Philips Clock Radio AJ3232B/79

Bad Experience – So hard to set up, absolutely ridiculous. Definitely would not recommend. Show details

Hopeless – Worst alarm clock I have ever bought. It is too difficult to set up the alarm and radio stations. I bought it because the display was large which is the only good feature about it that i can think of at this stage. I've had it for a month and still can't use it. I have basically given up and will try to buy another one, not this brand,that has a manual that's easier to follow. I thought Phillips was a brand you could rely on. Show details

Fine while it was working – The display is fine, sound is OK, and it's not too difficult to use. But after 3 months the sound started to drop out unpredictably for various intervals. It has got worse over time. I looked at the warranty info - I would have to jump through various hoops including perhaps mailing it back to the company. It just seemed to much hassle.

Cheap nasty clock radio – Husband bought me this as a present. I gather he didn’t read the reviews. My hates: doesn’t auto dim and it’s hard to find the dim button. The radio volume is either off or quite loud. No in between. It only does 24 hour time, no option to do 12 hour time. Sound quality too bad to listen to. Waste of money, I mostly hate it. Gets two stars due to nice large format time that’s well lit at night. Nice small footprint. Has backup battery.  Show details

Where are the speakers? – What does it sound like? does it have station pre-selects!? We bought a Sangean RCR-24 works well, the instructions are OK same as on-line but cannot set the radio to come on as and alarm! Show details

Poor clock radio – This clock has too many functions allocated to too few buttons. The simple turn on button leads to static. The box does not contain instructions you need to find instructions on the internet. I agree with all the other bad reviews Show details

Worst alarm clock I have ever bought – This alarm clock is so difficult to change times or set up the alarm. I hate daylight savings as I dread dealing with this clock Arrgghhhhhh. Also have the same problem with a power outages, I will be buying a new one next week and it will be a cheap simple to use and not a Phillips. What were you guys thinking When you created this monster.

Far too hard to use – I bought one radio 10 months ago, set it up, liked it a lot, bought another for the spare room ... then realised the downsides. I also agree with the bulk of reviews: it looks nice and the adjustable brightness is great. It is however ridiculously complicated and difficult to set (single use buttons would be a vast step forward). A particular… Read more

gripe is the ease of losing the selected station (ie returning from 101.3 to 88.1 FM) when trying to turn it off, by holding the button down for just the wrong amount of time. I have invested hours (truly) trying to set the pre-programmed stations but I've never managed to make that function work satisfactorily.

I would also prefer it if the alarm function radio remained on for an hour, but that's a minor gripe compared with the complexity and ease of inadvertently disrupting one's preferences issues.

To cap it off I paid NZD70 for the second radio - never again. I had so much respect for Philips electronics, but at a minimum I am reading reviews carefully before buying again.

Took it back after one day – + Nice big display that can be dimmed at night. - Display unfortunately constantly blinks which I found very irritating and made me return the clock after one night. Very difficult to set time and alarm. Only 12h clock.

Promotional products – I unfortunately will no longer purchase any Philips Products, due to their neglect of promotional material, namely cash back deals. Original Receipts are lost and customers told that a copy or originals were never received. Great way for Philips to turn a dollar at the expense of honest consumers. DON'T TRUST THEIR CASH BACK DEALS

PHILIPS AJ3232B Clock / Radio / Alarm – Seemed to be a logical answer as I had a Philips clock radio that was so easy to use and lasted for 15 years easily...that was the Philips AJ 3920. This current model, the AJ3232B, however is just rubbish. I agree with points in both Positive and Negative feedbacks I've read. Small footprint, larger numeral but doesn't light up the whole… Read more

room....GOOD points.

Extremely poor instructions, baffling control buttons, below average radio quality, an Alarm that is impossible to find any button to turn it off...and it gets louder and louder ...all TERRIBLE points.

I have to keep the whole thing turned off at the power point unless absolutely needed...so what's the point of having it.

I hate this clock radio so much.....What the hell was philips thinking to approve this rubbish.

