Philips USA AJL308 Clock Radio with 7-Inch TFT LCD Color Display and USB/SD Card Slot Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)There is a lot to love about this product. It's sleek. It's stylish. It's bright, bold and clear. (It can be dimmed!) It's a clock-radio with two independent alarms that also plays audio files (.mp3 and .wma), video (mpeg4 and divx codices) and photo slide shows (.jpg only). It has built-in "relaxation" sounds to help you fall asleep. It has so much going for it! And just when you think it can't get any better...
It doesn't get better. It slips a little. You start thinking to yourself, "If only..." and "Why didn't they just take the next step?" Why isn't there a tiny bit of built-in memory so that I don't need a SD card or USB stick to be attached to change the cute-but-becoming-annoying default photo? Why can't I select an audio file on the SD or USB as my alarm music? Why only three built-in sounds for the "relaxation" music? Why isn't there an AM tuner? Why isn't there a headphone jack? Why can I only display JPEG-format images? For a widescreen 7" LCD picture frame, why is the resolution only 480 x 234? Why isn't there a back-up battery?
This is such a near-perfect little gadget that it's painful to see how close Philips came to making the best device on the market. Yet despite these flaws, it is still so wonderful that it demands four stars. Lucky for Philips, there don't seem to be any viable alternatives with all of the features it does have at this price point... yet.
And regarding the day-of-the-week issue: Philips posted a firmware update on their Web site on September 14, 2007, that fixes this issue. Visit the Philips Web site, type in "AJL308" to find the product page, select the Support link tab (just above and to the right of the product image), and scroll down to the Software section. There is a PDF read-me file and a ZIP file with the actual firmware update. Read the PDF and carefully follow its directions to update the firmware. You'll need a USB drive to transfer the firmware update to your AJL308, and it takes several minutes to complete the update, but once it's done the day of the week should be correct.

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Start the day right with the Philips AJL308 Clock Radio, where you can wake up to the 7-inch color showing off your favorite photo, song, or video. In addition to clock, radio and calendar functions, you can even use pre-loaded relaxation music that will help you fall asleep. Built-in USB and SD card slots let you store all of your photos, music and video clips. You can enjoy music or radio channels with FM digital auto tuning and presets. Set dual alarm times and wake up gently with the increasing alarm volume.

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Philips AJL303 3.5-Inch LCD Clock Radio Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is an item I really wanted to like. It looks great on my desk and the photo images come out looking decent. It's not high def, but the screen is not huge so it is not a deficit per se, The list of functions is impressive (photo display, mp3 player, digital radio and it even functions as a clock :-). However, to get the full benefit you have to know your way around the unit's menu system and you must also know how to put music and photos on to the SC card in order to display you own photos and play your own music. Since there is no USB port, you must do this in a separate card reader/writer. Now, you may have all of this already, but I think it would have been much better to have a USB port for this clock so you could just hook it up to your computer and download what you need. Because of this, in practice, I suspect most people will put some items on this clock once, and then not revisit it.
The radio is very, very good. Surprisingly, it picks up stations at my home that other radios can't. I was surprised. The unit comes with an FM radio wire antenna, but I didn't have to extend it. It just worked. Controlling the radio requires using little buttons on the side of the unit. This is not a big deal, but you are likely to get fingerprints on the front screen since the unit is light weight and you have to hold it or pick it up to push the buttons. Since the front is an attractive mirrored finish, prints show up easily.
So, if you are not baffled by buttons and menus, and you are slightly technically handy in manipulating SD cards, this unit is great. Looks good, sounds OK and has a lot of features. The FM radio is super sensitive and has auto station seek. You'll like it. If you need your clock radio/picture frame to be brain dead simple, you should look elsewhere. Since my personal intellect is time of day dependent, perhaps a further summary is to say this makes a better desk clock than a bedside alarm clock for that reason.

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Philips compact LED clock radio with 3.5" LCD display lets you view photos and listen to music from built-in FM radio, or from an SD card. Also includes preloaded relaxation music to help you fall asleep peacefully, and gentle wake with increasing alarm volume.

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