UNBOXING: Philips Mirror Clock Radio AJ3231

So my Philips DAB radio didn’t work out due to an annoying buzzing noise which you could only hear in the dead of night.  No matter. I returned it and, albeit several months later, I’ve arrived with a replacement.  At only £19 this Philips AJ3231 in the style of a mirror lacks many of the functions of its predecessor but is a whole different kettle of fish.

Just by looking at it you notice how it has been designed to look different. I know it may seem a stupid thing to say but most alarm clocks, including my old ones, have been standard block designs just sitting on the edge of your bedside table.  It is debatable whether this increase in design compromised the facilities it could offer and you could say that as you definitely won’t find anything mind blowing here. It is a bog standard MW/FM Alarm Clock Radio with the added bonus of an auxiliary 3.5mm input connection for your MP3 player to bring it up to date.  It’s a shame DAB is amiss and was one of the reasons I reluctantly bought it…but it’ll last 5 years if it satisfies my needs.  Also a Dual Alarm makes an appearance for those people who don’t wake on the first alarm but that seems strange to me, then again I am a light sleeper.

Now I’m not saying the mirror design was a bad idea, on the contrary it looks appealing when you first see it but it brings up so many questions. First of all why would you want to see yourself first thing in the morning? Then again why would you want to use the tiny mirror to get yourself ready when there’s a big digit display right smack in the middle of your face? Also on a side note how long will it be before the nice clean mirrored surface is full of finger marks as you’ve tried to hit the snooze button while half asleep?  I’m not saying it’s not been thought out but it just doesn’t seem practical to me.

So a new alarm clock within 2 months and this is nowhere near as good as the last one on first look. However with it’s ever useful dimmer switch I might actually get a better nights sleep without dull buzzing tones or a display bright enough to light a city.  Good night!