Radio is just becoming dime a dozen, with models now hitting the market at $89. But the big question is what do you use a radio for: cricket, background music or the chat shows? One of the leaders in the market, Pure, have delivered a new model that is waterproof and can be used in a multitude of environments: from the garage to the beach. It would also look good on the kitchen bench.
 Click to enlarge |
What’s different about this device is that it comes in a ruggedized case and it’s stylish with a silver, white and black case that stands up and provides easy access to the two knobs (one for adjusting volume and one for changing stations or browsing through the menus) and power button.
The OLED display has three touch-sensitive buttons and displays the station, signal strength, volume, time and other useful information such as the current name of the song and the artist.
The unit automatically scanned for available digital radio stations and the audio quality was fairly average. It can get loud although it starts getting muddy at about 50 per cent volume, so we recommend users to just keep it below that or place the Flow closer to you.
 Click to enlarge |
In addition to digital radio, the Oasis Flow also has some neat feature found on other high-end DAB+ radios. It is Wi-Fi enabled which allowed us to connect our Oasis Flow online by selecting our secure network from a list and keying in the password using the knob.
From there we were able to access audio files stored on media servers as well as Internet radio stations via Pure’s The Lounge. We recommend users to register at www.thelounge.com to gain access to advanced features, although this is entirely optional. Users can immediately use The Lounge and listen to Internet radio stations. Stations can be searched according to Name, Genre, Language, Country and even Quality.
Audio can also be streamed wirelessly and the Flow supports WMA (Standard V9), AAC, MP3, MP2, and Real Audio (cook) files. iPods and other portable audio players can be listened to using the aux-in port.
The Flow’s ports have rubber seals to prevent moisture from getting into the circuitry. In addition, it even comes with an integrated ChargePAK battery allowing you to bring it outdoors and listen to your favourite music. The battery lasts up to 10 hours but it entirely depends what you are going to listen to.
The Pure Oasis Flow is available now for $399.
