5 Oct 2010

the case didn’t stay on well, and the screen protector is sticky and all the dirt sticks to the cover. I would not purchase this product again

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Bargain!, 5 Jan 2010

By 

E. A. Newcombe (South Wales, UK) – See all my reviews

  

I was a bit worried about not buying an apple charger because of some of the problems reported with other products, but in the end I was so impressed by the price I bought this one. So glad I did! Haven’t used my iPod nano for several months however as soon as I plugged it into the charger it began charging and was fully charged in a few hours. Also postage was extremely quick… no problems at all – buy this item!

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Amazing! works with new ipod touch, 26 Jan 2010

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Stephen J. Atherton (Aberystwyth, Wales) – See all my reviews

  

Arrived very quickly even before I got the dispatch email! Worked with Ipod classic 160gb and new ipod touch 3rd Gen 64gb. At the price an excellent piece of kit!

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Does not work on 3rd gen ipod touch., 6 Mar 2010

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Mrs. P. M. Hargreaves “Bobsyauncle” (Lancashire) – See all my reviews

  

Plugged it in and right aways error msg saying that the charger will not work with my touch waste of money for me.

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A few niggles, but otherwise a more than worthy upgrade, 4 Oct 2010

If anyone who already owns or has owned an iPod touch will know what an amazing piece of tech this is. But there a couple of warnings about the new design to consider.

The Good

Never have I owned something quite like this. The interface is so slick, so intuitive it has always been a pleasure to use. And it’s so much more zippier than my 2nd gen thanks to the better cpu and double the ram.

The screen is noticeably much better (not than past generations were bad!) beautifully sharp and text is a dream to read. Ok, some will wonder why it has no in-plane switching bearing in mind that the iPhone 4 does. IPS for those who don’t know means you can view the screen at at extreme angles. But why would you on this device? I can still view it at extreme angles if I wish to. The colour may shift to a blue hue, but I only notice that when looking at the screen from the home button end and tilted at a ridiculous angle. The iPod Touch is too small for this to be ever dreamt as concern and IPS only benefits the iPad in my opinion.

The volume buttons are now separated as opposed to a rocker and are pleasant to use. The power button has moved to the right and have no issues with its new place as I thought I might have. And the speaker is an improvement but not really loud enough in a fairly noisy environment.

Face time works well and I love the ability to flip from the front camera to the back while in a conversation.

The .7 megapixel camera may seem a disappointment at first, but given that apple has packed in HD video recording all is forgiven. The camera is good enough for emailing and uploading to social net works, but for printing your images the quality is pretty poor. I managed a 5×4 print with fair results taken in good light. A bit jaggerdy in places, but then again, for a .7 mp camera it’s not a bad effort. But I most definitely would want to use a dedicated camera to capture those all important moments.

But for me having a HD video recorder is far more rewarding feature to have than a 5 mp camera for my needs. It’s not quite as good as some of the flip range, as a comparison, but this crammed in with what seems as a never ending list of functions I take my hat off to apple. How do they do it! The video I have recorded I am more than satisfied with in daylight, but it is grainy and a bit noisy in low light due to not having an in-built light/flash. But for its sheer portability i doubt i will use my camcorder again. Just make sure you purchase a 32GB or 64GB model as it will gobble up your storage. A short 2.44 minute movie equated into a 208mb file!

Wifi is still simple to set up with a solid connection. And with blue tooth, you are finaly able to control the volume of blue tooth speakers that have no volume control. Somthing my Sony Ericsson W705 has done for nearly a couple of years!

The Not So Good

Firstly, if like me you’re using a speaker dock (mines a Bose sound dock original with scosche passport converter) or some other kind of dock, you may want to check first if this 4th gen model will fit.

Apple never supplied a dock convertor like they have on previous models which seems to my thinking they knew there would be compatibility issues with consumers existing docks.

The 4th gen iPod Touch has a slightly narrower connector than previous models. When I first hooked up the iPod with its factory made sync/power lead I noticed it was very tight when connecting. Then I tried my sound dock and after a little bit of wiggling around found that it just wouldn’t fit. Unfortunately by doing that I found a thin piece of plastic had blocked the iPods connector and rested on the pins. I managed to move this back with a thin tool and was then able to insert it into the sound dock.

