When we were first sent the new Sony ICF-CL75iP, the first impression was great, now we can compare it to the ICF-C8WM which we reviewed earlier, a few months ago. But if you read on, you’ll find that during the process of reviewing the ICF-CL75iP, we became increasingly aware that they’re in fact, not comparable. Even if you take away the obvious, that is that both devices support different music players.
Design
When we first unboxed the ICF-CL75iP, we thought it was pretty good at passing that high end ‘expensive’ product impression. Indeed, it isn’t a cheap clock radio, but for a product made by Sony, you do get the feeling that you’re getting what you paid for. Is it a digital picture frame? A clock radio? Or an iPod / iPhone dock? I have to say just looking at it, no one would know that its an iPod dock, as its dock is so well hidden. To us it felt like a digital picture frame, this is supported by that nice slim, slick body and a very vibrant seven inch WVGA display.
Its not too heavy, as opposed to what we said about the ICF-C8WM, we actually think if you were to travel abroad for example, the ICF-CL75iP would make a good companion as it is quite portable. We also felt that the ICF-CL75iP had a number of improvements over the ICF-C8WM, for example, it had fewer buttons and appeared to be much more organised, thus making it easier to grasp and learn. Also, there are no pesky buttons around the back, which was a design that we found inconvenient in the ICF-C8WM.
The snooze button is long and located at the very top of the clock, an obvious good choice of location for those mornings where you just don’t want to look!
What is around the back is the USB port and the memory card slot. It is arguable to some to have these located at the back but then again, you won’t be needing to use them daily would you? So we weren’t too unhappy about this.
Disappointingly, the ICF-CL75iP had a rather large and chunky power adapter which is not detachable. In addition, we were surprised to not find a remote control (was available in the more affordable ICF-C8WM), which meant all the functions and features described below rely on you being sat next to the clock as you would need to be able to press the buttons.
Unlike the ICF-C8WM, the ICF-CL75iP actually does have menus and an interface which you need to navigate around. Its such a shame that it wasn’t a touchscreen, you’d think it was one if we didn’t show you the buttons below it. Generally speaking, it was easy to use. We liked the way functions which were running in the background were indicated on the bottom left whereas connected devices such as USB sticks, memory cards, or iPod / iPhone were displayed at the bottom right.
As you will expect, you can change the time to be displayed in 12 hours or 24 hours formats, there are also plenty of settings which you can customise to suit your needs. In addition, you can change the background image of the clock to one fixed image or have it as a slideshow of all your images. However, its not possible to change the theme of the UI, but we’re not complaining too much there. We wouldn’t describe the UI as snappy, at times it did seem laggy to us, when you press on a function it doesn’t always pop right into it, but this was just on some occasions.
One last feature of note regarding the UI is the options button which you can press no matter what function you’re using. It comes up as a pop-up menu on the right. We found this to be quite handy, it gives you quick shortcuts to your alarms.
Music, Video and Photos
When you want to use these functions, you will notice, all three of them will first ask you where you want to access these files from. Sources can either be from the internal memory (built-in 1GB), memory card slot or the USB. You will notice that there isn’t an option for iPod / iPhone, as this comes under a separate function. The video player was basic but was adequately designed for watching clips and short videos, but its probably not the device you want for watching films, etc…
Browsing photos on the ICF-CL75iP was a pleasure, it gives relevant details on the photo and worked great with its high quality display. Annoyingly, as one of our readers who happens to have just bought one of these will know, its not possible to delete Sony’s default images, there are six of them. This means you’ll end up displaying someone else’s kid during an image slideshow, which is a very odd thing for Sony to do.
AM/FM Radio
The ICF-CL75iP’s radio function boasts 30 slots (20 for FM and 10 for AM) for your preset stations and has all the functions that you would need for a radio such as frequency scanning and the ability to set the radio station you want for your alarm, etc… We thought the ICF-CL75iP’s sound quality was considerably superior compared to the ICF-C8WM when we used the radio function. This could have been accounted for by the front stereo speaker equipped with 1W + 1W RMS output.
iPod and iPhone Docking
The iPod and iPhone docking functions stands out as a feature on its own, however, we didn’t feel there was a need to do this. It wasn’t different as such in any way, just that it accessed from a different source. You will notice that there is one thing missing, it seems the ICF-CL75iP won’t read your iPod or iPhone’s photos.
When your iPod or iPhone is docked, it will be charged by the ICF-CL75iP. Additionally, you will be able to browse your iPod using the ICF-CL75iP’s menu keys. You can of course also change tracks, control volume, etc…
Importing Data
You can use the import function to store your own images, music (AAC-LC / MPEG-3 / PCM) and videos (MP4, AVI) into its 1GB internal memory. You cannot however, import anything from your iPod or iPhone, that includes music, videos and photos. The only possible sources were memory card or USB.
