Just a quick entry today. We’ve been looking for new something or other to put on the bedside table that’s iPod-compatible, nice looking and includes an alarm clock and AM/FM radio. Turns out, that’s a tougher slate of requirements to fill than expected. Most of the iPod-compatible clock/radios are either on the ugly side or don’t have AM/FM radios.
Then I discovered a cool offering from Vers Audio. It’s called the 1.5R radio/alarm clock for iPod. It’s small and comes in a couple good looking wood finishes like cherry, walnut and bamboo or a white glossy look. The front is very plain, with the black cloth speaker grill, small bluish clock/radio display and two friendly dials (which control volume and tuning). Most of the controls, including the incredibly important and easily reached “snooze” button are on top.
Feature-wise, the 1.5R has two alarms, an iPod dock that fits all the usual dock adaptors, a backlit LCD display and so on. It has plugs on the bottom for audio in and audio out (3.5 mm). The dimensions of the whole unit are 8.2″ long by 6.7″ deep by 5.6″ high.
The sound quality is superb for such a small device, which I’m sure relates to the design but I’m not enough of an audiophile to explain why. Bass seems to emanate from a separate speaker bit in the back. Vers offers quite a bit of explanation but I have no idea if what they’re saying is accurate.
There are a few extras. The remote control is, well, fine. Not much need for it so far. There are also external AM and FM antennas which can be attached if the internal antennas aren’t adequate for reception in your local area.
For what it’s worth, when I plugged my iPhone into the dock, the iPhone beeped and told me it might interfere with the reception of my device and did I want it to go into “airplane” mode. Handy. Not sure I noticed any difference in radio reception with all the iPhone’s various wireless bits running, bit glad to know someone is watching out for me.
And that’s about it. A handsome, full-featured clock/radio that’s iPod compatible. Check.
p.s. Changed my header image today with a Spring update. Taken with the awesome new pocket cam, Canon’s S90. More on the camera here for now — blog review coming soon.
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