Simple clock radio – This clock radio does what it says. I was concerned after reading reviews that I had bought a DUD (it was impulse buy). However, it was very easy to set up, as long as you read instructions for setting up alarm. No problems at all. Love the light settings. My last clock was like Blackpool Lights. Radio good and clear. Small footprint. Very Happy so Far. Will upgrade to 5 starts if it continues to be good.  Show 2 replies

Not a bad clock radio – Bought this clock yesterday, just for displaying time. Too hard to use? I'm pretty sure people who think it is never used digital clock radios before, or they're just lazy. Setting them all up is almost the same. I set the time in a minute. Only feature missing is a 24hr time. A bit pricey for what it is though...  Show reply

Great footprint and big numbers that don't light up room at night – I bought this clock after spotting it when looking for something else. I agree with most of the negative feedback. Instructions poor and buttons not logical - especially if you don't realize the radio has to be off if you need to set the time. And to turn the radio off you have to press the power button for a few seconds. I don't know about the… Read more

radio because I don't intend to use it. I got it for the small footprint and the large numbers. Traditional radio clocks take up too much space on a side table. This one is only a couple of inches deep. And the numbers are big so I don't have to find my reading glasses at night. And it dims right down so it doesn't light up the bedroom at night. So, Philips, I see you read these comments. Keep the shape of this clock. Just re-design the buttons, the operation and the instructions. You should be able to set the time if the radio is on. AND, the alarm buttons are way to small to find them to turn the alarm off. The Snooze button is big, but it is only for snooze. So if I can't find the alarm off button, and I only hit the snooze button, then while I'm down stairs getting ready to leave early, after 9 minutes, the alarm will be waking up the wife. But yes, I just bought it for the shape and the number size.

Worst Philips product ever – The ideas behind this product are great, but Philips should be ashamed to have their name associated with such a poorly-executed design. They should also be ashamed of the way they try to blame the user for all its shortcomings (example of this - the instructions tell you to move the product away from appliances that may be causing crackling in… Read more

the sound - what they don't tell you is that the product itself produces crackling, which makes it impossible to get rid of all crackling unless you have an extremely strong radio signal). Despite the promotional claims, this product is NOT easy to use, and it is NOT possible to work out how to set it up without referring constantly to the instructions - even then, you have to use trial-and-error to work out what the instructions really mean). The AM radio function provides extremely poor sound performance. Unless you have a VERY strong AM signal, there is continual crackling. As others have pointed out, if you set the alarm to radio, you cannot set the volume - it just keeps ramping up to the maximum possible. Philips could have done a much better job - I have proven this by replacing the Philips product with a very similar one made by Audiosonic (the K-Mart brand! - model CR-228PL). The cheaper K-Mart product does everything the Philips one does, and it does it much, much better (in the exact same location). There is NO crackling produced by the product itself, and unlike the Philips product, it is just a pleasure to use.

Too hard to use – I purchased the AJ3232B 6 days ago, I am an older person who has used computers at an advanced level. The settings are difficult to understand. The manual that was downloaded from the Philips site is not user friendly. This is not an easy to view, simple to use clock radio. The clock time display continually flashes, this is an annoying function. I have taken the clock radio back to Harvey Norman and they have provided a full refund.

Cannot set time – I have read the manual plenty of times and yet I follow the instructions, none of it happens, 2 seconds of pressing set time and some P02 shows up, I do not want P02, I want to set the bloody time, not some rubbish.

the worst – Received it as a present. I`ve only got a medical degree and the instructions way to hard for me. And the station preset does`t work. It`s going in the bin

Absolute RUBBISH – This product is neither user friendly or user responsive, it relies on multiple functions from every button and fails to do as commanded!! Avoid this product like the plague, we tried two and they were both the same - useless.

Incessant flashing lights – I only need this as a clock for grandchildren staying over so haven't tried alarm or radio - wish you could still buy just a simple alarm clock as I never use radio function!!! Mine came with no instructions but found them online & eventually managed to set time. Not happy about indicator lights flashing non-stop - hopefully kids won't think that's a problem

Good clock radio - meets my needs – Personally, I found this clock radio to be an excellent unit (but I seem to be in the minority). It is compact, well made and has very useful features. I had no trouble setting the time, alarm or radio stations. The ability to change the brightness is good and I actually like the gradually increasing alarm volume. I have my radio set to Classic… Read more ·  1

FM, so it's a peaceful way to wake up in the morning. The sound quality is also good for a clock radio.

