Its been quite sometime that I wrote my opinion on mouthshut and thought to resume with this - the Philips AJ3011 - the clock radio (with AM/FM). Ofcourse, the advent of clock radios in the Indian market has been quite slow compared to the clock radio sales in the rest of the world. Whether it the US or most of the places in the UK and European Union, its usual to see a common sight of a clock radio in most bedrooms, besides the bedsides table. From most of my visits,
I always fancied that one day I should also have a clock radio in my bedroom and wake up to the alarm from this. Well I should say the markets in India have opened for this product, though I do not see this product prominently displayed in the showroom shelves or in some of the homes that I visited. Well now I have the opportunity to own the Philips clock radio (I didnot have as much choices to choose from the market). Ofcourse the Philips AJ3011 is a cute little piece well designed to sit on the bedside table next to the pillow.
To begin with this product is now tuned to suit the voltage supply specifications in India. The features are quite adequate to suit the usage of an average Indian household, rather the bedroom. The entire unit is quite well designed to suit most of the interiors. It runs on the AC power supply as default and has option of backup power through use of batteries. In case of a power failure, the batteries fuel the unit. The color of the AJ3011 is quite sobre and sits discreetly in the bedroom. No eye jarring or eye catching colors to hurt you when its time to wake up from good night’s sleep.
Lets read a few lines about the Controls in the unit. It includes a well illuminated display, controls to set the time (hours, minutes and the alarm). Well the alarm can be set to either the Buzz mode or the Radio mode. Ofcourse the volume, band, tuning and a pigtail aerial are part of the standard equipment. (Tuning radio is manual!) The best part is that it includes a battery compartment which can house two 1.5 Volts, type R06, UM3 or AA size batteries. The batteries, ofcourse, are not supplied with the set and you can easily get one from the local stores. The brightness of the illuminated display can be controlled in 2 stages. The digits in the display are quite prominent and easily catches the waking eye. And the alarm mode can be set to ’repeat’ mode (also called snooze, in other related products). The repeat alarm repeats your alarm call every 8 to 9 minutes. When you switch on the unit for the first time it enters into ’Demo’ mode and once can press the ’Time Set’ switch to start setting up the unit. The single speaker console embedded on top the AJ3011, does quite a descent job and you can hear your favorite radio station. If you are tuned into a radio station though, you cannot hear sound as stereo reception as these come with a single speaker. Its difficult to find a stereo clock radio in India or abroad. The unit has a built-in sleep option which enables the set to be automatically switched off during radio playback, after a set period of time (60, 30 or 15 minutes set).
Well the drawback as I notice with this product is to do with the fact that it is not as portable as a mechanically wound or a battery operated normal time piece and thus you need to look for a power supply socket if you intend moving it around from room to room often. Do also remember that this product is not advisable for outdoor usage.
One more point to remember - the radio tuning indicator is at the bottom of the front portion of the unit and thus may make visibility a bit of a problem. well, if you know the radio stations in your city, you really need not have to worry on this.
Overall this is a cute little inexpensive unit from the Philips stable and well suited for Indian homes and especially so if you are interested in clock radios.