After looking at and interacting with countless radios over the past few weeks I have come to a conclusion. Any product that is designed to make your life easier at the same time as pack a long list of features must be simplified for the user as much as possible especially in terms of the user interface.
For this reason one of the radios that get a spot on my shortlist of best Wi-Fi radio designs is the Grace Digital, Solo Touch™. This radio sports all the features that you could possibly want from an internet radio of today's standard and at the same time doesn't try too hard to stand out. In fact it is arguably one of the plainest designs I have seen in terms of a tabletop Wi-Fi radio.
This plain black box appeals to me because it has everything you need to function the device quickly and efficiently without thinking twice about what the controls do or where they are situated. It has ONE volume knob (As opposed to as many as 4) and a track scanning input directly above it so there is no confusion when you want to alter what you are listening to on the go.
What really caught my eye was the vertical line of buttons. They remind me of the layout of saved channel buttons in car dashboards for when you are quickly flipping through channels while weaving in and out of peak hour traffic. This to me is a great idea for when you are trying not to burn your stir fry in the kitchen or quickly navigating the tuner to ABC Classic instead of your other favorite death metal stations before bed. The touch screen is well placed and I think very appropriate for when you actually do want to delve deep into the device menus to change user settings or program channels as opposed to the instant action that the layout is so explicitly geared towards.
Overall it isn't much to look at and doesn't bring any radical changes to the table however does utilize some very neat and tidy quick access button configurations that I find to be unobtrusive and practical at the same time. I'd buy one!-Robert Schoch.
(If you are interested in the new Grace Digital range: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/30/grace-digital-adds-color-displays-on-new-solo-touch-bravado-x/)
I agree with what you said "pack a long list of features must be simplified for the user as much as possible especially in terms of the user interface."
ReplyDeleteI like this radio. All of the buttons are clear to be read, shape is as simple as it could be.
But one thing I don't like in this radio is that this radio is not distinctive. If I put this radio on shelve with other contemporary radios and look at them, I wouldn’t see differences between this radio and others. As now all designs follow the simplism, we do need something more