The company announced three more JBL speakers: the $149 OnBeat Mini, the $149 Charge, and the $399 Rumble (pictured above). The Charge is a portable stereo speaker bundled with Bluetooth and a high-capacity battery that lasts up to 12 hours on a single charge. It even charges mobile devices on the go while they’re being used.

The OnBeat Mini is a portable speaker dock that comes with a Lighting connector for use with Apple’s latest iOS devices, including the iPad mini, iPhone 5, and the refreshed 4th-generation iPad. The company is marketing the docks portability more than anything, rather than its sound quality, so if you’re an audiophile of any kind, the JBL Rumble might be your best bet.

The Rumble is priced at a steep $399, but it features a Lightning connector and it focuses purely on delivering an awesome sound. Plus, it can stream music with non-Lightning devices as well, and it works with various DJ mobile apps to make the Rumble a viable choice for any music-loving geek.

Personal taste notwithstanding, the dock is pretty snazzy looking, like a speaker partially submerged into whatever surface you place it on. Although the image seems to show off silver, white, and red versions of the speaker, the leaked details say that it will be offered in red, black, and white. The phone is docked in front of what appears to be a single large speaker, but is in reality two 3W speakers.

Specs are said to be 6W of total output, which will make the speaker loud enough for your average user, but not exceptionally powerful. There’s a 3.5mm audio stereo connection cable, a charging port, and power and volume buttons. Connectivity is Bluetooth 3.0, and there’s microUSB for keeping things charged during those long music sessions as well as wired connectivity.

According to SamMobile, Samsung will be showing the device off at the Consumer Electronic Show next month, or possibly at MWC. After the launch, it is expected to hit shelves sometime during the the first quarter of 2013. We’ll be covering CES 2013, so stay tuned for the latest updates and possibly a first-look review of this speaker dock.

[via Android Community]

The SoundDock III costs $250, which may be way over most users’ budgets, but for those looking for quality sound out of a speaker dock, $250 is not a bad price to pay. Other than the new Lightning connector, however, users won’t tell much difference between past iterations of the SoundDock — even the remote control is the same.

The SoundDock III may look big in the pictures, but it’s actually small enough to sit on most countertops, end tables, and dressers. It’s only 12-inches long and almost 7-inches tall, while it measure 6.5 inches in depth, which makes it a great solution if you’re looking for a small and versatile speaker system that still has plenty of oomph.

The Bose SoundDock series was one of the first popular speaker dock solutions, and it’s been around for a while now. It was first released way back in 2004 when the iPod was just becoming really popular. The first-generation SoundDock even used Firewire, and it wasn’t designed to be used with a cellular device, so connecting an iPhone to it caused major distortion issues. However, the company has made major progress in just three generations of the SoundDock, and audiophiles will no doubt be adding this to their last-minute Christmas lists.

Philips is showing off the new Lightning docks on their Flickr page, which simply just consists of press photos of each dock. Sadly, Philips hasn’t release any pricing information yet, nor which retailers will carry the new docks, but Apple’s retail and online stores have carried Philips products in the past, so we wouldn’t be surprised if these showed up at Apple sometime soon.

All of the docks sport the sleek and simple look that Philips is known for. However, one of the new docks in particular is a new style for the company. The “Urban Micro System” looks like a normal beige-colored block that has speakers on the inside and your iPhone 5 sits on top. It’s definitely an interesting dock concept and not one you see everyday.

We’re guessing these new docks won’t be cheap by any means, but if you’ve recently been on the lookout for a new dock for your iPhone 5, you may want to hold out for a few days until Philips releases their new offerings to the public. However, if you’re using the older iPhone with the 30-pin connector, we’re guessing you can find some pretty great deals on older docks as well.

Let’s start right off with the Cavallino T350 headphones. These headphones come equipped with 40mm drivers and Active Noise Cancelling technology, so they should do something to keep ambient noise at a minimum. The band and ear cups are decked out in leather, and the Cavallino T350 features an in-line remote to help with ease-of-use with mobile devices and MP3 players. The headphones will require a payment of $399, so be prepared to plop down some serious cash if you want a set for yourself.

Next we come to the Scuderia FS1 Bluetooth speaker dock. The 2.1 speaker system features Class HD technology that’s been integrated with a Digital Signal Processor, which Logic3 says results in excellent sound quality despite the dock’s small size. It also comes equipped with Bluetooth for wireless playback (obviously), along with a 30-pin connector so you can connect your iDevices. That kind of functionality will cost you though, as the Scuderia FS1 has been stuck with a price tag of $549.

So both are pretty expensive, but if you want to pick one up, the Cavallino T350 and the Scuderia FS1 are available now at Ferrari’s website. If you’re more the brick and mortar type, Logic3 says they’ll be available at “select retailers nationwide,” but failed to actually mention any stores that carry these products. What do you think, are these Ferrari branded peripherals for you, or are they a little too expensive for your tastes?

Apple’s justification for the new Lightning connector is that it’s significantly smaller than the old port – which dated back to 2003 – and is all-digital. It can also be plugged in both ways around, though that’s probably not so useful for a speaker-dock where you’re more than likely going to want to see the screen.

B&O’s dock section is interchangeable, useful foresight when the A8 itself is a hefty $1,149 to begin with. Alternatively, if you’re living in Apple’s wireless world and don’t want to physically dock your device at all, the connector can be removed altogether.

The A8 Dock Upgrade Program is currently taking pre-registration details, with B&O saying the company will be in touch with owners when it knows more on the dock adapter’s availability. There’s more on the new iPhone 5 here, meanwhile, while we also have hands-on with the 5th-gen iPod touch which has also been upgraded to Lightning, and the 7th-gen iPod nano, which also bears the new port.

