Kapo Super Monkie radio

Kapo? In the Chinese dialect, it would indicate the act of stealing, but if you had asked us a few weeks back, we would have told you that it's probably more akin to a kleptomaniac primate. And judging by our editor's constant reminders (stop hugging that monkey!), we reckon this little pink thing is good at stealing time from work besides being a blaring radio.

Design
Not just a soft toy, the Kapo Super Monkie radio is a fully functional FM receiver. Shaped like a monkey's head, this device measures roughly around 433mm from ear to ear. And at 410g, it is certainly no heavier than the average teddy bear.

	Pink pointy bits

We are quite amused by the fact that the designers have sewn the controls for the radio into the facial features of a primate, though admittedly, the physical interface is pretty basic. The three strands of hair house the functions for On/Off, Scan and Reset, which makes one wonder whether if more features might have been included if the Kapo radio had not been afflicted with premature baldness.

The two ears appropriately serve as the volume controls, with the larger ear for volume increase and vice versa for the smaller one. Though tactile feedback felt good initially, with the clickable buttons embedded within the stuffing, we garnered sluggish response from the Scan button after long-term use.

Features
Besides basic radio scanning, the Kapo radio does not come equipped with any display; quite a downer since we would never be really sure which station we are at (till the DJ announces it). Presetting of stations is also not possible on this radio.

The Kapo radio runs on two AAA-sized batteries, with the battery compartment hidden neatly at the back of the device. As a personal radio, it would have been useful if a earphone jack was made available.

Performance
With the speaker hidden beneath the stuffing, we were surprised that the audio signal came through without sounding muffled. Radio reception was also pretty good with relatively good signals coming through even from within a building.

However, we did notice a slight anomaly with the scanning function which failed to loop back to the beginning of the FM spectrum after it had reached the last radio station. In order to remedy it, it was necessary to turn off and on the device to start scanning from the beginning.

• Most Popular

• Upcoming

Latest Downloads

What's Hot