The dual alarm is also handy as I can set one alarm for weekdays and the other for weekends if needed without having to reset it all the time.

Overall, I would recommend the Philips AJ3232B.

Wake up Philips – Rubbish as most of the reviews. Radio alarm just keeps getting louder and louder and cannot be adjusted. Wow that makes sense. Complex to use, needs to be dimmist to sleep at night then unreadable at day. Should of bought the lot cheaper alternative.

Design flaws – I bought this clock radio as it was the last model on the shelves. Now I know why. It has a very large display but the quick start guide is written in minute text. It has a sleep function but if you wake up in the middle of the night, the sleep button is hard to find, defaults to volume 7 which is very loud completely ignoring the volume setting i… Read more

left it on when I went to bed which was volume setting 2. The volume settin function is digital which means if one setting may be too louder and the next lower setting too soft—you can't adjust the volume setting continuously. The preset radio station function lists stations as P01, P02, P03 etc which means when you are scrolling through the stations to find the one you want you have to remember the P number the station is set too, rather than the station frequency number, which is cumbersome and non-intuitive. If you happen to prefer a 24 hour clock that's too bad—you're stuck with a 12 hour function. Setting up the radio is slow and cumbersome due to each button having two functions. The on switch is awkwardly placed, in the middle of the buttons, rather than at one end. Will be returning this clunker to the retailer.

Absolute rubbish – I bought a Philips AJ3232B/79 Digital dual alarm clock radio as a back-up when my Bush Horizon, at $88, clock radio also with dual alarm began failing to operate regularly after a couple of years use, so I have had first hand experience at comparing both radios. Anyone thinking of purchasing the el-cheapo Philips radio at $39 – DON'T WASTE… Read more

YOUR MONEY -- it is built to a price and very poor quality. I rate it as ZERO out of 5 stars. The Philips directions on setting up and use are as clear as mud.

I spent 2 hours trying to set up the time etc (The Bush radio sets it automatically. The stations and alarms are far simpler to set up, with the station description written across the bottom of the screen and the Bush option of setting the alarms once, weekly or days ahead) before I carefully placed my brand new Philips radio back in its box and dispatched it to the rubbish bin.

Shame Philips shame. I wish I had read previous reviews before wasting my meagre pension money on your sadly lacking radio

I'm an electronic technician and some spectrum network analysers are easier to use – The user interface on this is supremely poor to say the least. Intuitive - it should be, but is def. not.... Obviously designed to use the least amount of buttons possible. Radio sensitivity is very poor as has already been pointed out by the previous reviewer. OK for a clock if you don't want to touch it after you've set the time.... Built to a low price - stay away.

Extremely difficult to use - poor reception – We got the Philips AJ3232B/79 as a Christmas present to replace an old Panasonic clock radio that was scratched (by home alone dog). Firstly, it was difficult to select AM/FM - unless you know that FM stations have a "dot" in the signal number, you would not know whether you are on AM/FM. Secondly, strictly following the complicated instructions,… Read more

we could not change the hour but we could change the minutes. Thirdly, we live about 5 km "as the crow flies" from a strong AM station but it had constant static - very poor aerial internally and externally. There is nothing intuitive about the use of this clock radio - you could never put it in a motel/hotel room. I can see that this item is going to be a constant source of frustration. Think of how difficult digital watches are to set and you get an idea of how frustrating this product is. It is being used in the same spot as the old Panasonic that has good reception. I can change the time, alarm etc in seconds. The Philips AJ3232B/79 would make an excellent gift for someone you do not like and wanted to aggravate. It is back to the retailer on Monday to exchange for a new Panasonic. It does look good.

Whoever made puting a "Product, Service or Business Website Address compulsory, needs to take a holiday, preferably an very extended holiday.