On the top of the lozenge-shaped speaker there’s a wireless charging pad and radio set: hold the Lumia 920 close to the platform, and it automatically pairs and re-routes the audio through to the JBL. As we’ve seen in other Nokia speakers before, that happens on-the-fly even if you’re in the middle of playing a song.

Because of the 920 has wireless charging support too, and that’s built into the JBL, you can stream music without running down your battery.

There’s also Monster’s new Purity Pro headphones, announced earlier in the week, which also include NFC for pairing and Bluetooth for audio streaming.

The flashing speaker rings can be user-selected to glow either red, blue or purple, or indeed an alternating combination, and they pulse in time to the beat of the music. A matching FWP1000 speaker kit can be daisy-chained too, adding a further 240W of amplification and matching lighting.

Connectivity includes USB and and aux-in port, for use with non-Apple media players, and there’s an included remote control which can be used to switch between the lighting modes. A microphone input is also supplied, and there’s support for the Algoriddim djay app for iPhone and iPod touch. T

he usual DJ controller buttons and sliders are present and correct, including a channel fader for switching between the sources, treble/bass controls, and a “power boosting” MAX Sound mode for getting the thumpiest audio from the 300W amplification. Speakers consist of 2-inch tweeters and 5.25-inch woofers, and there’s an FM tuner if you’ve got nothing worth listening to on your phone.

The Philips FWP3200D DJ-Dock is available in the UK now, priced at £299.99 ($470). The FWP1000 speaker kit is also available, priced at £199.99 ($314).

The 23-inch Aire iPlay monitor is super slim at 12.9mm thin. It offers a 16:9 aspect ratio and Full HD 1080p resolution display with a 50,000,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio and 2ms response time. Its base features not only the 30-pin iPhone dock but also an HDMI input and 10-watt built-in speakers that promise to deliver high quality SRS Premium sound.

The Aire iPlay monitor also features a Screen+ user interface that divides the screen into four sections to help with your work flow. It offers a graphical OSD menu that can be accessed directly through the mouse using an integrated iMenu software. The display went on sale today for $279, but is available through Amazon for $229.

[via 9to5Mac]

The top section slides to the left to reveal the iPod dock connector, while illuminated controls under the bottom edge use IR proximity sensors to handle play/pause, volume up/down and track skip/back. That means you could use the Open Mirror in a kitchen where you might not want to stab at buttons with greasy or wet fingers.

Digital Habits has released the design of the Open Mirror hardware under the open-source license, which means you can download the schematics and build the whole thing yourself. Alternatively, they’re selling the various parts for you to piece it together, DIY-style, though you’ll still need to buy the Arduino separately and flash it with the appropriate software.

Different mirror shapes are possible, or you could front it with a picture or something else. All of the schematics and 3D printed part files are available to download here.

[via Design-Milk]

Boasting “distinctive” design – we’ll leave you to make up your mind whether it’s an aesthetic joy or an eyesore – the iPod Cuddler Chair has not only a dock to recharge your Apple PMP and funnel its music out through its stereo speakers and bottom-shuddering subwoofer, but a USB port and Bluetooth too. That means you can hook up non-Apple media players and phones, or even your laptop for some impromptu gaming.

An aux-in port caters for the resolutely old-fashioned, while an SD card slot makes this perhaps the first ever sofa to have its own storage. Seven color combinations and three different foot finishes are on offer too.

DFS is offering the Trophy Cuddler Audio Sofa for £699 ($1,097) until the beginning of July, after which point it will double – double! – in price.

There’s also a slot-loading CD player and an FM radio with 20 presets. The dock will play back MP3/WMA/ATRAC/Linear PCM/AAC/HE-AAC files, and can rip music from CD to a docked Walkman as 128kbps MP3s.

It’s worth noting that, while Sony has released iPod/iPhone compatible speaker-docks before now, this isn’t one of them. In fact, Sony is targeting the CMT-V70B at its own Walkman range, though since the iPod touch, iPhone, iPad and many other phones and PMPs support Bluetooth, they’ll at least be able to stream through the dock if not charge from it.

There’s also a second version, the Sony CMT-V50, which keeps the CD ripping and radio but loses Bluetooth support. Both will arrive in Sony stores in Japan from tomorrow, priced at 35,000 yen ($439) for the CMT-V70B and 30,000 yen ($376) for the CMT-V50.

The DA-E750 Audio Dock is basically a super-high-end speaker dock, cramming a 2.1 speaker system into the size of a standard amplifier. Though just 100 watts, it includes composite input, woven glass fiber speakers, and a host of newfangled connection options. These include Bluetooth, AirPlay, Samsung’s AllShare standard, and good ol’ USB drive playback for MP3, WMA and WAV files. The DA-E750 Audio Dock will come in either a mahogany or black lacquered wood finish, and it’ll cost a whopping $799.99.

The two options in home theater sets, the 5.1-speaker HT-E6500W and 7.1-speaker HT-E6730W, both include a Samsung 3D Blu-ray player and a WiFi connection to Samsung’s SmartHub service. The E6730W is the clear winner of the two, with a pair of massive tower speakers accenting its subwoofer and satellites.  The larger set is rated for 1330 watts of sound, while the smaller set has “just” 1000 watts. The HT-E6500W will cost $799.99 while the HT-E6730W will be a full $999.99. Both will have the new Disc to Digital service integrated.

All three systems will be available at electronics retailers and through Samsung’s website later this spring.

There’s also a 3.5mm audio input for third-party audio sources, and your iPhone or other iOS device operates as a remote control. What you don’t get, despite the WiFi, is support for non-AirPlay streaming unfortunately, which means Android users are out of luck.

Aesthetically, Logitech is pleased as punch with the UE Air Speaker’s piano black housing and curvy casing. Considering the price – and the fact that it’s up against the B&W Zeppelin Air with its luxury appeal – that’s something the company can’t afford to skimp on.

