-- Steve Wright
　

Measuring 12 x 7 x 2 cm and weighing less than 200g, this palm-sized pocket portable radio Radioddity RF28 is the ideal traveling companion. The case is of good quality and does not look tacky or cheap. The buttons and switches are also of good quality. On Switch on, there is a clear backlit LCD display. By pressing the scan button, the radio will scan across the band (87.5 – 108 MHz) and memorize the stations received and store them in memory channels. It is also possible to make direct entry by keying in the actual frequency. The radio is sensitive and all stations were received without having to extend the antenna. Weaker stations would obviously benefit by doing so. The radio did not topple over when the antenna was extended and appeared quite stable.

The Audio from the speaker is striking in that it is crisp, clear and has a good dynamic range. It is not possible to drive the radio into distortion by turning up the volume too loud. The sound from this radio is impressive to say the least.

It is possible to insert a mini SD card containing MP3 files and play these on the radio. One can scroll through the contents of the SD card and select a file using the arrow buttons on the keypad of the radio. There is also a play and pause facility. Provision is also there for playing files from a flash drive. Whilst the file is playing the file number and name of the track will appear on the screen. There is also a frequency spectrum display which appears to give an accurate display of the audio being played.
　

The Radio is powered by a rechargeable Li-ion 3.7v 800mAH battery which, when fully charged, will give a good 6 hours of operation. The battery may be charged with a mini USB to USB lead which may plug into any standard 5V mobile phone charger or into the USB socket on the computer. The charging light shows red for charging, green for fully charged and may be used as a mini torch by pressing the appropriate button on the keypad.

In conclusion, this portable radio is excellent value at $19.99 purchased from radioddity.com. The sound is very impressive indeed. I would recommend this radio without hesitation.