But after a days in and out of the dock it finally would no longer dock due to the thin piece of plastic getting in the way and the sync lead just became too tight to insert. So I took it back.

To give apple their due in six days I had a replacement. This one was better and I could dock it with my sound dock, although still a bit tight, but after one week I have had no problems.

I would like to say this is a one off, but looking on the internet I’m not the only one.

*Update 23/11/10: It does seem now that the above is due to a faulty device rather than compatibility issues with docks and power/sync leads. My replacement iPod to date has been working fine if still a little tight connecting.*

Also I do feel there is too much to sacrifice(better quality stills camera?) for a new thin design as the last model was very thin and I don’t really notice the difference enough to warrant it.

And if only apple would ditch the scratch magnet chrome back and save as a small fortune in buying cases to protect it…

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Thoughts from an Ipod newbie, 22 Oct 2010

By 

Aaron C. Braund “tek dude” (U.K) – See all my reviews

  

The Ipod hype train has passed me by again and again and again without making me take notice of Apples latest mp3 masterpiece so this one certainly went straight over my head. The media and consumer voice have made a lot of my decisions about Apple, that they are money hungry and sell products that break within days. Then there was the fiasco about the Iphone 4’s signal and that story certainly didnt impress me.

But after ignoring the temptation of an Ipod too long I succumbed, because I was in need of something to replace my trusty Zen Stone, which is now resting in pieces thanks to my son :(. I went big on the purchase with one of these; I thought that if I wanted to experience an Iphone without paying the ridiculous monthly tarriffs this was the best choice. I didnt prepare myself for love but thats what happened.

Too hold it in your hands is idescribable, it feels beautiful, slim but satisfyingly heavy. Set up was done in moments on my windows pc and itunes. I started to explore the phones features. So I tried the web browser, which is the best I’ve used on any mobile device. Then I set up all my emails so they would come straight to my phone. How about the apps? I must hold the world record for apps downloaded within an hour…. there are news feed, mobile banking… AND ebay! Christ, I love ebay, and its a damnsight better than the ebay I get on my blackberry.

Lets not forget the games and the graphics on this kit… PWOAR is all I have to say. The graphics are incredible; I’ve heard that the pixels are closer together than the 3rd generation but I’ve never used one of those. Its just PHWOAR.

Now the touch interface was something i was worried about because I have fingers like german sausages. No need to fear, its accurate like a sniper on stimulants. I suggest you buy a screen protector because you’ll want to touch it all the time and fingerprints are not attractive.

By the time I had fiddled with apps and games… I’d forgotten all about the music! So I stuck a load of tracks on there and what do you know, it’s a great mp3 player; what a good idea Apple.

And now for criticisms: not many, buy yourself a new pair of headphones because the ones supplied are diabiolical. Also Facetime… I’ve looked it and cant really be bothered to use it: its more something you would use on a phone anyway. Also, I didnt buy it for taking photos, but the quality is pretty poor. But i’m not complaining, if you want great pictures buy a camera.

Bottom line: Yes I’m an Apple covert, its really quite easy to change when they make technology as beautiful as this.

Thanks for listening to my first time using an Ipod. Best bit of advice to you is to buy one, and if you got more dosh buy an Iphone which is all of above and the ability to phone and text so I’ve heard.

NOTE: You obviously need wifi to use internet, receive mail and log on to app store etc.

UPDATE: 04/11/2010

Having used the Ipod for well over two weeks now there is another negative that has become apparent. Battery life. When using apps it degrades rapidly, and when the apps are that addictive your going to be doing a lot of Ipod charging! However, the battery is great when playing music, it hardly consumes it at all.

Aside from that my love hasn’t faltered. I sometimes find myself grabbing for the ipod when I have a bit of net surfing to do instead of my cumbersome laptop.

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Good, 13 Oct 2010

I’ve been using a new 8GB model for the past two weeks and it has been great. I have not observed any defects in workmanship and performance is great except for taking photographs with the back camera (which is usable but not a substitute for a real camera). Video with the back camera has good sound, fast frame rate and rich color saturation. Recommended!

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