Connectivity also includes wired ethernet, though your iPad, iPhone or other device will have to be on the same network, only wirelessly. The Logitech UE Air Speaker is up for preorder now, priced at $399.99, with deliveries expected to kick off next month.

This device comes in a simple cardboard box and you get the dock only. The dock is just a bit too large to fit in your pocket, but certainly not too big to fit in your purse or backpack. It’s got two relatively unprotected speakers, one on each side, with a power button on the front with a single light that’ll show you the status of the device. Other than the three AA battery slot below, and the two ports in the back for auxiliary line-in and optional DC power via microUSB, there’s nothing more to this device.

It’s what’s inside that counts. Inside is iFrogz implementation of NearField Audio, this allowing you to simply place your device down and have its sound amplified through the device electronically – have a peek at the hands-on video above to see what it’s all about. This device is powered either by the three AA batteries you’ll be placing yourself inside or by a microUSB cord you, also, will be supplying.

The bits that you need to supply allow this device to cost an undeniably inexpensive [$39.99 from iFrogz online store]. It’s worth that price just to experience this strange new technology for the first time – and more than that, it’ll work for hours, days, and months on standby with only the three AA batteries you slap into it right out of the box! Worth it.

The Party In A Box comes in a sleek black casing with aluminum accents and programmable multi-color perimeter lighting that looks sophisticated and yet is ready to party. It’s an omni-directional hybrid system featuring eight speakers with dual 6.5-inch subwoofers, two 3-inch midrange speakers, and four one-inch tweeters to deliver a powerful and balanced full range of sound.

The system uniquely bundles three wireless technologies, including Apple’s AirPlay, Bluetooth, and a 5.8GHz two-way transceiver that offers CD quality, uncompressed sound that can be synced with multiple Party In A Box units or with other wireless speakers. However, pricing and date of availability have not been announced yet.

As for the new headphones, SOUL is introducing seven new design and color concepts, including the SL300CG chrome gold and SL150CS chrome silver limited edition models. There’s also a new white and gold finish SL100GW and in-ear models with the SL49NB green and black, SL49RB red and black, SL49PW pink and white, and the SL99W white and platinum.

Connectivity includes both WiFi and ethernet, and there’s a digital audio output socket to hook up a separate amp system along with an analog input for non-Apple PMPs. On the front is an iPhone/iPod touch/iPod dock for local playback, or alternatively you can stream using AirPlay from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or iTunes on a PC or Mac.

Two way sync means you can use the volume controls on the Contour 200i Air itself to adjust the settings on your Apple device, and Pure throws in a remote control as well. The company also offers the Pure Lounge app, to tune in to internet radio through your iOS device, as a free download from the App Store.

The Pure Contour 200i Air will go on sale in March 2012 for $329.

The iW4 AirPlay Wireless model comes in a sleek black chassis and works with your iPad, iPhone, or iPod. With AirPlay, you can easily stream your iTunes collection to the speaker dock over your home WiFi network. The iP18 is more whimsical, featuring a cube design that glows with color-changing LEDs. It has a smaller footprint and only works with your iPhone or iPod.

The iD50 model is an app-enhanced Bluetooth clock, radio, and speaker dock, compatible with your iPad, iPhone, or iPod. The iW4, iP18, and the iD50 are priced respectively at $269.99, $69.99, and $169.99. The devices will debut at CES, but likely won’t be available until sometime later this year.

[via PCMag]

If you haven’t got a wireless-enabled device, then you can either hook up via the analog composite input or the USB port. The latter also recognizes memory sticks, PMPs and hard-drives loaded with MP3, WMA and WAV files.

As for the Samsung Audio Dock DA-E670, that has a 40W amp – though no vacuum tube tech – driving a 2.1 speaker system. Connectivity includes an aux-in port and Bluetooth, along with a USB port, AllShare and AirPlay just like its more complex sibling.

No word on pricing or availability at this stage, though we’ll know more at CES next week.

What you don’t get is any peripheral support, unlike most tablet docking stations we’ve seen. It’s common to get a USB port or two, at least, for hooking up a keyboard, though since neither of the NOOK models has native USB Host support that’s probably not a great concern.

Still, given the popularity of the NOOK Color among Android device modders – one popular tweak being enabling USB Host – some extra flexibility in connections would have been appreciated. B&N appears to be locking down the NOOK Tablet at present, however, with a recent firmware update blocking sideloaded apps.

The N-Station is expected to go on sale later this month, though ReaderDock isn’t saying exactly how much it will cost.

[via eBookanoid]

Behringer is better known for its pro-audio equipment, including a range of mixer desks, studio monitors, preamps, microphones and MIDI kit. However the company is also looking to wade into the consumer electronics market with its new EUROSOUND, hence the eye-catching (and potentially ear-blowing) iNuke Boom.

Takers for this particular speaker dock are not particularly likely, but Behringer is hoping its 49 other new products will find more favor. Of course, it’s not the first ridiculous way of getting music out of your iPhone we’ve seen: Jean-Michel Jarre invited ridicule with his AeroDream One, a system so tall that it has an integrated ladder for you to actually climb up and put your phone in place. Its €399,000 price tag makes the iNuke Boom look practically reasonable.

The whole setup here is a matte black with orange accents, and the build is nearly top quality in all places. Much of the outsides here in this set of items is plastic, this both proving to be good in that it’ll bounce back if you drop it and wont damage the floor of your dorm or apartment, and bad in that you won’t get many “oh sweet, what is THAT you’ve got there?” comments. No worries though, this speaker setup is high quality, working both in party-level sound blast loudness and silent tuning to perfection for your exacting musical tastes. To make these adjustments you’ve only to download the free application from the iTunes App Store (for iPod Touch, iPad, or iPhone), and fire it up, controlling the speaker either by docking your device or by connecting via Bluetooth. There’s also a tiny remote control included if you’re more apt to docking the iDevice and stepping back from the action with as small a controller as possible.

