Philips AJL303 3.5-Inch LCD Clock Radio

The Philips AJL303 was a Christmas present for my wife, who wanted an alarm clock that could play her favorite wake-up music. There were two stipulations: She didn't want an iPod dock, and she didn't want it to be a CD player. Her old CD/Clock/Radio combo makes so much noise spinning up the CD that she is awake and grumpy before the music even starts. ;-)

There are only a handful of non-docking alarm clocks that play MP3s. The Philips has several nice features which caused me to buy it:
-- Uses a standard SD card for MP3s and pictures. You can load anything you want.
-- Small, attractive form factor. It is about the size of a travel alarm clock.
-- Serves as a digital photo frame. Although small, it is actually works quite well.

There were a few down-sides which I was aware of prior to purchase (from other people's reviews):
-- The "Auto-Dim" feature is a little clunky. You set the times you want the clock to dim at night, but...Read more

The features are amazing, I love everything about this clock. I wanted something that didnt look like the typical clock, and a digital picture frame was just the thing. The ability to set a dimmer which turns off the photo slide show is great, sleep sounds including the ocean is wonderful, plus two alarms you can set to either the radio, nature sounds, buzzer OR mp3!!
Amazing Alarm Clock.. just wish I could find another for my Husband and Son!

Overall, I'd have to say that I really like this little clock radio - but I suspect it really won't fit the bill as an alarm clock for a lot of people.

First off, here are the things I like about it:
1) For me, one of the most important features of a clock radio is being able to turn the backlight completely off at night (its amazing how bright these things can be in a dark room). This alarm has that feature and allows 4 steps of brightness, including completely off.
2) I like that I can put on my own photos and music with an SD card.
3) FM radio reception is good.
4) Sound quality is good for this small of a device.
5) Alarm is easy to turn on and off - although it is a bit of a pain to set a new wake time. Since there are 2 alarms, that covers me for weekdays with the other alarm that can be adjusted on the weekend.

Here are the things I think should be improved:
1) There is an auto-dim feature that can be set to...Read more