I brought this great new toy the other day.  The Philips DA1102 is a personal DAB radio with 1GB MP3 player.  being a big listener of the radio I brought this mainly for the DAB capability, however the MP3 player is a great addition for those occasions that there's nothing on worth listening to.

The DA1102 is about the size of a credit card in face area, and the width is just wide enough to house the 2 AAA batteries needed to power it.

I purchased this new off E-Bay, and cost me a few pennies less than £24.  When it arrived at my office it came with batteries, USB cable, and earphones.  The first things that I did was to replace the earphones with something a little more substantial.  It's not that there was anything particularly wrong with them, but I find that the in-ear earphones tend to get very uncomfortable after wearing them for a while.  The replacement pair I chose were a pair of Philips 400/00 which I brought at Currys for just £12. (They were reduced from £24).  These headphones are excellent, and the longer than normal cable means that they are also good for plugging yourself in a hi-fi or computer tower.

Once I put the batteries in and connected the headphones, I did a scan for all the available radio stations.  Initially I was a bit disappointed as the DA1102 could only pick up a few stations, and the reception on those was pretty dire.  However testing in my office is hardly ideal, as there a lot of tall buildings that are built close together in our area of town,  added to that our building has a lot of electrical equipment that gives out lots of interference. 

Once I got home I scanned again and picked up 40 stations.  It is worth pointing out the the headphone cable also acts as the aerial, this means that the more contact the wire has with your body, the more it will impede the reception.  Obviously the reception on some stations is better than others, and seems best on BBC and local stations, there being a lot of drop-outs on many of the national commercial stations.  This seems to indicate that problems with reception is more down to the quality of the signal, and the signal strength, rather than any failings in the product.

The 1GB MP3 player is enough to hold about 10 albums, and the sound quality is excellent.  At the time of writing I have listened to the DA1102 for about 10 hours, and the battery strength indicator is still showing more than half full.  This is using the radio for about 2/3 of that time, and the MP3 for the remainder.  For me that represents quite acceptable battery usage.  Once I use out my supply of AAA bateries I shall buy some rechargeable batteries.

The main purpose of my purchase  is to provide me with entertainment whilst I travel to go on holiday.  I have a 3-4 hour train journey, for which I hope the radio will keep me entertained (as well as the 6 hour wait I'll have before check in for my 10 hour flight).  Writing this I wonder if a larger MP3 might have been useful!!!