One of the comments Chris Davies made when this product was originally announced was that it was quite enticing in that it didn’t actually require you to dock your iDevice to make it play the beats you had controlled from said device. Truly this is a pro as should you be wanting to play your music in one part of the house and are walking to and fro putting away dishes or doing the laundry, you can stop anywhere, pop that iPhone out of your pocket, and flip to the next song. It’s a testament to XtremeMac that I’m fairly certainly I’ll not ever be able to give a mobile device dock a positive review in the future unless its got the ability to connect to the device in question via Bluetooth. Anything less is just uncivilized!

You can play any audio you’ve got ringing out of your iDevice through this speaker, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that since Google Music recently left Beta and now allows everyone free storage of up to 200,000 songs on their own servers, we’d check out how to make it happen here. What we’ve got here is two options: first, you can access Google Music by heading to music.google.com in your web browser window on your iDevice and play some songs like that. Second, and this is the one demonstrated here in the video, is an app by the name of gMusic.

This app allows you essentially the same interface that your Android pals now have for Google Music and connects you instantly with all 200,000 of your songs just so long as you’ve got a Wi-fi connection (or simply a data connection if you’re using an iPhone, of course.) Tap into the fun and fire up a Weird Al track if you should so dare. You can pick this unit up today at Best Buy for a cool $100 USD, lucky you!

Hardware

Fingerprint haters, look away: the Fidelio AS851′s glossy black plastic body is an ideal way to keep a record of everybody who grazes it with their fingers. The plastics themselves are solid and flex-free, however, and the metal mesh front is less demanding of your polishing cloth. It’s worth noting that the green Android peering out at our Galaxy Nexus in the photos is just a sticker; you can peel it off if you’re feeling more discrete in your platform choices. Behind the mesh are two 3-inch drivers each with 15W of amp power.

Ports include a 3.5mm aux-in (with a suitable cable in the box), a power port for the AC adapter and a handy USB port for charging a second gadget (or one that doesn’t use microUSB, such as the proprietary ports on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab slates). Up front there’s a power button, a Bluetooth status light and volume up/down buttons. A sturdy little IR remote is included, controlling power, source (Bluetooth or aux-in), mute, play/pause, track skip, volume, and offering shortcuts to the internet radio function of the companion Fidelio app (more on which later), the Songbird app and the Fidelio app’s clock screen.

It’s the FlexiDock system that Philips is so proud of, however, the company’s patent-in-process way of dealing with Android device manufacturers’ refusal to standardize on where microUSB ports are located. While an iPhone dock only has one port to consider, Android phones spread their USB options far and wide: some have a socket on the bottom, like the Galaxy Nexus, while others opt for it on the side, like HTC’s recent line-up.

Philips Fidelio AS851 overview:

As the video above shows, the FlexiDock puts its microUSB plug on a moveable platform that slides left and right to accommodate phones in horizontal orientation. There are two support blocks, the height of which can be independently raised/lowered to suit, and the plug itself can be rotated 180-degrees. In short, it caters for most devices with a microUSB connection, and while it can be a little wobbly until you get the support blocks just right, it certainly works.

However, USB isn’t used for music, only for charging: instead, Bluetooth A2DP comes into play. That means that, while Philips bill the AS851 as an Android speaker dock, in actual fact it will work with any gadget that supports the stereo Bluetooth standard: Windows Phone, iPhone, Mac or PC, all are welcome. Bluetooth use is independent from charging, too, so even if your device won’t fit in the dock physically – the top-mounted, flap-covered port on Nokia’s Lumia 800 comes to mind – you can still stream music from it.

Software

iPhone docks have simplicity in their favor: plug your smartphone in, and music comes out through the speakers. Bluetooth could add a layer of unwanted complexity to the Fidelio AS851, and so Philips offer a free Fidelio app in the Android Market. That can be found by scanning a QR code on a sticker on the dock itself when you first open the box.

Run the app, and it scans and pairs with the AS851; later, whenever you dock your phone to charge, the Fidelio app restores the Bluetooth connection automatically. We had no problems with this with Android 2.x devices, though a Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.0 did periodically pop up the “Connecting Bluetooth” message in the notification bar, even though the phone was already connected and music was playing.

The Fidelio app also offers access to around 7,000 internet radio stations, sorted into genre categories and the like. It also prompts you to install Songbird, a music player app that supports straightforward synchronization with your desktop music collection. However, any app that outputs sound will play through the Fidelio: we had no problems with Spotify or YouTube, though to enjoy videos through the latter on our Galaxy Nexus we had to undock it since there’s no support for device rotation. The remote control’s play/pause and track skip buttons worked with Spotify, though it was frustrating that there was no override to stop the phone’s display from locking after a few moments: if we wanted to see what was playing, we had to unlock the phone again.

Unfortunately, Philips hasn’t outfitted the Fidelio AS851 to handle voice calls. When a call came in, music paused but the audio was routed back to the smartphone’s own speaker. The AS851 lacks a microphone, too, even if Philips updated the firmware to support routing in-call audio through its speakers.

Performance

Loud but not especially refined is the order of the day with the AS851, though we can’t blame the dock’s speakers and amp entirely for that. Bluetooth A2DP is a lossy standard, and while the Fidelio can be cranked up room-fillingly high, that tends to reveal the crunchier bass and not entirely shimmering top-end. Switch to a wired connection via the aux-in and the limits of Bluetooth become clear: the same source sounds that little bit crisper, that little less distorted at higher volumes.

It’s frustrating, though we do recognize that while Philips could have opted for a lossless alternative like Kleer, or a Bluetooth lossless option like apt-X, it would’ve been reliant on smartphones supporting those too. That’s still uncommon, leaving Bluetooth the broadest possible choice.

