Roberts Robi

Launch price £50.00

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Stuff says

Nothing wrong with what the Robi does, but it’s a little fiddly to use on the move

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For some reason, Apple has chosen to ignore the cries of iPod users who want an FM radio. Fortunately, the Queen’s preferred wireless brand, Roberts, has come up with the Robi, a DAB, RDS FM radio and remote control for the iPod Nano 2G and iPod 5G.

Despite clear indicators it should be pronounced ‘robbie’, we’re going with ‘roe-bye’ – it sounds more sophisticated. Like Intempo’s iDAB, the Robi’s dock connector plunges into the base of the iPod, at which point the Roberts logo pops up on the iPod screen and control (and power) is diverted to the Robi.

Handy extra buttons
It’s easy to use too. A ‘mode’ button flips between DAB radio, FM radio and iPod remote control fuctions. A point worth mentioning here is that when the Robi is in remote control mode, and playing music from your iPod, song titles are not shown on the Robi display. Shame.

Here’s a couple of redeeming features though. Firstly, a ‘favourite’ button that lets you mark your favourite stations and jump only between them with the skip button. Secondly, the ‘pause’ button works in both radio and music modes. It doesn’t pause the radio, just mutes it, but it’s welcome nonetheless.