Football season is upon us. It’s time to raid Sainsbury’s for Carling, ignore your wives and children and hysterically scream “THE REFEREE’S A BANKER!” Though why people insist on shouting such an obvious lie is beyond us — referees are professional now, they don’t have other jobs any more. Dumbasses.
Anyway, if you’re lucky enough not to have to sit at home watching the game in glorious hi-def, with your feet up, sitting in an comfortable armchair in a centrally heated home, you may want a little radio friend to help you keep up-to-date with other games happening in stadiums across the land. We’ve got some Premier League digital radios for you to fantasise over, starting with one from British DAB wizards PURE Digital.
PURE’s Move is a delightful bit of kit. We had all kinds of fun with this portable gem and for just £89, you’ll have plenty of money left over for fish and chips. It’s got a great little screen, build quality that’d withstand a hooligan’s headbutt and plenty of battery life to boot. You won’t be disappointed with the Move’s performance, though without any splash proofing it’s vulnerable to spilled lager.
Our next prime fillet of radio steak is the Philips DA1000. This simple little system will slide into your official club anorak without complaints. Although the battery life is shorter than we’d usually like, it’ll keep pumping long after the match is over. If you’re able to brown-nose your way into the VIP box though, a quick recharge will sort you out.
Our third choice is another PURE Digital model, the Oasis. This weatherproof beast is rather large, so you might want to take it with you if you can’t make the match, but it will withstand anything the heavens (or Millwall fans) can throw at it. Its battery life will keep going longer than any penalty shoot-out — 15 hours. It’s got a sturdy build-quality and a great speaker. Plus — and we admit this is a little superficial of us — the knobs on this guy are very satisfying to twiddle. Yeah, we said ‘twiddle’, so what?
Finally, we must mention that Cowon’s excellent D2 MP3 player is about to be released and has a DAB radio built in. More news on this as we get it, but you can certainly expect a review as soon as we can possibly produce one. For more footie-related japery, check out our guides to mobile services, big cheap TVs and fantasy football online. -Nate Lanxon