Generally, quality is decent, and at regular listening levels we had no problems. Bass has a fair thump to it, and vocals pipe through the mix neatly; classical music suffered from more noticeable fuzz than, say, pop, rock or rap. Equalizer settings are handled through the Fidelio app, with various presets and degrees of manual tinkering possible if that’s what makes you happy. It’s certainly useful being able to charge a second device from the rear USB port.

Wrap-Up

Any generic Android speaker dock is going to be a compromise in comparison to Apple’s tightly-controlled ecosystem, but that’s the price you pay for the flexibility in device options Android has enabled. Philips FlexiDock system certainly addresses it in the most reasonable way we’ve seen to-date, and the use of Bluetooth means you’re not actually limited to Android phones or tablets at all.

Bluetooth also brings its own drawbacks, of course, with less than stellar audio quality being our main frustration with the AS851. Paying $200/£200 for a speaker dock when you know there’s a trade-off in quality rankles somewhat; for that reason, Philips’ cheaper, smaller AS351 ($130/£130) and AS111 ($90/£70) models arguably make more sense, since their more conservative audio ambitions perhaps better match those of Bluetooth A2DP.

Still, for casual listening, the Philips Fidelio AS851 packs a hefty punch and looks the part. Philips’ docking system is clever and the flexibility of the Bluetooth/app setup leaves plenty of room for the various media apps proliferating on Android. Audio purists will want to look elsewhere, but if simplicity and versatility are your primary concerns then the Fidelio AS851 is worth considering.

All three use Philips’ patented FlexiDock, a way to work around the fact that – unlike iOS products – Android phones put their microUSB ports in a range of different places. The microUSB plug can be shifted from left to right, and the socket itself twisted 180-degrees; you can even adjust the height of the phone supports on either side of it, to suit your handset. Bluetooth 2.1 is used to stream music (which actually means you can use any of the models with your iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Phone or any other gadget with Bluetooth A2DP support, and indeed charge them if they have a microUSB port) and Philips offers a special Fidelio app which automatically pairs and connects your smartphone when docked.

The Philips Fidelio AS851 is the flagship model, packing a pair of 3-inch full-range woofers, each with a 15W amp, along with a 3.5mm input and a spare USB port for charging a second gadget. Next comes the Fidelio AS351, with a smaller design and a 10W amp. Finally, there’s the Fidelio AS111, intended as an alarm clock for your nightstand, with a 4W amp and no second USB port or aux-input. However the AS111 does offer a night lamp and the clock automatically syncs its time when your Android phone is docked.

The Philips Fidelio AS851, AS351 and AS111 are on sale now, priced at $199.99/£199, $129.99/£129 and $89.99/£70 respectively. The Philips Fidelio app – which also controls equalizer settings, can be used to import and organize your music collection, and offers access to 7,000+ streaming radio stations – is available here.

The JBL OnBeat Air speaker dock features adaptable docking clamps that can securely hold your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch in both landscape and portrait orientations. The devices can connect to the dock either wirelessly through AirPlay or via a 30-pin dock connector.

With AirPLay, you’ll be able to stream music from your iTunes collection to the OnBeat Air no matter where it is in your home. The speaker dock includes an IR remote control that lets you conveniently navigate your iTunes songs and videos from a distance, while its tabletop design makes it convenient for gaming, watching movies, or video chatting through Apple’s FaceTime or Skype.

The OnBeat Air also features quality sound with dual Phoenix full-range transducers and it supports Android smartphones, tablets, and wireless MP3 players by connecting either wirelessly or through a built-in auxiliary input jack. The dock is priced at $249.95 and is available now.

[via JBL]

The new Sound Step is a wireless speaker dock with a compact design and a rechargeable battery for taking with you on the go. The dock is able to scream wireless music from your Bluetooth enabled device from 10 meters away. It supports tablets, smartphones, and notebooks and will work with any platform. The Sound Step is a 2.1 design with a dedicated subwoofer for improved bass. If you use an iPad or iPhone, the Sound Step Recharge has a docking port that will recharge your device even with some cases installed.

It also has a USB port that will allow you to charge any of your devices that have a USB cable. The battery inside the dock is good for six hours of playback. The Sound Step Recharge comes with a wireless remote control and can be controlled from your iPhone with a free app. The dock also has a composite video-out connection for watching videos on your TV. The device is available at HMV right now with a sales price of £149.99.

The MIX iMT810 features updated aluminum accents, enhanced clarity, heavyweight bass, 5.25-inch subwoofer, and an adjustable seven-band graphic equalizer. It has a blue LCD display, digital FM radio tuner, remote control, and dual AUX IN jacks for connecting to additional audio players. It also automatically pauses music when a call is received on the docked iPhone.

When the MIX iMT810 is plugged into the wall, it can also charge your docked iPhone or iPod. If you need it unplugged, the digital boombox can run on eight D-cell batteries for up to 30 hours. It is now available and priced at $299.95.

[via iPodNN]

The JBL On Air features a bright color screen for displaying album art as well as artist and song information. The On Air speaker dock also features three JBL transducers with a unique 360-degree HALO (horizontal acoustic level optimization) design that uniformly delivers a rich and full-spectrum sound across a wide listening area.

Other features include a clock with dual alarms, digital FM radio and USB port. And of course, a dock for your iPhone or iPod touch. The JBL On Air is compatible with iTunes 10.1 or later and iOS 4.2 or later. Priced at $349, it will be available later this month online and in retail stores of Best Buy and Apple. You can visit the JBL On Air product page for more information.

As you’d expect, the OnBeat charges your iPod while it’s hooked up, and there’s a USB connection so you can sync it with iTunes as well. There’s also a composite video output, so you can hook up a TV rather than squinting at a 3.5-inch screen.

JBL throw an infra-red remote in the box too, along with all the dock brackets you’ll need, while the speakers use a 2 x 7.5-watt amp with various DSP systems to massage the sound. The OnBeat is available in April, priced at $149.95.

