- Premium acoustics deliver high-quality room-filling sound.
- Motion activated, backlighted controls are perfect for low-light/nighttime
- An auto-dimming display is easily readable any time of the day or night.
- A backlighted remote control lets you control the unit from across the room,
- A digital AM/FM radio gives you the option to listen to live content,
21 Dec 2010 update: 4 star rating: I took off a star because the clock function is not reliable. It resets itself too often with the display showing what would be expected from the product right out of the box with no time set. I cannot rely on this clock radio as my only alarm, since, even though it has a backup 9v battery, it resets itself to "original factory setting" without keeping up with the current time for no apparent reason.
Original rating: 5 star rating: I am using this product as my clock radio and iPhone 3G charging station on my night table in a master bedroom. This clock radio replaces an iLuv i177 iPod clock radio which I have had for over 2 years. The main reason that I upgraded to this Logitech clock radio is due to its ability to charge the new iPhone 3G which I recently purchased.
This is by far the best clock radio I have owned. Although not perfect for everyone's taste, in my humble opinion, it is the best compromise in quality, functionality, and price available in the US market as of today.
Compatibility with iPhone 3G: I read some reviews about the inability to charge the new iPhone 3G. I contacted Logitech via email, and they explained that there were some previous firmware issues in the past, but that this is no longer an issue. (By the way, Logitech customer support was superb at replying back to me promptly, answering all of my specific questions, and even followed up days later to assess my level of satisfaction with their responses). After using the product with the new iPhone 3G, these are the facts: I does, in fact, charge the new iPhone 3G. However, you need to make sure that it is well seated in the cradle. If the iPhone is not well seated, there is a possibility that the iPhone music will play via the speakers, but no actual charging takes place. I make sure to seat the iPhone in the cradle until I see the iPhone charging icon on the top right corner of the display show up. The other fact to keep in mind is that on initial seating the iPhone in the cradle, the iPhone will display the message, "This accessory is not compatible, would you like to turn on Airplane Mode?". Just press "NO" on the iPhone, and everything will work just fine. It is somewhat annoying that this message comes on every time you place the iPhone in the cradle, but rest assured that after pressing "NO", there will not be any more compatibility issues.
Alarm clock: It has 2 alarms that can be independently set to wake up to either iPhone/iPod, FM, AM, or buzzer. The volume can also be preset, something my wife appreciates. Reliability of the alarm is also great as there is a 9v battery backup for the clock and the alarm settings in case of a power failure.
Presets: This is a great feature. For unclear reasons, lots of iPod/iPhone compatible alarm clocks do not include presets. Well, this alarm clock does. It has 6 preset buttons. What's more, the presets work with each mode (iPod/iPhone, FM, AM), so it is like having 3x6=18 presets total.
Sound quality: This product is not meant to be the soul music source for a college fraternity party or home theater system. However, for non teenagers, the loudness and quality is more than acceptable for a bedroom, kitchen, or other rooms of similar size. I normally listen at low to lowmedium level, and I am very satisfied with the sound quality. At higher sound levels, I do not appreciate any significant distortion, but I confess that I am not the best person to compare and review products at ear damaging sound levels.
Recessed iPod/iPhone cradle: Ergonomically, this is a great design. Most other iPod/iPhone clock radios have the iPod/iPod cradle on the very top of the system. The problem with that design is that the iPod/iPhone is more exposed to knocking, especially as you are trying to press the snooze button when you wake up and find yourself all disoriented. The recessed iPhone/iPod cradle design make knocking much less likely. On the topic of the snooze button, with this clock radio you do not have to press the snooze button to go on snooze. You merely need to wave your hand over the motion sensor. Now, that is really cool!
Intelligent lighting: This is a pretty neat feature. By merely waving the hand over the motion sensor, all of the buttons will light up, so that you do not have to turn the room lights on to set the alarm, or turn on the radio, etc. By the way, the remote control also has lights on its buttons (no motion sensor on it, though).
Auxiliary Input: I have not used this, nor do I intend to in the near future, but is does have one. This, to me, is a testament on the level of thought that was put into the designing and making of this product.
This cool features, as well as the intuitive operation design, makes this product earn 5 solid stars.
Buy Logitech Pure-Fi Dream Speaker for iPod and iPhone (Black) Now
I bought this for my new IpodTouch. Most likely I wanted this device to have my Ipod charged and then listen to it while I'm in my bed. I was very pleased when I found out it had so much more functions than my previous Logitech Speakers for my older Ipod.
When I bought my new IpodTouch I was disappointed to find out that no more there was a function to get waked up by a playlist but only by alarm sounds. As more happy I was when I found out that these speakers bring that function back. So you can set up two alarms where you can select a play list and even the volume you want to be woke up with. You have also 6 Memory buttons to each of them you can assign a playlist from your Ipod. So you don't to go through your Ipod menu anymore. Just press the memory button and it will automatically play the playist associated to it.
The quality of the speakers is great. Very clear.
