Philips Portable DAB and FM radio

This review has been written by Khafsa Ghulam in March 2013.

Background

I am in my early twenties and have no light perception, I therefore rely on tactile clues and speech output when using products such as radios and televisions. When I was younger listening to the radio was something that I did on a regular basis and the simplicity of the design on the radios made it really easy for me as a person with sight loss to use. However, in recent years the switchover to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) and the innovation in the designing and manufacturing of radios means that newer products on the market have lost their simplicity. Nevertheless, as a blind person access to the radio is just as important for me as it was 10 years ago and it is therefore important that I can access the radio product. I chose to review the Philips Portable DAB and FM radio because it really shows how far technology has come where digital radios are concerned.

At the time of writing this review the product had been discontinued.

Information about the product

The Philips Portable DAB and FM radio gives the user the option to listen to stations offering Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) and the traditional FM radio. Essentially, DAB is where radios can broadcast their shows via a digital signal. This means that users no longer have to spend time tuning their favourite radio station, the radio picks up the strongest signal automatically and generally the quality of the audio is a lot clearer.

Setting up

The Radio comes with a power cable but can also be operated using batteries. When you take the radio out of the box and place it with the speaker facing in front of you, you should have the following:

At the front on the left there is a speaker which extends to the right-hand side.
On the right there is a display.
On the top left there is a circle with 5 buttons, the one at the top is the preset button, the one in the middle is the select button, the one at the bottom is the source button and the ones on either side are the tune buttons.
The power button is next to the circle, followed by the menu, display and scan.
The circle on the right has the volume controls.
At the back along the top is a telescopic aerial.
On the right a little way down is the slot to connect the supplied power cable.
And at the very back is the battery cover.

The initial set up of the radio was not possible without help from a sighted person.

Firstly, instructions were not provided in an accessible format, but I was able to retrieve them off the manufacturer's website. Nevertheless, it was not possible to access the radio without assistance as the buttons were not labelled in an accessible way and the instructions did not make it clear as to the position of each button. However, as the radio gives the option to preset 10 radio stations (5 DAB and 5 Fm), I was able to preset my favourite radio stations with support from a sighted person. Once this had been done and I had learned which button corresponded with each function, I was able to operate the radio on a very basic level.

Using the product

I used the radio to preset my favourite stations, access my preset stations, scan for stations and tune FM stations. Presetting stations was straight forward once I knew what buttons to press, the problem that I had was identifying what station I was currently listening to. For sighted users, the name of the station appears on a display on the screen, but there was no way that I could access this information.

Additionally, it was not possible to tell if I was listening to DAB radio or FM radio, but this information was shown on screen. This also meant that when I was presetting my stations, I was not 100% sure that I was on my desired station. Finally, when scanning for stations, I didn't know what was happening as the radio just went silent, so my first thoughts were that it had gone off as it was taking a long time to locate a station. Furthermore, when going through the DAB stations, I use the 'tune' button to browse through the station, but again each station was displayed on the display. If I wanted to find out what station it was, I would have to press the select button and then guess what station it was. Using the FM radio was a similar process, but the only difference was that pressing the 'tune' button moved to the next/previous station and started playing it.

Accessing my preset stations was not as straight forward as it would be for a sighted person, but nevertheless it was manageable. Each station was preset to a number, and I had to rely on memory for what station corresponded with what number. Once I had this information, I was able to confidently go through my preset stations. This also allowed me to determine which mode the radio was in (DAB or FM) as I was able to identify the station by what was being broadcasted and was therefore able to tell if it was in the DAB mode or FM mode.

Initially accessing the buttons was a little confusing, but as there were very few, I was able to remember the position of them. However, some may chose to put tactile markers to distinguish between the buttons. The only buttons that were easily identifiable were the volume buttons and the power button.

Advantages and Disadvantages

The simple design of the radio makes it a really easy device to hold and carry around. Moreover, the fact that it enables the user to preset their favourite stations saves time and for blind users it increases their independence when using the product as they do not have to rely on sighted assistance to help them locate their favourite radio station.

However, the fact that it is not possible to access the display on the radio is a huge barrier for blind users as it is not possible to know where you are unless you are able to know what radio station you are listening to by relying on your memory of what comes on each radio station. Furthermore, if the radio displays an error message, it is not possible to fix it as it cannot be accessed. If the radio stops working, the user will assume that it has either switched off or it is scanning. Additionally, it is not possible to access the menus, so if the user needs to reset the radio, they will not be able to do this.

The fact that the buttons are not distinctly marked is another problem for blind users as they have to rely on their memory to know what button does what.

If you are someone who finds it easy to remember stuff and are not likely to change your favourite radio stations once you have preset them, then this product would be usable for you. It wouldn't be totally accessible, but given the range of products currently available on the market, there isn't any other radio that is any more accessible.

However, if I had to choose an alternative product, I would recommend the 'Pure Move Radio' as it is more portable.

Any other comments

While there are significant barriers for blind people when accessing this product, a few simple changes could make this device a lot more user friendly. Firstly, the introduction of spoken menus would make the radio a lot easier to use as the user would be able to identify where they are on the system. Therefore, even if the buttons were not initially labelled, the user could mark them, this together with its spoken menus would make the radio more accessible.

Conclusion

Overall, the Philips Portable DAB and FM radio is usable on a very basic level. The ability to preset stations makes it slightly more usable for blind people, but the absence of spoken menus and audible clues makes it difficult to work out where the user is if there is a problem with the radio. However, taking a few simple steps could resolve this issue, thereby making it a user friendly product for blind people.