Press Release:

HARMAN Brings Entertainment Experience on iPad® to Life with JBL OnBeat™ Speaker Dock

Company whose legendary JBL brand brought the first sound to cinema introduces a new loudspeaker dock, bringing the same dynamic sound to the next wave of technology: iPad®, iPhone® and iPod® devices

STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated (NYSE:HAR), today announced the release of its new JBL OnBeat™ loudspeaker docking station, a JBL® dock to bring your next-generation entertainment experience to life, delivering realistic, dynamic sound with any iPad®, iPhone® or iPod® device.

“Imagine what moviegoers must have felt when they heard sound paired with film for the first time in history. This is what we hope to accomplish for the next era of entertainment experiences with products such as the JBL OnBeat for the iPad, iPhone and more”
Bringing Netflix® movie streaming, gaming, YouTube clip watching and more to an entirely new level with HARMAN’s signature sound quality, the JBL OnBeat dock features dual Phoenix full-range transducers with computer-optimized DSP equalization, creating a richly detailed soundstage. A universal connector that firmly docks an iPad, iPod or iPhone lets you rotate iPod and iPhone screens to portrait or landscape orientation for the best video display, and an infrared remote (IR) puts you in full control of system functions and music navigation from across the room.

Stream action-packed movies and intimate family photos and videos, and share the hottest content on the Web in your living room with family and friends through the addition of an optional composite cable that can send video content from the device directly to your TV.

“Imagine what moviegoers must have felt when they heard sound paired with film for the first time in history. This is what we hope to accomplish for the next era of entertainment experiences with products such as the JBL OnBeat for the iPad, iPhone and more,” said David Slump, president, HARMAN Consumer Division. “Our goal is to awaken our senses to the power that great sound and music can have on bringing media to life through the most cutting-edge devices out on the market right now.”

The new JBL OnBeat also features a USB connection to sync and charge devices when connected to the iTunes® music library (cable not included), and a 3.5mm stereo mini-jack auxiliary input that connects to virtually all portable media devices (cable not included). The dock features a dynamic JBL Weave design styling that is as sculptural as it is conversation-starting. Brackets to attach the iPod, iPhone and iPad to the dock are included in the package. The JBL OnBeat also serves as a charging station for your iPod or iPhone while it is docked.

Pricing and Availability

The JBL OnBeat loudspeaker dock is available in April in black for $149.95. For additional information or to purchase, visit http://www.jbl.com/onbeat.

The device uses a mini aluminum vibration film loud speaker with high quality audio reproduction. The device can be powered by a USB port or a 5V DC adapter and the internal battery is lithium-ion. When an iPod is docked, the device will charge the iPod back up. Only the iPod can be charged with the speaker.

The output power is 6W RMS and the frequency response is 150-18000Hz. The loud speaker is 1.77-inches and it has magnetic resistance of 4 ohms. Buttons on the device control the track and the speaker dock measures 16cm x 5 cm x 5cm and weighs 273g.

There’s no missing the SFQ-01A, a slab-sided chunk of high-gloss black plastic with a narrow control pad and discrete orange side lighting. At £199.99/$199.99 it’s not an inexpensive dock, and we wish some of that had shown up in more expensive plastics; it’s not exactly lightweight, but then neither does it have the heft of some similarly-priced units. It’s also a dust and fingerprint magnet. In the box, SoundFreaq include the SFQ-01A itself, a small IR remote, two interchangeable dock adapters (for the original iPhone and iPhone 3G), an AC adapter (and, with our unit at least, both UK and Continental Europe power cables) and a 3.5mm stereo audio cable. There’s also some easy to follow documentation, printed on too-big-to-miss sheets of cardboard.

Controls are limited to the lower front panel, with three silver knobs on the far left – for controlling treble, bass and SoundFreaq’s own UQ3 audio processing system. On the right, there’s an array of concave, touch-sensitive buttons for source, track skip, play/pause, volume, mute, power and Bluetooth pairing, underneath a small, orange LCD display. In-between there’s the dock itself, with a plastic cover if you’re not planning to actually slot in your iPhone or iPod touch. On the back there’s the power port and a 3.5mm aux-in input, while on the right side is a small door to hide the remote (a magnet keeps it in place).

Hitting the source button cycles through the three options: iPod (for a docked model), Bluetooth (for wireless streaming, such as from an iPad) and Aux-In, for any other external source. The remote basically duplicates the panel buttons. SoundFreaq’s Bluetooth doesn’t just work with the iPad: any A2DP-compliant Bluetooth device – whether your notebook, smartphone or otherwise – should be able to pair with it and treat it as an external source, though since there’s no microphone it won’t work as a speakerphone. We’d have liked to have seen an FM radio, at least (WiFi radio would’ve been even better), as SoundFreaq said there would be back at IFA (Update: According to SoundFreaq, the US version of the SFQ-01A will have an FM radio, while the European model will not). When more than one device has paired via Bluetooth, it’s first-come, first-serve as to who gets to stream. There’s no multipoint support for simultaneous connections.

The iPad’s standard music app will happily stream to the SFQ-01A wirelessly, though while the play/pause button on the dock’s control panel worked as expected, the track-skip buttons did not. However, there’s also the special SoundFreaq app in the App Store; this is a basic media player with full interaction between the SFQ-01A buttons and the app UI. You can queue up tracks from your music catalog into custom playlists, though the UI itself feels a little cramped: the navigation box shows just 7 tracks at a time, despite the amount of screen the iPad has to offer. Still, you can view tracks by artist, song and album, among other things, as well as import playlists from elsewhere.

