Philips AJL308 Digital Clock and Photo Frame (7 inch)
Starting at: $190.00
CNET Editors' Review
CNET Editors' Rating
- Reviewed by: David Carnoy
- Released on:
- Reviewed on:
The good: The Philips AJL308 is both a clock radio and a digital photo frame, and it's got a fairly sleek look to it. It plays back MP3 and WMA audio files, as well as MPEG4 and DivX video files from thumbdrives and SD/MMC memory cards. Some users may appreciate the included novelty alarms and "relaxation" sleep modes.
The bad: The image is low resolution, the sound is tinny, some of the user controls aren't as intuitive as they should be, images load slowly, and not all MPEG4 files are recognized.
The bottom line: Marrying a clock radio with a digital photo frame is an awesome concept, but the Philips AJL308 needs to be improved upon before it becomes the perfect union.
The Philips AJL308 clock radio/photo frame is a tricky product to review. What makes it tough is that on one level the idea of combining a clock radio with a digital photo frame is a really cool concept--and in many ways the AJL308 succeeds. But at the same time it's got some issues that make you wish that Philips would hurry up and make a new, improved version.
On the positive side, the AJL308 is cosmetically attractive, though the gloss black finish around the 7-inch (diagonal) wide-screen display is a fingerprint magnet. The back of the frame is ... Expand full review
The Philips AJL308 clock radio/photo frame is a tricky product to review. What makes it tough is that on one level the idea of combining a clock radio with a digital photo frame is a really cool concept--and in many ways the AJL308 succeeds. But at the same time it's got some issues that make you wish that Philips would hurry up and make a new, improved version.
On the positive side, the AJL308 is cosmetically attractive, though the gloss black finish around the 7-inch (diagonal) wide-screen display is a fingerprint magnet. The back of the frame is white and bulges out at the bottom, creating a sturdy stand that puts the frame at a good angle for viewing.
Philips also loaded the AJL308 with features. First and foremost, the LCD displays date and time (you get dual alarms), as well as images stored on an optional SD/MMC memory card or thumbdrive that fit into slots on the side of the frame. You can choose to display the photos in a slide show format across the whole frame or have them appear in a smaller box next to the time and date in "clock" mode. If you choose the "wide-screen" option from the settings menu, your photos will be fit to the screen and end up being slightly cropped. If you go with standard 4:3 option, they'll appear as they were shot but with black bars on either side of the image.
On the clock radio front, there's an FM radio with 20 presets (the presets are a little bit of a pain to set, but 20 is a lot), plus two alarms, a sleep timer with interval options between 15 and 60 minutes, and a dimmer/snooze bar conveniently placed at the top of the frame.
Beyond its photo capabilities, the AJL308 also plays back MP3 and WMA files and select video files from your SD/MMC card or thumbdrive. By select we mean limited--we didn't have any luck with videos that we'd shot with a handful of cameras from leading manufacturers (Canon, Nikon, Olympus) and the one video that did start playing (from a Samsung camera) didn't have any sound. You're supposed to be able to play back MPEG4 files, but the frame didn't recognize a CNET TV video that was an MPEG4, so we assume it plays back only certain flavors of MPEG4. We had better luck with DivX. The "One: Space Odyssey" short we downloaded from the Stage6 Web site played fine, and DivX aficionados should be quite pleased with this feature. It's also worth noting that the frame is compatible with the DivX VOD service, which means it can be registered and used to play back DivX files you'd rent or buy (download) from an online DivX VOD service.
Hide Review Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of "Knife Music," a novel that's available at Amazon, bn.com, and as a Kindle, iBooks, or Nook e-book.
User Reviews
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"Picture is small as the clock takes up half the screen." By dfdelbene
Pros: I paid much less at staples -- like $40. It's only worth $40.
Cons: Sound is awful as well. Slide show just does not work. After a year, I tossed it.
Summary: Not worth the price.
"Great Clock-Picture frame" By beyekind12
Pros: Works Great... Video's and ALL! Just took a little investigation.
Cons: The Rubes at Philips print that there are 2 formats that work, but the MP4 format doesn't work! Regular windows .mpg files work great! I just downloaded a free format converter (Prism Video Converter Plus)
Summary: Once you find out what it takes to work then the clock radio-photo frame-video player-MP3 player works as advertised! Still could use a headphone jack and the radio needs AM.
