Designers of DAB radios seem a strange lot.
Although the technology may be 21st century, DAB radios have often ended up looking like they’ve been teleported in from a previous age.
Perhaps charged with a mission to lure pipe-smoking Terry Wogan addicts into the wonderful digital age, there’s been a long string of DAB products cased in reassuringly old fashioned Ye Olde Wooden Panels or leatherette surrounds.
There’s been DAB radios harking back to an even earlier vintage too, with manufacturers like Roberts creating designs that wouldn’t look out of a place in a 1940s living room.
Whenever designers have taken it upon themselves to create something that looks vaguely modern, they tend to go to the other extreme, creating curious scary sci-fi creations that would send granny’s zimmerframe into overdrive.
DAB radios have also tended to come in just two sizes: big and bulky for carting around the house/garden or teensy weensy for the pockets of joggers and subway riders, with precious little inbetween.
Sensing a gap in the market, leading UK DAB manufacturer Pure have come up with the Pure Move.
Offering clean simple lines with more than a nod towards the great transistor age of the 60s, the Move is an attractive compact portable, measuring in at 150 mm x 85 mm x 27 mm.
Look and feel
Substantially built, the 280g Move looks like it could handle a few knocks, with a metal finish on the front and rubberised material on the side and back giving a good grip.
A small kick stand folds out of the back offering a good viewing angle of the display, with an extending aerial helping reinforce its traditional tranny radio look.
We weren’t quite so impressed with the power on button, though. This sits on the side of the radio and has to be held in for several seconds before the radio will turn on or off. A simple switch would have been far preferable.
On powering up for the first time, the display glows orange and the radio scans for all available stations, a process that took around a minute.
Using the front mounted controls, it was easy to navigate to a station of our choice (BBC6 Radio please!) and we were impressed by both the sound quality and volume of the unit.
Obviously, bass heads aren’t going to get their denture rattling fix from something as diminutive as this fella, but the sound quality was punchy and pleasing enough for everyday use.
Controlling the Move
Using the Move was pretty simple too, with the central circular controller letting you swiftly adjust the volume up/down and flip through radio stations.
Either side of the controller are Info/Preset and Menu/Dab/FM switches and – as with most Pure products – the interface was simple and intuitive.
Up to 10 DAB and 10 FM presets can be stored and the preset order arranged to your liking.
The Info button cycles the information displayed on the 2-line LCD screen, giving current date / time, station genre, multiplex, frequency, bit rate, signal strength and, most usefully, a single scrolling line of song info/news snippets.
The menu key gives access to EQ settings, display controls and firmware upgrades, with a hold key ensuring that no clumsy oaf changes the station by mistake.
Connections
Apart from the mains in socket, the Move comes equipped with a mini USB jack, aux in and a headphone jack.
Powered by their ChargePak technology, Pure’s internal rechargeable cell (Li-ion 4200 mAh) nearly managed to match the claimed highly impressive 40 hours of listening time, although we reckon most people will just keep it plugged in anway.
Reception on both DAB and FM was great with the aerial extended or packed away – not surprising seeing as we can see the Crystal Palace transmitter from our window – but we weren’t able to test coverage in less well served areas.
Conclusion
With its extended battery life, simple controls and traditional looks, Pure have come up with a very attractive offering which deserves to do well.
The asking price of £90 is a tad steep, but consumers looking for a versatile DAB radio that is truly portable may find it an excellent investment. We liked it.
The verdict
Features: 87%
Ease of Use: 85%
Build Quality: 85%
Overall: 86%
Specifications:
Palm-sized DAB and FM radio with full DAB Band III reception.
Frequency range: DAB Band III 174-240 MHz, FM 87.5-108 MHz.
Input connectors: 5V DC power adaptor socket (230V supplied), 3.5 mm Aux-in, and Mini USB connector for software upgrades.
Output connectors: 3.5 mm stereo headphone output.
Controls: Power, Lock, Info, Preset, Navigator, DAB/FM and Menu.
Presets: 10 DAB and 10 FM. LCD display: Orange backlit LCD display with 16 x 2 characters, function icons (volume, battery life, time, EQ, signal strength, DAB/FM and stereo) and clock. Key-press activated backlight can also be set to ‘always on’ for optimum visibility or ‘always off’ for longer battery life.
Mains Power supply: 230V AC to 5V (0.6A) DC external power adapter.
Battery Power supply: ChargePAK-inside Li-ion 4200 mAh rechargeable battery provides over 40 hours of portable DAB listening.
