Product Description

BLIK leads a new generation of contemporary design-led radios that meet the diverse and demanding requirements of the new digital world. BLIK is capable of accessing thousands of internet radio stations from all over the world providing an unprecedented choice of radio content. Listen to samba from Brazil s Radio Caraibas New Orleans Jazz from WWOZ or even live baseball from New York on WFAN 660 - all BLIK needs is a Wi-Fi broadband connection and a world of radio choice is yours.BLIK also provides coverage of traditional FM radio comprehensive electronic alarm clock functionality and the added benefit of doubling as an iPod speaker system.Throw-in class-leading audio performance and the ability to stream music from your PC or Mac and BLIK starts to look like the radio of choice for the digital generation. BLIK FeaturesEasy access to over 10 000 internet radio stations FM radio reception Digital alarm clock with sleep and snooze Large black LCD screen with icons Eight favourite station presets iPod speaker system functionality Includes compact remote control 3.5mm headphone connector Stereo RCA line-out connectors Alarm Clock FeaturesWake-up to Internet Radio FM radio or buzzer Two separate alarm memories Select one-off daily weekday or weekend alarms User-definable snooze from 5 60 minutes Customisable sleep function between 15 - 90 minutes What s IncludedCompact remote control M-Port cable (to connect MP3 players to BLIK) 240v power supply Operating Guide Warranty Card

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #67175 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Revo
• Model: BWF
• Released on: 2008-03-30
• Dimensions: 2.75" h x 5.25" w x 10.00" l, 7.14 pounds

Features

• Easy access to over 10 000 internet radio stations
• Digital alarm clock with sleep and snooze
• FM radio reception
• iPod speaker system functionality
• Two separate alarm memories

Manufacturer's Description
BLIK leads a new generation of contemporary, design-led radios that meet the diverse and demanding requirements of the new digital world.

BLIK is capable of accessing thousands of internet radio stations from all over the world, providing an unprecedented choice of radio content. Listen to samba from Brazil's Radio Caraibas, New Orleans Jazz from WWOZ or even live baseball from New York on WFAN 660 - all BLIK needs is a Wi-Fi broadband connection and a world of radio choice is yours.

BLIK also provides coverage of traditional FM radio, comprehensive electronic alarm clock functionality and the added benefit of doubling as an iPod speaker system. Throw-in class-leading audio performance and the ability to stream music from your PC or Mac and BLIK starts to look like the radio of choice for the digital generation.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Good Internet radio, poor alarm clock radio.
Since I own BOTH the Revo Blik and the Revo Radiostation, and many people are likely to consider both these models together, I thought I would review and compare both.

First if you are thinking about it for the first time, a few words about standalone Internet Radio. When you are buying an Internet Radio, you are relying on a 4-way relationship between the manufacturer, the service provider 1 (the BBC or whatever), the service provider 2 (Reciva, Frontier or whatever portal the radio chipset uses), and the service provider 3 (you, or more specifically your WiFi network). At this stage, if you buy one of these, you are an early adopter. If things don't work, it may be very difficult to determine where the problem lies. But the good news is that Revo in particular are very friendly on the phone, you should have no problem returning a radio if you can't get it working, but best of all it usually does work first time and I have found it to be a truly life changing product.

Now to these two models. First of all, they look identical, but the Radiostation gives you DAB, and is future proofed with DAB+, for an extra £50 (which seems quite expensive). If you want DAB, then your choice between the two is made for you, but I don't so I won't mention it again.

The main difference between the units is that they utilise totally different chipsets and Internet interface. The Blick uses the more established Reciva, whilst the Radiostation uses the new Frontier Silicon technology. Which one is best? Only time will tell I guess. I have heard a lot of people complain about the Reciva technology, but whilst there are a lot of people using Reciva, the Frontier technology is new. I have personally never had a problem with my Reciva units, but have already had a few problems connecting with the Radiostation. If you want to take advantage of the BBC Listen Again programmes, and for me this is the main reason for owning an Internet Radio, I would leave the Radiostation well alone for now. The Frontier model seems to scroll through your added stations and podcasts much better, but with Reciva model you are able to add the XML for a podcast which give you a list of programmes, whereas with the Frontier model you are stuck with the latest download. This needs to be fixed by Frontier Silicon.