Pro:
* Very intuitive menu makes it easy to navigate through all the settings with the remote control of your speakers
* 6 Memory buttons that allows you associate a play list with
* Very well done snooze function that allows you to set any time you want (not only 15min/30min/90min)
* Has two alarm settings that allows you to select from a play list, play it shuffled and to set the volume of the speakers
* Back light remote control
* Display on the speakers show you the current time or the song recently played.
* You can do almost every operation with your remote control. Such as choosing the memorized playlist, setting the alarm and more.
Con:
* regarding the volume feature for the alarm there is a bug in the device. If you set up two different alarms and both are active the alarm2 will always overwrite volume setting of alarm1. For example if you set up alarm1 with a low volume setting to wake you up at 7:45am and then you set up alarm2 with a higher volume setting for 8:00am to kick you out of the bed, alarm1 will wake you up with the higher volume setting of alarm2. Alarm2 will only overwrite the volume setting of alarm1 if it is active. I also tried to set alarm2 being the first one to wake me up and alarm1 the second one. It's still not working :(.
* There is a short buzz sound whenever you turn the speakers on. This also happens if the alarm starts the device. So that sounds is most likely the sound that wakes me up before the play list kicks in.
* There is a shuffle on/off button on the device and the the remote. However pressing the button the device will not tell you, you just turned it on or off.
After all, I would recommend to by this. It looks cute and has build in a lot of cool features I even haven't expected to be there.
I only give it 4 Stars, because there is this bug with the alarm volume that they should have found before they released this device.
Read Best Reviews of Logitech Pure-Fi Dream Speaker for iPod and iPhone (Black) Here
UPDATE 06.26.09: This video review is a follow up to my original written review (below) from a few months ago. Since that review over four months ago my dislike of this item has grown and this video is an attempt to demonstrate the specific problems I have with it to see and judge for yourself.
Also since that review I went through Logitech support again and obtained a replacement unit (they only make you send the half of the power cord to save you on shipping). I've been using that replacement for a few months now and it's no different from the original item I received, every flaw I mentioned in the original review is also present in the replacement unit.
If I could I would amend my rating to two stars after several months of use.
I would like to note, however, that my second attempt at Logitech customer support when I got my replacement was an FAR better experience than the first. It's a shame the quality of my replacement turned out to be just as poor.
The following is my original review:
First off, I bought this primarily for my iPhone 3G, it DOES fully work with it.
I bought this after getting an RMA for my defective Logitech Pure-Fi Anytime Premium alarm. It looked like the extra features on this one would be worth the extra cost.
In short, I like this device overall, but it has several flaws that irritate me. However, I'm fairly picky/OCD about many things, especially electronics, so my annoyances may not bother you at all. I'll just outline my positives and negatives in bullet form:
Positives:
-overall appearance of unit is nice
-nice functional, back-lit remote
-each alarm has its own volume setting
-iPod/iPhone dock is located in front of the unit, not on top
-6 presets per input, excellent feature
-Amber color is excellent, far better than the horrible bright blues and reds seen everywhere
-info available on the LCD is nice and useful
-jog dials are very nice, especially for the volume (this is far better than volume up/down buttons)
Negatives:
-Very annoying noise comes from speakers every time you turn it on or change inputs
-LCD quality is absolutely awful (terrible ghosting for even just digits/the volume bar, the refresh is atrocious. Also, the viewing angle is absolutely horrible)
-Far prefer the LED readout on the Pure-Fi Dream Premium, it looks much much nicer. Especially for an alarm, I much prefer an LED because it doesn't have an entire backlight, only the digits/info is illuminated.
-iPhone adapter plate (referred to as #12 in the documentation) is NOT compatible with the iPhone 3G, I had to use the one I kept from the Anytime Premium (I feared something like that may happen so I kept it, justly so. However, it comes with MANY adapters, so one of them probably works fine, I just never tried any others)
-nowhere to store remote like on the Pure-Fi Anytime Premium (this was a surprisingly great feature)
-Nothing on the unit indicates if the shuffle or loop function was pressed/shows its current state, you must look on the phone/player itself
When I first got the unit and tested the alarm, the volume would always be all the way down whenever it came on. I couldn't do anything to fix this, so I finally called the non-toll free Logitech support (1 646 454 3200, you have to use the one even on a cell phone for some reason). I was talking to a person soon enough, but it had to be among the worst tech support calls I've ever experienced.
Clearly I was wasting this guy's precious time by making me do his job. He grudgingly asked what the problem was and what the item is, and a few moments later just says, "yeah there's not really much we do to these, you should probably just return it."
I say, "This IS tech support right? I just got this from Amazon" to which he replies -sarcastically-, "What, Amazon doesn't take returns?"
Yes, he really said this to me. I reply, "What, you don't do tech support?" FINALLY he reluctantly talks me through the factory reset procedure (turn on the unit and hold the iPod and preset #2 button until it resets).
This actually worked, sort of. The alarm comes on at the correct volume now, but one time since then I turned the unit on and it came on at no volume again. That was the only time since then, but I've only had this unit for 3 days or so, so that's not exactly comforting.
