Pure Twilight November 2010

The Pure Twilight is a bedside radio with plenty of whistles and bells. You can wake up to a whole host of sounds and colours as well as listening to your favourite FM and DAB stations. We gave one a quick try at the launch to show you what it can do.

Pure Sounds

It's a bedside radio and lamp all in one, but that's not to say you couldn't use it elsewhere in the house if you wanted to. The lamp can be used independently of the radio and vice versa. 

It comes with 'Pure Sounds' hardwired in - it's a library of sounds including church bells, wind chimes and a cockerel - not that you'd want to listen to the latter continually. As well as Pure Sounds you have the option to listen to DAB or FM radio, lullabies or play music from your MP3 player. 

MP3 players, including iPhones and iPods, can be played through the Twilight via the 3.5mm auxiliary input. The Twilight also sports a USB Powerport. Powerport accessories - including a powered fan - can be attached to the USB Powerport, but perhaps more usefully, you can use it to connect your phone charger. So, if your phone supports it, you could charge your phone via Powerport and listen via the aux input at the same time. 

Twilight's light

The lamp uses LEDs to keep energy use to a minimum - they also provide versatility to light your room in a whole host of colours, depending on your mood. Using the mood control you can cycle thorough different colours and programme your favourite as a preset. 

There are additional set 'moods' you can select from, including 'Ocean', which graduates thorough blues and greens. You can take this a step further and select a complementing sound from the Pure Sounds menu - so you can listen to the sound of crashing waves at the same time.

The lamp is touch sensitive, so you can switch it on and off or adjust the brightness simply by touching the top of it - see it in action in our video. Alternatively, if you just want white light, pressing the 'daylight' button turns the lamp on to the last used white light setting. 

Bedside radio features

The Pure Twilight has four programmable alarms - so you can set different alarms for different days without having to reset one for the weekend if you want a bit of a lie-in. The touch-sensitive light on top of the radio doubles as a snooze button and the radio also has a sleep timer.

You can wake to different sounds or inputs, so the radio station you listen to as your drift off to sleep can be different - and at a different volume - from the one you wake up to.

As well as using the lamp as a reading light, you can also set it to be activated by the alarm. You set the lamp to brighten gradually over a programmed period of time prior to the alarm going off - creating an 'artificial dawn' in your bedroom. Likewise, you can use the sleep timer to gradually dim the light at night. 

Although it's a rather nice piece of kit we felt there were a few minor disappointments with the Twilight as a bedside radio. There's no nap timer - you can snooze the radio after an alarm goes off, but if you just want a nap with a wake-up call in an hour's time you have to programme an alarm. When programming alarms you have to proceed through a number of screens to select options such as time, frequency of alarms, audio source and lighting settings.

The buttons are on the front of the radio - pressing them caused the radio to move on the bedside table sometimes. However, putting your hand round the back of the speaker and operating the contorls with your thumb gives you something to push against and helps to overcome the problem. The buttons are also very flat making them tricky to find in the dark, or with your eyes closed. You'd probably become accustomed to where particular buttons are over time though. 

You can adjust the colour and brightness of the Pure Twilight's light

Children's radio 

Twilight is also designed to suit the nursery or a child's bedroom, including lullabies in the audio menu. The lamp can act as a night light - handy if your child is afraid of the dark. You don't have to have the radio on or any sounds in order to use the light, so you can use the sleep function to fade the lamp over a period of time as your child drifts off to sleep. 

It's easy to turn the light on with a swift touch. It'll come on at the brightness level last used, so if you're just checking on your child before you head to bed, there's no need to be blinded by the bedroom light if you don't have dimmer switches. 

Using the Pure Twilight

Considering the number of functions on this radio, it's not too difficult to use. We didn't become experts within the first few minutes, but it's not hard to find what you're looking for through trial and error - and of course, reading the instruction manual will help.

The display is based on that of the Pure Evoke Flow and Pure Oasis Flow. It has very similar functionality - with three touch-sensitive buttons at the base of the screen - and the menu system is similar. However, unlike those two, this is not an internet radio. Flicking between using touch-sensitive controls and buttons can sometimes be a bit confusing, but you'll quickly get use to it. 

The radio sounds reasonable enough for a bedside radio, but we'll have to wait until it goes through our lab tests before we can say how it really compares with other radios. Like many bedside radios, it has a wire aerial, which is a shame as they're more difficult to position that a telescopic aerial to get good reception.

Overall, it's a pretty package. The smooth semi-elliptical shape and design of the radio has real appeal. It cries out to be left on show unlike many bedside radios which, although functional, might not match your bedroom style. 

Pros: Touch sensitive dimmable light, plenty of sound and light options, 4 alarms, Powerport and aux input.

Cons: Wire aerial, navigation of menus can take some getting used to, need to support the radio when pressing buttons, small display