Now to the units themselves. These two units are the first proper attempts at WiFi clock radios, and they are both decent attempts. Bedside radio is vital to me though, and there are a number of niggles. Which one is best sorted by any future firmware updates will determine which unit is saved from eBay! My Radiostation arrived with labels advising me to perform a firmware update, which implies they knew it was not perfect when they sent it out.

Niggle 1. And the most important. The Blicks alarm volume comes on far too loud. The Logik iPod clock alarm that I owned before this was even louder, but this is still too loud. If you need to get up quickly fair enough, but if you want to get up slowly it will annoy the hell out of you. Please fix this immediately Revo, it needs to be the same volume as used previously. If in your state of just woken panic you try to turn the volume down, it will just switch the unit off, leaving you to switch on again. Not very good for a clock radio. The Radiostation scores on this one with its adjustable wake up volume.

Niggle 2. The Radiostation then lets itself down. It has 4 alarms, against the Blik's 2. But the Blik can be programmed for weekday or weekend, and the Radiostation cannot. So the Blik's 2 are better than the Radiostatio's 4.

Niggle 3. If you have programmed these units to come on in FM or DAB mode (I would never set an alarm to come on in WiFi mode, not reliable enough), then the unit HAS to be in standby when you fall asleep. Don't you dare drift off with a podcast or listen again stream so that it doesn't go quiet into standby, because if you do, the alarm will come on with, not FM or DAB radio, oh no, but the buzzer. You will have your insides deposited on your bed sheets if you make this mistake. A firmware fix is required soon please.

Niggle 4. Both units have two many buttons on top, which are impossible to find in the dark. Useless. Just use the remote instead, but both remotes tend to require two presses to work every now and again.

Niggle 5. These are mains powered units only, despite what the manuals may lead you to believe with the inclusion of a battery compartment. Don't you dare disconnect the power from the unit because you will lose a number of settings including the time.

Niggle 6. The Blik loses about 10 minutes a week. At least the Radiostation can update the clock automatically from the DAB signal.

Niggle 7. Both units are advertised as RDS FM. Unless you live next door to a transmitter forget it.

In summary, both these units are great as Internet Radio's but hopeless as bedside alarm clock radios. I am hoping that future firmware updates will resolve many of my niggles.

Loads of buttons
Having bought the Revo Pico WiFi and discovered the advantages of WiFi radio I was keen to correct the biggest weakness with the Pico i.e. no time functions.

The reviews of ALL the various WiFi alarm clocks were consistently bad. So after picking through them I decided to stick with the Revo brand.

The problem is the quantity of buttons aggrevated by a lack of differentiation. Surely an alarm clock should have prominent tactile buttons for sleep and alarm functions. The WiFi options can be lost elsewhere.

So my main complaint is the lack of ergonomic design for something to be used when one is unlikely to be most alert or have the best lighting.

Much of the tedium on the wifi side can be overcome by registering for free with Reciva and relying upon the "my stuff" option.

The bottom line is that life is simpler with the Blik WiFi since I no longer have to update podcasts on my ipod before listening to them on my ipod clock. Also unlike the Pico I can fall asleep while listening to them.

Oh, and battery back-up and self setting time would seem to me as rather obvious essentials for a product of this sophistication & price.

A fair player but it has a lot of quirks
I've had the Revo for over a year, and use it most days. I also own AE, Pinnacle and Roku WiFi radios so I feel I can give this a fair review.

Good points:
- It looks fantastic!
- Sleep function
- The remote control is a welcome extra

Bad points:
- The sound quality is well below par. It sounds muffled, and there's humming and whining through headphones.
- The display is actually much worse than the picture suggests. It has poor contrast and is too bright for the bedside in standby mode.
- The frequent network failures, compared with the AE and Roku which are rock solid.
- The clock loses about one minute per day. There's no network time function.
- Scrolling long lists of stations is slow and painful.

I'm going to look for another player, since unfortunately this one isn't perfect. That said I've lived with this for over a year so it can't be that bad.