In the end, I like this alarm clock. Given its flaws I do not think it is worth the price ($100 would be much more reasonable), however I don't think I will return it because frankly, I can't find any other iPhone 3G compatible alarm clock dock that looks as good.
Want Logitech Pure-Fi Dream Speaker for iPod and iPhone (Black) Discount?
The Logitech Pure-Fi Dream is perfect... well for me anyways. Another person has already highlighted all the features of the Pure-Fi, I just wanted to point out the attributes that made this a solid buy for me.
Sound quality:
Not the best, as in, not like a Bose, but still pretty impressive coming from some small speakers.
Radio quality:
I've never heard radio as clear and crisp in my room as I've heard it on this radio. It uses the power cord as an attenae. I might be late to the party, but I never knew that clock radios could do that. I'm impressed that I can now listen to radio static-free.
iPhone 3G compatibility:
It's compatible with (aka charges) the 3G, but I think I lost my adapter for it, which is unfortunate because the only CON I have with this machine is when I'm trying to put my phone into the recess without that adapter there's a bit of hit and miss.
This isn't the only thing about the 3G compatibility I like though. The Dream allows for playback of any app over the speakers. I can finally listen to Pandora through a dock instead of having to hook my 3G into the aux of my speakers. Again, I could be late for the party, but I never see such a feature highlighted.
Remote: Not a bad remote, it's backlit too.
Clock-radio light: It auto-adjusts according to the environment lighting. The low-level light is bright enough to see but not bright enough to light up the whole room and be a distraction. The time display might be a bit small for some people, but it's fine for me. Also, the Dream's lights primarily stay off (other than the main lcd display), until you wave your hands over the top. You can change that setting to always on though if you wish.
iPod controls: They essentially work the same way as an iPod. However, there's no play button and in order to play something off the iPod I had to use the iPod controls themselves. I could use the scroll wheels on the clock after playing though. This could just be my own lack of experience with the Dream.
Misc: It weighs a good amount, mainly because of the fat transformer(?) that comes with the power supply.
All in all, exactly what I was looking for in a clock radio iPod dock.
After recently purchasing a new iPhone 3G I decided it was time to upgrade my old JBL iPod music player to something compatible with my new phone. At first thinking my search would be relatively easy, I was surprised to see that many of the available sound systems weren't compatible with the iPhone 3G. Reading many of the reviews of various music players that claimed compatibility proved to be the most help. That's how I came upon the Logitech Pure-Fi Dream.
I received the player about 3 weeks ago and immediately tested my iPhone 3G. Good news it works flawlessly! The Pure-Fi WILL charge the iPhone 3G and will access your playlists. The key seems to be using the correct cradle and ensuring that the iPhone is correctly seated. Initially my iPhone did display the "device not compatible" message, though I realized I simply did not dock the unit correctly. Once I pressed down on my iPhone the unit worked perfectly.
I have also tested a "5g iPod with video", a 3g iPod Nano and a 1g iPod "Touch" all charged and worked perfectly with the Pure-Fi. Also worth noting is that the Pure-Fi does have an auxiliary input aka a mini-jack for plugging in various other sources such as CD players, MP3 players, etc.
Setting up the Pure-Fi to work with playlists is pretty easy. The manual includes detailed instructions for setting up preset buttons (1-6) that will correspond to iTunes playlists. The presets are accessible from both the Pure-Fi face buttons and the included remote.
The Pure-Fi Dream is a breeze to set up, comes with a fully featured, back-lit remote with batteries, a separate 9v back-up battery for alarms and cradles of just about any size to match your iPod. The included power cord also acts as the AM/FM antenna and works surprisingly good. I live in a high-rise building where radio reception is usually poor and the Pure-Fi can still pick up most radio stations clearly.
I don't use my Pure-Fi as an alarm, though I did test the feature. It has 2 separate alarms that are independent of each other. The best feature is that you can choose to wake either via your own music on you iPod/iPhone or the typical alarm buzzer. Another cool feature is that the buttons on the Pure-Fi are all back-lit and simply moving your hand near the unit will turn them on. This is a great feature for anyone used to fumbling around in the dark looking for the "snooze" or "off" buttons.
The back-lighting on the Pure-Fi itself is an orange color on both the LCD screen and the buttons. The screen itself is directly bellow the iPod cradle and easy enough to read from a few feet away. Though anything more than that an it's difficult to make out.
Sound quality of the Pure-Fi is pretty good. I'm by no means an "audiophile" but I can tell a good natural sound from one that isn't. Of course, the Pure-Fi isn't meant to be the center of your home theater or produce wall rumbling sounds. It does adequately fill a large room with warm sounds. I use my Pure-Fi in my living room that opens into my kitchen and all told a large space and the sound easily fills both areas. I also discovered that changing the EQ settings on the iPod/iPhone has a large impact on the output from the Pure-Fi. The available adjustments in the Pure-Fi are the standard bass and treble settings.
If I had to point out one thing I didn't like about the Pure-Fi it would have to be the power source. It is an absolute monster of a brick that I'm reluctant to set on carpet because it does get quite hot.
For anyone looking for a great quality, fully iPhone 3G compatible player look no further!