Apart from the slight problem described above, generally the import feature was quite well designed. You can also select multiple files to import all at once, this was not within our expectations.
Making sure you get up!
There’s nothing worst than buying an alarm clock that won’t be able to wake you up in the morning for that important job interview. We think the ICF-CL75iP won’t give you that opportunity to make such an excuse. Sony has been clever like with the ICF-C8WM, in giving the ICF-CL75iP a backup battery supply so that if you run into blackouts after you’ve set your alarm while you’re asleep, you can be relieved that the alarm function will be retained and kept going. However, don’t overestimate this feature, as it does not mean you will still be able to see the clock running when your electricity is out, the backup battery is only for keeping your alarm going.
With the ICF-CL75iP, you get two alarms, as you will have seen in the previous photos, there is a button on either side of the display which act as a quick shortcut to these. As you can see, you can set the volume, date and the sound of the alarm. Alarm sounds available include literally everything, from radio to iPod and customised sounds you record for yourself using its built-in microphone, Sony really has made a lot of effort to ensure that you get up 
Conclusion
Overall, we felt the ICF-CL75iP was quite a sophisticated machine for an alarm clock, but when you think about it, it does a lot more than just radio and alarm. Therefore, for a pricetag of £120 – £150 (depending where you look), you could consider that Sony has put together an all in one digital picture frame, radio, alarm clock and iPod / iPhone charging dock premium product at a price which really isn’t too bad. We could have been harsh in criticising a lack of touchscreen but if it had a touchscreen, the ICF-CL75iP would not have been in this price range for a Sony product. As always, there will inevitably be downfalls, and for us it was definitely a lack of remote control and the inability to import from an iPod or an iPhone. Overall, we were quite impressed with the ICF-CL75iP, here’s a quick highlight of the good and the bad:
Pros:
- Good design, slick body and lighweight
- High quality WVGA display
- Good speaker quality
- Easy to use UI
- Multiple media source compatibility including memory card slot, USB port and iPod / iPhone dock
- Not only that you’ll be able to charge your iPod / iPhone, you can also use it to charge your USB gadgets!
- Good alarm features including numerous sound options
Cons:
- Bulky power adapter and non-detachable
- No remote control
- Does not import any media from iPod / iPhone
- Cannot access photos on iPod / iPhone
MERRY CHRISTMASS.
I REALLY WANT THIS ! PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Pros: Nice Display, good overall sound for what it is.
Cons: 1.Can’t get rid of stock photos (c’mon Sony, really?).
2.When you turn down the display at night to the low level (my GF doesn’t like light)the display automatically goes into super low light mode which would be ok but none of the controls work when it is in this mode…strange.
3.The alarm “buzzer” has no volume and is stupidly low, all the other alarm sounds/volumes you can adjust.
4.When the alarm goes off the display turns a very bright white/blue and does not go away even when you hit the snooze and the brightness can’t be adjusted. Think flashlight shining in your face bright. So bright my GF thought I turned on the light and it woke her up, which she didn’t appreciate.
In closing it is a nice unit but will probably have to take it back as there are just too many weird things with it. It is like the designers rushed it to market without anyone actually testing it for the purpose that it was designed for. It is a so so iPod dock but for the price it doesn’t excel at anything. Yes it sounds pretty good but so do other less expensive units. It really isn’t a good Electronic Frame because you can’t get rid of the stock pics. Etc. etc.
You can even watch YouTube on it with an iPhone/iPod touch.
Hi everyone, I too was concerned about the stock photos, I emailed sony and they have just emailed me back with the following instructions to turn them off and not display them on slideshow, although you can't delete them they will not be seen any more, not tried them yet but will do when I get home.
I have posted the page here for you to look at and see if it helps http://www.0-o-0.co.uk/ICF-CL70.pdf
Nice try, but sony's instructions don't help, as there is no "Pre-Installed Photos" option on my Photo Settings menu.
What version of the firmware do you have? IT’s available in 1.07.
does anyone know how to pull of the universal dock adapter?
I accidently attached the wrong adapter. please do help.thanks!
Hello mil001…I also had the same problem as well but if you look closelu you will see a slight slot in the docks that if you give it a genlte flick with a flat blade butter knife it will pop out…you will at closer look see the slot that you can with care remove it…please do not use force eith a bit of patience it will come free…
My iphone is not working on this device. The message: “This accessory is not made to work with Iphone” pops up. I can charge the iphone but not play the ipod or turn of the screen! HELP
My dream machine has the same problem.Hope some one can help me!
