iPhone Accessories Canada

The holiday season is close, the season expected not only by everyone who wants to have a blast, but also by manufacturers, who are hopping for improved sales. However, some manufacturers are not going to reduce price tags this year. Even worse, prepare to see bigger price tags to their products. How and why, you may ask. The answer is quite simple in terms of management. Let's take Sony for instance. Its iPod and iPhone accessories are almost out of stock, within every line, headsets, music systems, and clocks and radios.

This is only a strategy, since Sony is preparing to release new products, close to the shopping time, with a higher price tag. Even more, you aren't going to get improved accessories for your iPod touch and iPhone, at best their only going to be redesigned (this "more expensive within the shopping season" phenomenon is already happening in several smaller countries). Even more, to prove it, just go online on Sony's web site SonyStyle.com, and see for yourself that Sony is offering products on sale, that are out of stock and the "sales" are non existing. For instance one of the few remaining products on stock, the CD Clock Radio for iPod and iPhone, had a price tag of $99.99, and the new sale price is $99.99. You might find it even more surprising that the only product with a diminished price tag is HD Radio with Dock for iPod and iPhone, from $179.99 to $159.99.

This product is also on stock. Therefore, if you are interested in buying a clock radio system for your iPod and iPhone you have to choose between HD Radio with Dock for iPod and iPhone (with XDR S10 HDiP code), and CD Clock Radio for iPod and iPhone (model number ICF CD3 iPSIL). The first product is normal radio with dock for your Apple device. The only high light is the high definition Radio. In terms of design, the HD Radio with Dock for iPod and iPhone looks nice, not great, but nice. It sports a nice design with curves. The predominant color is black. The cylinder form format is really interesting. All the side length (since we are talking about cylinder) is made out of a coverer material (black) for the speaker. By doing so, Sony added continuity to the design of this product.

The upper part and bottom part are made out of plastic black material (nice at touch, non glossy); with the only special finish being the white iPod and iPhone dock on the center of the top side. With a height of 4 ¾ inches, wide of 11 7/8 inches, deep of 6 ¾ inches, this gadget weights about 7 lb 15.8 oz or 3.6 Kg. Sony included in the "front" side of this HD Radio a backlit LCD Display, with excellent brightness, display mode and contrast. Since this is a Radio speaker system, you get about 20 FM entries available and 20 AM entries available, sporting the High Fidelity AM / FM / HD Radio technology. The HD Radio is free of charge, so you don't get extra monthly charges like the satellite radio. The integrated sound system is really good offering nice quality sound with Bass reflex sound.

The speaker has a 6.6 cm diameter or 2 5/8 inches diameter, with a 4 ohm 2.6 inches stereo speaker range and cancel magnet system. The physical output power is 2 x 2.8 Watts. The HD Radio with Dock for iPod and iPhone is easy to use in any everyday activity rooms, bedroom, living room, and from what Sony believes in kitchen room (not recommended with the steam from the cooking might just make this speaker gross since it is hard to clean). The retail box is a nice surprise including beside the actual product the wireless remote control, AM loop antenna, FM wire antenna, FM dipole antenna, and Audio connecting cable. For a price tag of $159.99 you can certainly find better products.

Don't get me wrong, if you like this HD Radio compatible with iPod and iPhone then you should by it since it sports nice features, good retail package and a solid build quality, but price is too high for what this product has to offer. The second clock radio for iPod and iPhone is the ICF CD3 iPSIL also known as CD Clock Radio for iPod and iPhone. This product is compatible with all iPod models and iPhone generations. Its design is truly unique, with the round look, silver form factor, and black stand (including the dock). A truly nice feature is the sliding dock. Therefore when you have no iPod or iPhone connected just slide inside the dock, making the design even nicer looking. In comparison with the first product on this article, this gadget certainly sports a more modern design.

The ICF CD3 iPSIL not only looks nice, but it also sports a solid build quality, since this is a Sony product. With a height of 145 mm, wide of 152.8 mm, deep of 116.2 mm, this product weights about 2.8 lbs or 1.27 Kg. The front cover of this gadget sports beside the LCD display (digital time display), four buttons, CD button (with play and pause function), iPod key (with play and pause function), Radio Memory, and Off (with stop function) key. Even so, all the functions are available using the remote control (with full control over the menu and music). In the alarm mode you will find multiple alarm modes such as favorite music (from iPod, CD, or iPhone), or maybe your favorite radio station. You can easily chose the alarm volume yourself or just select a preset one. Also you get a dual alarm feature which works with iPod, or iPhone, CD, or radio, with one of the following modes, 2 days, 5 days, or even 7 days.

The audio department is well ensured by good features such as full iPod compatibility (regarding both audio compatibility, and all iPod models with dock connector - iPod touch all generations, iPod classic, iPod nano), iPhone compatibility (all iPhone generations with the supported audio files), CD (with CD - R and CD - RW). The frequency range for the FM radio is located from the lower 87.5 MHz to the higher 108 MHz, while the AM radio frequency is located between 530 kHz and 1710 kHz (excellent for anyone who lives within mountains range). The speaker output is as expected not very powerful with only 2 x 0.8 Watts.

A nice feature offered by ICF CD3 iPSIL is the possibility of connecting other digital music players using the line in jack. Overall, the CD Clock Radio for iPod and iPhone is truly a good product, with a nice design, solid build, fully compatible with iPod and iPhone. However, there are some drawbacks such as the basic retail box, very Spartan from Sony to deliver only a back up battery and instruction manual within the retail package of this gadget. Even more, Sony shouldn't have made such a big mistake with the sale prices, which are basically the same as the old prices. For the time being, time is not an issue when it comes to Christmas present. Therefore, wait a couple of weeks to see if Sony will actually diminish the price tags of these iPod and iPhone accessories, or maybe it will introduce new products.