First look: iHome iH5 speakers

Waking up to the dulcet tones of your favourite radio presenter is like having that first cup of coffee. It's part of the morning ritual.

However, with the world and his dog now owning an iPod, it was only a matter of time before someone came up with an iPod clock radio.

The iHome iH5 was last year's biggest-selling iPod accessory in the US, shifting over one million units in the first six months. And now we've had the chance to see one.

Designed in either glossy black or iPod white, the iHome iH5 is small enough to fit under a bedside light and has a top-mounted docking port for third and fourth generation iPods and the iPod Nano.

Like the majority of clock radios, it will tune into both FM and AM signals - and we're told a DAB version is in the pipeline. It has a big, illuminated, brightness-adjustable clock on its front.

It weighs a hefty 2.5kg and has its snooze button positioned on the front, which should be an easy target for the half-asleep hand whack.

When an alarm is set – using the front keys and a big iPod-esque dial – the iHome iH5 will activate the radio, a buzzer or - providing it's docked - any tune from the iPod.

You can set what tune you'd like to hear the night before and the iHome iH5 will gradually increase the volume when it's time to get out of bed. Pressing the snooze button pauses the iPod and gently raises the volume after five minutes.

In our demonstration, the 6W RMS stereo speakers sounded reasonable and were about what you'd expect for a beside radio costing £100.

When the volume was cranked up we noticed a slight degradation in sound quality, but it's unlikely you'll have it this loud when morning has broken.

The iHome iH5 comes with a remote control that has buttons for snooze, volume switching between radio and iPod. It will also skip iPod tracks one at a time, but you can't access playlists or artist names.

The iHome iH5 is mains powered but two AA batteries can fit into its underside to prevent the clock switching off if there's a power cut. In this case the alarm will switch to buzzer.

There're also line-in and line-out sockets on the back but external peripherals can't be used in conjunction with the alarm.

We've been told the iHome iH5 will be in shops in early to mid June, and will initially be available from Comet, Selfridges and Amazon, among others.

Look out for a full review in the next few weeks.