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Sony AM/FM ICF-620R Card Radio

So I’ve finally gotten some time to unbox some of the trinkets and stuff I’ve gotten from Japan. Most of them are Apple accessories but this AM/FM pocket radio from Sony looked nifty.

There were actually 2 variants when I first saw this — one is just an AM Tuner and this other one which is an AM/FM Tuner.

Yugatech 728x90 Reno7 Series

The AM Radio Card costs about 3,000 yen while the AM/FM Radio Card like this one is 5,500 yen. I got the latter with a painting of Mt. Fuji on the cover. Other designs cost a bit more (6,000 yen).

The radio card is sized similar to a credit card and is just a couple of millimeters thin. The controls are placed on the side and the back. Tuning is done manually via a serrated dial, much like your regular analog radio.

It also comes with a pull-out earphone that’s tucked on the side. I was actually expecting a 3.5mm audio jack but there’s none so you’re stuck with the built-in earphone.

Another shortcoming (depending on how your look at it) is that the battery used by the unit is the disposable type. It would have been nice if they included a rechargeable Li-Ion instead but I guess that would take up more space again.

Bets thing about this card radio is the thin and light form factor and the very long battery life — 55 hours on FM and 120 hours on AM. Best for when you’re on long trips or traveling to places with limited or no electricity. IMO, it’s also a nice item for gifting this Christmas.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

15 Responses

  1. Avatar for Nicky Nicky says:

    My Mum would like to buy this radio but can’t seem to find it anywhere. Any idea where I can buy one? It’s a very old product!
    Thanks,
    Nicky

  2. Avatar for Vincent Linsangan Maldia Vincent Linsangan Maldia says:

    disposable batts? what kind? coin type? button type? AAA?

  3. Avatar for Roy Roy says:

    @jdm

    Yuga probably only listens to station frequencies no higher than Magic’s 89.9 MHz other wise he wouldn’t have much use for the FM band, am I right old man Yuga?

  4. Avatar for mr.bogus mr.bogus says:

    pass!!

  5. Avatar for chacha chacha says:

    by the way Sony is merging PSP into their phone…

    http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/03/playstation-phone-zeus-z1-caught-on-video-again-this-time-you?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_engadget

  6. Avatar for berkano berkano says:

    HOLY COW…

    that’s what I want for Christmas. Seriously.

  7. Avatar for cha cha says:

    i have something similar, Aiwa brand
    its smaller than this and thickness is about the human finger, has a headset jack. buhay pa sya and works on 1 AAA battery. its good to have it especially when ur ipod doesn’t have that radio attachment.
    its working well and owned it for 16 yrs na.
    very cool

  8. Avatar for chacha chacha says:

    i have a similar Sony radio, but it uses triple A batteries, i hope 5th avenue sells something like this again, my fellow officemates want it too.

    this is what im talking about:
    [IMG]http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSZMj3sAt24z_OBlG7EFnaU16vLhjZ2SqwKWAIlgACjy2jgTYdd[IMG]

  9. Avatar for Ornacle Ornacle says:

    Wow this would be a perfect gift for my 88 yrs. old grandmother

  10. Avatar for awesome21 awesome21 says:

    available po ba locally?

    and to agree with sir jdm, yung radio galing japan, 3 fm stations lang yung nasasagap eh.

  11. Avatar for jdm jdm says:

    pano frequency? japan diba uses lower frequency channel ranges?

    ganun kasi headunits (car audio) di compatible. only selected stations lang.

  12. Avatar for rene rene says:

    I had this wy back in the 80’s a cool gadget used it in EDSA 1.

  13. Avatar for mary mary says:

    It looks cute! :)

    @Zoi
    55 hours for FM seems like a long time for me. I don’t think phones will last that long when playing FM (and phones don’t have AM). This conclusion is completely justified:
    “Best for when you’re on long trips or traveling to places with limited or no electricity”
    Plus it’s just around 1,500-2,500Php. Might be a good gift if you have friends in the research field (specially biologists or energy or envt’l engineers).

  14. Avatar for Zoi Zoi says:

    The batteries last for 2 days and some change. Pathetic. Lol.

  15. Avatar for Dante Dante says:

    Cool gadget!!

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