I've never updated my firmware, so I'm not sure if this issue has been fixed. But I've stumbled on a work around. Just make sure not to dock your iphone while the brightness is turned all the way down. If you dock the iphone while it's on full brightness it will recognize your iphone, otherwise it never registers. It's odd- but it was driving me crazy forever as well.
i popped into a sony shop to purchase this unit , but when i got a demo it seems this unit wouldnt play movies downloaded from the internet on my iphone, movies were in mp4 format, although it played sound, was the assistant doing anything wrong? michael.
I just picked up this unit. It's actually pretty nice. There is a new firmware update that addresses some freezing issues that it was having and also allows you to hide the default photos.
As for not playing video it does, but not in the intuitive way you would think. You have to go to the menu, select iPod/iPhone and then select video. At that point you have to start the video on your iPhone. It's more of a hassle than it needs to be, but it works and is easy to do.
I've played music, videos off my iPhone as well as imported photos into the unit from a memory card. Importing is a bit annoying since you can't select all of the items for import. You have to select them one at a time and it has a limit of 50 items per import. A simple select all and getting rid of the 50 limit would make this so much easier to use.
I do wish it has a few more display options. When you hit the “Display” button it cycles between 4 different modes. Full screen photo with the time in the lower right corner. (Wish is displayed date as well in this mode). 2nd mode is basically the What's playing screen which also has time only. 3rd mode is background photo (which can be slide show from internal mem) with a time and date readout as well as a bottom bar with what's playing. 4th is 1/4 size photo next to good size time and date with what's playing bar along the bottom.
If the large photo had a small time AND date in the corner with a What's playing bar along the bottom that would be great.
It does mute when a phone comes in, but as far as I can tell you have to use the phone to answer and you can't use the unit as a speakerphone which seems odd since it has a mic and speakers. Maybe next firmware?
Thanks for your comment Zin, really useful and I'm sure others here who have been thinking of buying the CL75iP will find it helpful!
nice review zin, im intrested in your comment about video replay on this unit! when i plugged my iphone into this unit it played back you tube video clips but wouldnt play back video downloaded from internet [mp4], can you just clarify how you got yours to work, so, its important to select ipod/iphone and then select video, and then playvideo on iphone in order for the unit to recognise the file? michael.
[...] be used along with iPhone and iPods have popped up. We’ve reviewed a rather popular choice of Sony iPhone / iPod dock in the past, but as you will be aware, the job of most of these devices is to enhance the daily [...]
what many may not have noticed, and what I noticed after 5 mins of playing with it after opening, is that NO you cannot delete the factory-installed pictures…..
BUT
you can have them removed from the slide show. Its in the general settings menu, under slide show/pictures?
Hi Nate, don't quote me on this but I believe the firmware update mentioned by Zin in the comment below will allow you to remove the default factory installed pictures.
Hi There
Do you know where I go or how to complete the firmware update. My clock is frozen in time!
cheers
janiene
Hi Nate, don't quote me on this but I believe the firmware update mentioned by Zin in the comment below will allow you to remove the default factory installed pictures.
Has anyone had the problem with the alarm? Sometimes it goes off and sometimes it doesn't. It's set properly and I can see it but it doesn't go off!
Very frustrating!
I can't get the iPod/iPhone button on the far right of the unit to actually do anything. advice?
Disapointed that as a bedside multifunctional 'can't sleep need individual personal music etc', no provision for earphones.
The radio has failed to work,any alarm set for radio,defaults to buzzer.
Unless I disconnect from main supply,effectively resetting the unit and requiring reset of date and time,the radio cannot be made to work.
After resetting, the unit does not maintain the tuned stations and again the radio does not work.
Don not buy this, spend youe money on a different product, THIS UNIT WILL MALFUNCTION. i have updated my unit each time a new firmware comes out and still have to same problem ans sont will not stand by this product, it has a 90 day warrenty. do your research, you will see alot of other people are having the same problem. i have 1.06 and it is still malfuctioning.
I have a Sony Dream Machine, but mine looks nothing like that touchscreen one.. it’s slanted, rectangular in shape with rounded edges.. Anyways, I haven’t even used it extensively recently (probably has been.. 2 weeks) but I attempted to last night and the sound doesn’t work! The volume is all the way up, and it won’t play radio, alarm, or my iPod. Someone help!! I hope it isn’t broken. :[
I bought this last year and I loved it. However, it would freeze up periodically and I would have to unplug it and replug it to reset it. But then after a couple of months, it just stopped working altogether (wouldn’t power on at all) and I ultimately had to throw it away. I never updated it with firmare so Im not sure if that wouldve saved it.
Ive been very real tempted to buy another one but I don’t know. I can’t find another product as good as this one.
Hello, i feel that i saw you visited my website thus i came to ?go back the desire?.I’m attempting to in finding things to enhance my site!I assume its adequate to use a few of your ideas!!