Dimensions: 150 mm wide x 85 mm tall x 27 mm deep. Weight: 280g
Aerial: Recessed telescopic aerial supplied. Headphones act as an aerial when connected. (Headphones not supplied.)
Pure
Looks ideal apart from a missing alarm clock feature. Why is having an alarm a premium DAB feature? And why don’t all alarm clocks come with separate weekend/weekday alarms. If I’m going to pay near £100 for a radio then it better have an alarm!
It is mad isn’t it … the alarm clock functions are probably built into the chips that they’re using too.
100% with you on the weekend/weekday alarms – and goodness gracious, they should know when it’s the weekend too, so you don’t have to remember to unset the weekday alarm.
The lack of an alarm could be annoying, but I’m still loving the radio and will be sad to see it go!
I’ll forward your comments to Pure.
I got a reply from Pure:
“Regarding the alarm clock query, we can only comment that the Move is
designed for ‘on the move’ use and due to the size of the radio we had
to make decisions on features relevant to this.”
I have to say that it wouldn’t bother me that much as I have both a watch and a phone with loud alarms, so that combo should be enough to wake me up from the meanest hangovers.
I think Pure made a bad decision omitting an alarm clock. The “Move” is built for travel, but then I would like to take a radio on the road that I can wake up to.
I don’t understand what size has to do with it, you don’t even need extra buttons for an alarm if you use the menu. Since it’s a software issue, maybe they can add this feature through a firmware upgrade?
I have the same feelings about an alarm feature and contacted Pure over a year ago. They do not take such a requirement/request seriously- it seems like they want to keep that as a premium product feature so they can charge more. I got the distinct impression they know better what customers want than potential customers do. Or they think they do.
Sorry Pure. YOU are wrong. I know what I want, and I want an alarm/sleep timer on this product.
I would buy this, or something similar if it had an alarm. I don’t like any of the very few products that have alarms at the moment, something like this *with* an alarm would have a sale.
Surely it can’t just be me and David with this requirement?
It’s a shame they ignore potential customers needs so they can put a useful feature in niche and premium products only.
When they demonstrate so little interest in customers needs it is a worry that they may care just as little if you need help or service after a sale. It puts me off the brand. Sorry Pure, an attitude change is needed.
Thank you for taking the time to give us such excellent feedback. The inclusion of sleep and alarm features in Move was a topic of heated discussion during the specification phase, and the decision was eventually taken not to include them for the reason that the alarm effectively means that the radio has to be almost 100% on, and that would drain the batteries quickly and potentially cause upset if an alarm failed to go off because the battery has run down.
However, since launching Move, we have had a number of similar requests and so we are considering adding alarms, but only enabled while running on the mains. I know that this does not completely meet all requirements, but it is an improvement on the current functionality, is more than adequate for most uses, and will not cause battery drain.
David Harold
Head of PR
PURE Digital
David – Thanks for coming on and giving the official Pure view.
Great that some forward-looking companies are open to responding directly to customer/potential customers through comments on news Web sites.
All power to your elbows.
I’ve been waiting for a true portable system to come available for what seems like forever.
I like the look of the Pure Move and will be out over the weekend to find one and have a test.
I agree with previous posts in that alarm functionality should be standard feature.
I considered the Sony XDR S50 for a while, mainly due to its size, but the lack of FM and an Alarm meant that my money stayed in my wallet.
David – I appreciate your comments but could you confirm whether the alarm functinality would be made available via a software update for this model or is it something that would only be available on future models.
Does this radio Pure Move. work in a car. Thank you
I saw the Pure “Move” for the first time yesterday – it was demonstrated very ably by the store and as far as I am concerned this hits all the right buttons. FM/DAB/stereo, integral rechargeable battery, earphones socket, reasonable speaker, modern hi-tech appearance and compact – what more could you want in a 21st century palm sized portable? Forget the alarm clock – there are 000s out there and many in charity shops for a few pence. As long as a new radio today is reasonably “future proof” and meets the tinkering about by the government driven desire to interfere with our beautiful (and most excellent) FM quality broadcasting system in the UK, then this is the piece of kit for me.
As this is a new “brand” for me, I hope that technically it is as reliable as it looks – most radios in the house seem to last for years and if like me, you use it more than the endless diet of MP3 tracks for “entertainment”, then this little beauty is likely to be in my house for a very very long time. Well done!
I bought the MOVE about 3 years ago. I am now looking to buy a replacement and will probably buy the same again, even after 3 new antennas and now sporting a black plastic front face since the original silver has peeled off along with some of the buttons. I am sure PURE could have done better on the build of this portable unit. That said I wil probably buy another one becuase of its good performance and fantastic battery life.