Audio quality is decent, particularly when the UQ3 system is turned off. Without it, even with some diligent treble/bass tweaking, audio sounded relatively anaemic, especially when streamed via Bluetooth. With it, music is fuller and more rounded, and the SFQ-01A can be cranked up to reasonable levels before distorting. With no separate subwoofer this obviously isn’t the speaker-dock for dedicated bass lovers, but it still manages to sound reasonably impressive.

The SFQ-01A certainly does what it promises to, but we can’t help but feel that SoundFreaq has missed an opportunity with its custom iPad app. Some sort of internet radio streaming would’ve given it a real edge over rival speaker docks; as it stands, the only thing you gain over Apple’s own Music app is support for the SFQ-01A’s buttons, but you give up Genius playlists and background playback (exit the SoundFreaq app and the music stops, though we imagine the company will address that when iOS 4.2 arrives with its multitasking support).

Still, given the more readily-modified nature of software, that’s something SoundFreaq could well add in future iterations of their app. The iPod speaker dock market is a crowded one, and while the SFQ-01A’s looks certainly help distinguish it, the unique selling points aren’t quite mature enough to push the SoundFreaq conclusively ahead of the pack. If the company can deliver on software updates then that would go a long way to differentiate the SFQ-01A and make it a recommended buy.

That’s good name for the product, it seems very wide and it makes me think about jumbo jets when I hear the name. The dimensions of the dock are 14.3″ W x 5″ H x 3.7″ D and the thing weighs two pounds. It slurps down 15W of juice when in use and has a mini USB port for syncing the iPad, a 3.5mm aux input jack, and a power adapter port.

The best news about the dock is that while it will fit your iPad, it will also sync and charge your iPhone or iPod as well thanks to a flexible and adjustable dock design that needs none of those irritating inserts. The speakers themselves have separate drivers for treble, mid-range, and bass along with radiators to increase that bass. The dock will sell for $149.99 when it launches this month.

The display adjusts its backlighting according to the ambient conditions, and it’ll obviously recharge your iPhone (or, indeed, your iPod touch) while it’s docked.  There’s also an SD card slot and support for Panasonic’s LUMIX Scene Mode Playback which, if you’re shooting with a compatible camera from the company, can automatically pull together photos shot in the various different camera modes (e.g. nighttime, sports, etc.).

You can also choose to show a clock, calendar or other screensavers; in fact the only thing really missing is WiFi and/or 3G, and it’s a shame you can’t tether the phone and use its connection like with the Transgear model we wrote about back in 2009.  The Panasonic MW-20 will go on sale in late November 2010, priced at $249.95.

Press Release:

PANASONIC ANNOUNCES DIGITAL PHOTO FRAME – COMPLETE WITH STEREO SOUND SYSTEM FOR PLAYING PHOTOS MUSIC AND VIDEOS WITH EXCEPTIONAL QUALITY

New Panasonic MW-20 is a Versatile and Stylish Multimedia System,
Compatible with iPod Touch® and iPhone® for Convenient Playback

SECAUCUS, NJ (October 4, 2010) – Panasonic today announced the MW-20, a digital photo frame that doubles as a stereo sound system, complete with iPod Touch® and iPhone® compatibility – using the supplied cradle to display photos and play music stored on the popular mobile devices is easy and convenient. The MW-20, a slim multimedia system, also charges the iPod Touch/iPhone while it is connected to the cradle.

The Panasonic MW-20 can play back videos and photos on its large, high-resolution 9-inch screen, while incorporating advanced audio technology to provide superb sound quality.
Below the screen, there is a 5.6-mm Super Slim Semi Dome Speaker and a diffuser that optimizes the sound. In addition, the built-in DSP (Digital Signal Processor) adjusts the audio signal to suit the audio characteristics of this speaker system.

“The Panasonic MW-20 has a stylish and slim design that will complement any home décor and given its versatility to display photos, videos, play music and even charge an iPhone – we think this will be a welcomed addition this holiday season,” said David Fisher, Product Manager, Imaging, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “Beyond its design and versatility, the MW-20 is also a powerful gadget – with exceptional sound quality to listen to music and a large nine-inch screen to view digital photos and videos.”

The MW-20 has an Adjustable Angle Display1 system that allows the angle to be changed to suit the viewing direction. With the supplied fixture, the MW-20 can be positioned in landscape orientation or hung on a wall. The MW-20 can display photos shot with a digital still camera by inserting an SD Memory Card into its slot. The MW-20 has 2GB of built-in memory for additional storage. The MW-20 features the LUMIX Scene Mode Playback function, which enables users to play back selected groups of photos shot with a Panasonic LUMIX digital camera using the iA Intelligent Scene Selector mode (Night Scenery, Portrait, Scenery, etc.). The MW-20 features 15 different display patterns to show a calendar, clock, photo – whichever combination the user prefers.

The MW-20 features an environmentally-conscious power-saving feature, with a luminance sensor that automatically adjusts the brightness of the screen according to the room lighting. For instance, when a room is dark, the MW-20 automatically shuts off. The Panasonic MW-20 will be available in late-November 2010 with a suggested retail price of $249.95. For more information, visit www.panasonic.com.

It’s not entirely clear how much of a hand Sir Terence Conran has had in the design of the Conran Audio Speaker Dock, but it certainly looks the part.  As well as a niche on top for your iPhone or iPod touch, it has Bluetooth built in for wireless streaming from compatible PMPs and handsets.

There’s also a remote control that can be stowed in a nook at the side, and apt-X compatibility for Bluetooth devices that support the higher-quality codec.  The dock assembly itself can rotate for portrait or landscape use.  It’s available now, priced at £250 ($395).

Press Release:

NEW BRAND – GREAT HERITAGE ’CONRAN AUDIO’ DEBUTS WITH iPOD SPEAKER DOCK

Armour Home is proud to introduce a completely new brand, ‘Conran Audio’, together with its first product, the Conran ‘Speaker Dock’ for iPods and iPhones.

