Review: Altaz Internet Clock Radio

If your searching in the market for a Internet Radio or a digital photo frame with some bonus features then look no further. Check out the Altaz Touchscreen Internet Clock Radio. Before I get into the review itself I want to of course give a big thanks to the Altaz company for sending a review unit of the product my way, it was nice of them to do so.

Okay at first glance you might think of this to be a Chumby which I have to admit does give off the look to be a clone but really its not. I can honestly say that this device is not trying to be a clone or really a alternative but a standalone product in that what features it supports work very nicely. However I want to save the best for last so first off lets discuss what comes in the box.

In The Box:

Altaz Internet Clock Radio

Microfiber Cloth

Stylus

Power Adapter

USB Cord

Manual

Now lets get to what were all waiting for and that’s the Internet Clock Radio. When I personally picked it up I could tell it had some weight to it and really didn't feel cheap. Located on the sides of the device are four buttons which controls the volume, play and pause also the power button. On top is a bigger button which acts as the snooze and the home button function. On the very back of the device is a Mini USB plug-in where you can connect the Power Adapter to charge or continually power the device also the speakers are located here as well. On the opposite side of the four buttons is a SD card slot where you can load pictures, songs or videos onto the device. Now on the bottom you have a elevated rubber grips to slightly rise the Internet Radio up. Of course the front is the 3.5” Touchscreen.

Starting up time for the Clock is only a few seconds which is great. When it comes to the Home Screen it reminds me of the iPhone with similar looking icons. Setting up the device was a breeze for me, the touchscreen is very nice and not really touchy so going through the settings and having to spell anything out with my finger alone was not at all stressful. My home network runs on a WPA2 encryption and right of the bat the Altaz Radio was able to pick it up and all I had to do was simply input the password. Pretty much everything you need to setup on the device such as clock, calender and internet connection was very straight forward in the settings section of the device. Once connected the device has several neat little features that really gives the little radio a wide variety of media income. As I mentioned you have a full monthly calendar along with the clock and a neat three day forecast weather application.

However not every application included in the device was able to be setup on the device itself. Using your computer and the easy to follow instructions you get a bigger handful of applications to work with. A few notable applications that I would like to discuss is the FrameChannel, Picasa, and I-Radio. FrameChannel is a online application in which registered to the free online program will allow you to add some these news feeds, for example on mine I was able to scroll through my Facebook, Twitter and even Time magazine news feed which are just a few of the many feeds you can choose onto your FrameChannel account. The Picasa which I am sure most of you are familiar with also is included in the device. Now for those who have never heard of this program; Picasa is a online image viewer that is offered by Google. Here you can sign up and post all of your pictures online and of course can be set privately for your eyes only. Now Altaz's Internet Radio will link to your Picasa account and stream your photos and turn the Internet Clock Radio to a Digital Photo Frame with the touch of a button. Lastly we have the I-Radio. Once connected to the internet I-Radio has hundreds of online radio genres to choose from and within those genres are several of online stations which is nice to have a wide selection of music to pick from. Now if you include your SD card you can add video playback with the M-JPEG format along with any pictures and music that is already included in your SD card.

Definitely a great device with some nice key features. You can get yours for the price of $99.99 at http://www.altazdesign.com along with major online stores such as http://www.amazon.com http://www.buy.com and http://www.walmart.com where they may have special discounts.

List of complete Specs:

3.5”TFT Panel

Resolution: 320x240

Audio: MP3

Video: M-JPEG

Wi-Fi: 802.11g

Memory: 128MB

Card Support: SD

USB: Mini USBX1

Built-in Battery: 3.7V 1500mAH

AC/DC Adapter: 5V/0.5A