iHome iP47 Bluetooth Clock Radio for iPod iPhone Black

Jun
24

iHome iP47 Bluetooth Clock Radio for iPod iPhone Black

iHome iP47 Bluetooth Clock Radio for iPod iPhone Black

iHome wireless Bluetooth enabled iPhone/iPod Alarm Clock Radio and speakerphone with presets

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great Interference Free Speakers and Radio for iPhone
Positive: Interference free iPhone usage and great ergonomics

Negative: Needs more phone features

I purchased this for 4 reasons:

1. No interference from iPhone while listening to iPod function

2. No interference from iPhone while listening to AM/FM radio

3. Charging dock for iPhone while I’m at the office.

4. Bluetooth speakerphone which allows me to answer and make calls while leaving the iPhone in the dock

So how well does it do?

Regarding reasons 1 and 2 above, the iP47 works flawlessly. I have had absolutely no noises while my iPhone was docked or residing near it in the regular phone mode. I don’t hear any hiss, hum, pops or clicks. The speakers are excellent for spoken words such as podcasts and AM talk radio. The speakers are decent with great volume for music and FM radio. If you’re a big podcast fan, I strongly recommend the iP47. The AM/FM radios include a small AM loop with stand (1.5′ of cord) and FM cord (3′). The reception is good as I have a history of bad reception in my office building.

Regarding reason 3, the dock came with a variety of bases for the iPhone and other iPod devices. It is easy to move the iPhone in and out of the dock. Unfortunately, the dock is at the top, so there isn’t any backstop for the iPhone. I was concerned about this since you lightly push on the phone to change settings while it is in the dock. My concern was that either the dock or phone might get stress damage by pushing on the phone while it’s in the dock. The buttons on the iP47 and on the remote control help to prevent the need to touch the phone, but they don’t completely replace it. One big plus is that the phone can make and receive calls without losing your place on the iPod or other Apps on the phone.

Regarding reason 4, this was really an afterthought when I was comparing this device with others. I really like the fact that I didn’t have to remove the phone from the device to make and receive calls. The speakerphone works great when you use a regular speaking voice and you are 9″ to 2.5′ from the iP47. Both the iP47 and the remote have dialing capability; however, I was disappointed that it didn’t include basic phone features such as last number redial and storage of 10 frequently called numbers. To make a call, you either have to enter the phone number by hand (not my preferred alternative now that everybody has some many numbers) or use the iPhone touch screen while in the dock (see my comments above).Since the iP47 uses Bluetooth, the iPhone doesn’t have to sit in the dock to use the speakerphone capability. In the final analysis, I really like this feature and I’m glad that I spent more $$ to get this unique capability.

Other comments: I didn’t buy this phone for the alarm clock, but that seems to be standard if you want an AM/FM radio and iPod/iPhone dock. However, it does have a couple of great features including a 4 position dimmer (including no light) and 2 alarms (one iPod and one radio). It doesn’t have the 2-5-7 day feature that I use for my home alarm clock, but it is very easy to turn off and on. I also like the day light savings time adjustment which is a simple on/off switch on the back. The iP47 has an input jack, but I haven’t tried that. All in all, this is a great device. I wouldn’t have paid full retail for it, but I got a great deal from an Amazon.com merchant.

3 Stars Would have been perfect EXCEPT…
This would have been the perfect ipod/phone/clock radio for my husband EXCEPT that none of the buttons are back lit so you can’t see them at night. He tried adjusting the screen but it was either way too bright or way too dark to be able to see the buttons to turn the alarm on or off. If they come out with a new model with lit buttons, we’ll definitely buy it.

1 Star iHome clock radio
Item received was obviously used, not new as advertised. Sent back to company. They refunded money without delay.

