Movies •Books •Music •Food •Tv Shows •Technology •Politics •Video Games •Parenting •Fashion •Green Living •more >

Lunch » Tags » All Electronics » Reviews » iHome iH27 Portable Alarm Clock for iPod (Black)

iHome iH27 Portable Alarm Clock for iPod (Black)

1 rating: 1.0

All Electronics

Perfect for the busy traveler, this portable iPod alarm clock speaker system lets you sleep or wake to your favorite iPod tunes or buzzer, or just enjoy a little music while your iPod charges. With a lock feature to maintain settings, battery or AC power, … see full wiki

Tags: All Electronics

1 review about iHome iH27 Portable Alarm Clock for iPod...

Showing 1-1 of 1

Sort by:

Good Sounding Speakers, ... but lacks some features.

Nov 29, 2010

by dtruong

Rating:

The iHome iH27 is a pretty good sounding iPod docking speaker system. It sounded much better than I had expected a small speaker dock to sound. The sound quality is crisp, with good mid and high tones. The 'SRS wow' setting did notably improve the sound quality... making it sound a bit more dynamic. Another surprising attribute of this system was how loud it could get. In fact, it was loud enough to carry the music through a pretty large living room environment. As with any small speaker system, it's ability to simulate the lower spectrum of sound (or Bass) was pretty limited. Other things I liked about the system was that it was very easy to use... with a logical layout of buttons, a large back-lit LCD screen, included dock adapters to fit an assortment of iPods, a cool fold-down design, battery operation (4 AA's needed) and an included carrying case. Also, I noticed that the sound quality was just as good (as it was plugged in) while using it on Battery power only.

As with most products, there were also elements that needed improvement. For example, it was very surprising that the remote control was not included... you have to buy it as a separate accessory off of their website. Also, there was no 'Next/Previous' Song buttons on the unit. You'd have to press the buttons on your actual iPod to skip songs... or buy the optional remote. One strange thing I noticed is that while all other functions seem to work fine in 'battery only' (using 4AA's) mode, the LCD back-light didn't work in that mode. It only lit up if the unit was plugged in using the power adapter. Also, if you are planning to use this with your iPhone, you may want to think twice about buying it. When I tested it on my iPhone 3GS, it stated that it was not 'Optimized' for the iPhone. What this means is, not all functions perform well with the iPhone. For example, the iPhone antenna functions will distort the speaker sound... for instance when you are receiving a phone call or text. The screeching sound it makes when this happens is very annoying, akin to the noises that those old dial-up modems used to make. Another thing I noticed is that the Alarm function doesn't work with the iPhone either. When the alarm is supposed to go off, the alarm logo blinks on and off... but it does not play music from the iPhone like it's supposed to. It's odd because it will play music from the iPhone just fine when you press the "play/pause" button.

Conclusion:

All in all, it's not a bad speaker system for the price. The sound quality was much better than expected... and better than most of the other speaker docks that I've heard (even the ones that were twice as expensive). Still, I think it needs some improvements to make it a 'great' product. If sound quality is your main concern, I'm guessing there aren't too many speaker docks at this price point that sound better. So, if you want a good inexpensive portable speaker for your ipod, and you're fine with having just the basic features... this player might be a right fit for you.

Pros:
-Good Sound (good mid and high tones)
-Folds down and highly portable
-Battery Only Operation (using 4 AA Batteries)
-SRS feature actually enhances sound.
-Included iPod dock adapters to fit assortment of iPods (iPod Classic, Nano... etc)
-Back-lit LCD is large and easy to read. Only works while plugged in though.
-Nice portable case included.

Cons:
-No Remote Included. You have to buy it off their website as an optional accessory.
-No Next/Previous Song Button. You must use buttons on your iPod (or buy the optional remote... meh)
-Not Optimized for iPhone. Antenna distorts sound, Alarm function doesn't seem to work with iPhone.
-LCD Back-light doesn't work in 'Battery only mode'... weird.
-Not much "Bass"... but this is typical of most iPod speaker docks.

What did you think of this review?

Helpful

Thought-Provoking

Fun to Read

Well-Organized