Full Review

11 August 2006 - Trying to offer something different from the standard kitchen radio, Intempo has taken to offering a personalised unit, but is it enough to stand out from the crowd?

On the surface, the Intempo PP01 DAB radio looks more like picture frame, complete with kickstand at the back than a music box capable of blasting out tunes.

That's because rather than just another speaker grill, the intempo digital PP01 comes with a couple of interchangeable covers in the box and the ability to order more via a website.

Additional speaker covers are only £14.99 and printing company, Mybiggerpicture.com offers a 3 day turn around. The beauty of course is that you can order as many as you like to suit your mood or your décor.

Speaker covers aside, the radio's main controls are all on the top and the radio offers six presets to save your favourite stations.

Sound is provided via the unit's 2 ultra-slim 2W Flat Panel NXT stereo speakers and overall, given this is a kitchen radio, the sound is pretty good if a little tinny.

Users can power the radio via either a internal battery that lasts up to 20 hours or run via a charger that's included in the box.

In use and the DAB element is easy to use, the auto tuning function finds all available stations and it's merely a case of clicking through to find the one you are looking for.

One problem we did experience was that the way the radio sits with the stand it is hard to see what is showing on the display, however if you find that you are a digital radio user that rarely strays from your six favourite pre-sets then this is unlikely to be an issue for you.

Once you get fed up with the radio, either DAB or FM you can use the PP01 with an MP3 player via its 3.5mm stereo line-in jack.

VERDICT
We would have liked to have seen a bigger aerial included to help pick up that still poor DAB radio signal around the UK, however the funky looking speakers make up for this.

And it's those speaker covers that are the main selling point. If you want to turn your radio into a picture then this is the way to go about it.