3 Stars amazing Bluetooth device for iPhone, BUT……
Bought it from apple store. Expensive than buying it from Amazon. Clock is easy to read with two brightness setting. Clock was perfectly adjusted once plugged. Sound quality is good but not the best. FM radio is easy to setup. Haven’t tried the AM yet. Needs to hook antenna to it which I haven’t done yet. Two alarm setting with different options to choose radio, ipod or snoozing. Adjusting the alarm clocks are not user friendly at all. Buttons are not lighted at night that make seeing the buttons impossible. But it’s easy to figure where is the Talk button if you need to answer a phone call while asleep. Setting up the iphone for bluetooth connection is not a straight forward job. It took me three times of trying until it paired. Once paired, it will work fine until you go outside with your car and hook another bluetooth device. It get confused, and sometimes you loose the automatic reconnection. This means repeating the process of pairing again. To get away from this annoying problem, I turn off my car bluetooth device way before reaching my garage. Sound quality is always great, clear, and crisp. You need to be about 1-2 feet near the device so the recipient will be able to hear you clearly. There is no place on the ihome that tells you where is the microphone located. Now I do not need to carry my phone on me all the time, although i need to keep it next to me so I can know who is calling. The caller ID of ihome gives you the numbers only, no NAME. With iphone next to you, you will be able to see the PICTURE too of who is calling. Ipod functions works great with the regular ipod, not the one built in the iphone especially the remote control. With iphone in the docking station, it gives you a A2DP bluetooth failure because iphone doesn’t have this option. Changing the MODE into ipod will fix this problem. the remote control will work perfectly for 2 minutes then it stops from functioning to change songs. I searched the internet, changed the lock time on the iphone with no success. I contacted ihome company, with no solution to this problem at this time. Wait for firmware update. The remote control and iphone worked with me perfectly once for hours. You can try it but it is not convenient at all. This will work if you have iPod in the house. Keep the ipod in the docking station to play the music. the iphone is already hooked by bluetooth. Make a phone call from the ihome. then remove the ipod and dock your iphone. only at this time, no error message when you dock your iphone (it always appear). use your remote control for hours without any interruption. I tried it twice and it is working, but I think I will never do it again. Annoying.

In general, this is an amazing device, needs fine tuning to be perfect. Hopefully with the firmware update of ihome things will get better.

1 Star Doesn’t live up to what it advertises
So I bought the iHome IP47 model so that I could charge my iPhone while listening to music at night. I was also looking at something that would wake me up in the morning–this model boasted 2 alarms. And what edged me to buying the IP47 rather than the IP9 or IP99 was that this allowed you answer your phone while still docked. As I don’t have a landline, I liked this idea, even if it cost me some extra bucks.

So… getting this home and setting it all up, I was mighty disappointed that the sleep function didn’t really work. Yeah, after 15-30-60-120 minutes the sound tapered into silence BUT my iPod portion was STILL going! Ha! All it did was turn the sound off!

Secondly, I could never get the one alarm that is supposed to trigger the iPod to work. It always defaulted to the buzzer. I was also disappointed to find that the other alarm was set to trigger only the radio–I couldn’t choose iPod for that one too.

Thirdly, the nice bonus of a remote to adjust your volume, advance to the next song, etc. was a nice idea, but not an actuality. The advance to the next song feature worked directly after first docking the iPhone with the iPod already playing, but the feature stopped working after a minute or two. Volume still worked, as did the ability to pause or switch to radio.

Fourthly, the Bluetooth to connect my iPhone so that you can use the phone function part of the iHome IP47 only worked some of the time. Even when docked, it sometimes would lose the signal.

And lastly, the thing that bugged me the most and decided me against even exchanging the IP47 for either a IP9 or IP99–which were basically the same thing but without the Bluetooth phone feature–was the docking station. It was very precarious setup and, as I had to touch the iPhone screen sometimes since my remote wouldn’t work, pushing buttons also pushed the whole phone, making me wonder how long it would take to ruin my iPhone.

So I returned the iHome — period… no exchange. The people at Apple didn’t even ask *why* I was returning it. (I wonder if that’s telling.)

In the end, I bought a Sony Speaker Dock and Alarm Clock Radio that works with the iPhone. (I’d give it 4 1/2 stars)

* Sleep function that really works (turns your iPod off)… check

* Remote that actually works… check

* Remote that allows you to move OUT of the playlist and into another… double-check! (iHome doesn’t do this at all!)

* 2 Alarms where both allow you decide what you want to wake to… check

* Dock that has a backstop to hold your phone securely (and recharges your phone too)… check!

* Able to answer phone while docked… well, no, but not missing it

* Sound quality… check–about the same as the iHome

* Right price… check–about the same as the iHome IP9.

Bottom line: I recommend AGAINST the IP47–not worth the money–even if it was half the price. Think twice about the other iHomes, as well, considering the docking strategy Apple uses for them.

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