Great design is difficult to define, but when you see it, you instinctively know something is just right. A creation of Studio Conran, this new speaker dock is just such a product, combining an elegant design aesthetic with a stunning audio performance engineered by Q Acoustics. Its appearance achieves the seemingly conflicting goals of both harmonising with any décor whilst simultaneously projecting just the right amount of individual design flair to make you smile every time you look at it.

Describing the new model, Sir Terence Conran, a leading figure in British design for more than fifty years, stated: “It is a dedicated 100% pure music player, that works with docked iPhones and iPods or wirelessly with Bluetooth enabled devices such as the iPad, allowing you to select songs from the comfort of an armchair or, if it’s your thing, while dancing around the room.”

Sir Terence concluded: “We hope we have created a contemporary design classic.”

Glenn McClelland, Armour Home’s Managing Director added: “We’ve had a very successful partnership with Studio Conran for a number of years. They design beautiful models for our Alphason furniture range and we have been so impressed by their work, ‘Conran Audio’ seemed an obvious and logical progression. I must say everyone at Armour is absolutely delighted by the result. We are all very confident about the success of this product.”

Ready for ‘apt-X’ quality Bluetooth Stereo

In addition to its ability to play “wired audio” from physically docked iPods and iPhones, the Conran Audio speaker dock can also play ‘wireless audio’ streamed remotely from Bluetooth Stereo (A2DP) enabled portable media players, tablet computers, smartphones and laptops. Furthermore, the Conran dock’s in-built Bluetooth receiver chip is compatible with ‘apt-X’, the high-performance audio coding technology from CSR which transmits CD-quality full-bandwidth stereo over Bluetooth connections. ‘apt-X’ is fast becoming the next ‘must have’ technology feature in high-end consumer audio devices with pre-installed or dongle-enabled Bluetooth Stereo capability.

To enable users to view menus as they wish, the dock assembly rotates, allowing iPhones and iPod Touches to be docked in either vertical or horizontal mode. Additionally, the dock boasts six preset audio equalisation settings to optimise its performance for different musical genres. These are user selectable via the elegant remote control.

Price, availability and finish

The new Speaker Dock, which will be available in both white and black finishes, is expected to go on sale late January 2010, priced at £250 including vat at 20%.

Specifications

Frequency response: 75Hz – 20KHz
Loudspeaker Drivers: 2 x 75mm bass/mid
2 x 30mm tweeters
Power output: 2 x 15 Watts
Bluetooth Stereo (A2DP) + apt-X
Standby power consumption: < 1 Watt
Dimensions (WxDxH): 283mm x 120mm x 233mm

iHome has a new docking station that will work with any dockable iPod and the iPhone called the iP3BZC. The dock has Bongiovi Digital Power Station technology, which is a real time DSP constantly scanning audio and restoring the detail lost in compressed audio formats. The 50W of power the dock has drives a pair of 3.5″ coaxial neodymium speakers to deliver improved sound quality.

The dock also has a built-in EQ, AV output for sending video to another screen, and a line-in jack. That line-in jack allows the dock to work with any music player. The design of the dock is adjustable so inserts aren’t needed. The iP3 is available right now for $199.99.

The compact system has a pair of speakers that are separate from the main unit, which also has a CD player inside. On the front of the dock is a USB port for playing tracks from non-dockable iPods and other devices.

JVC offers the dock in several colors including black, white with wood grain top, pink, and solid white. The dock also has an integrated FM tuner and has video output for sending video to your TV. Pricing is unknown, but the unit will ship in Japan in October.

There’s also a cute circular remote control that stows safely at the back of the dock, a USB port for recharging a third device – whether Apple or otherwise – and Altec Lansing are offering another app called Alarm Rock which turns the Octiv Duo into an alarm clock.  As for the audio itself, the Octiv Duo gets a pair of two inch neodymium drives; it wasn’t exactly the loudest or most acoustically pleasing speaker dock we’ve ever heard, but for a kitchen or desk it’s ideal.

One thing we’d like to have seen is a pass-through sync port, allowing you to hook up the speaker dock to iTunes and put new media on as they recharge.  You do get a 3.5mm aux-input for non-Apple PMPs, however.  It’ll be available soon, priced at $99.95.

XtremeMac also offer a free remote control app which allows you to tweak the audio as well as adjust the various EQ settings.  There’s also a line-in jack for using other PMPs, while the speakers themselves consist of two midrange drivers, two dome tweeters and a downward firing subwoofer.

Two versions are on offer, the basic model at $179.99 and an Apple exclusive version, the Tango TRX D.  That adds a separate charging dock for your iPod/iPhone/iPad (though we imagine the latter would be more than a little precarious).

Press Release:

XtremeMac™ Unveils Tango TRX – the Superior Bluetooth Audio Solution for iPod, iPhone and iPad

Download the free Tango TRX app for enhanced functionality

Sunrise, FL – September 14, 2010 – XtremeMac™, a leading designer and manufacturer of accessories and audio solutions for Apple devices, is pleased to announce a prestigious new audio solution for Apple users. The Tango TRX is a 2.1 wireless high-fidelity audio system for iPod, iPhone and iPad. It combines superior sound quality, wireless audio connectivity, sleek design and an exclusive app to create a unique and powerful listening experience.

The elegantly designed Tango TRX allows users to wirelessly transmit high quality audio through the latest Bluetooth technology. It boasts a 2.1 digital audio system that includes two midrange drivers, two dome tweeters and a downward firing subwoofer for crystal clear and dynamic sound. Tango TRX features LED status indicators for system feedback, a line-in jack for connecting other audio devices and a multifunction remote control.

The free XtremeMac Tango TRX app seamlessly integrates with the unit for enhanced control and functionality. With the Tango app, users can control music directly from their iPod, iPhone, or iPad, turning any of these devices into a virtual remote which appears as a digital version of the included physical remote. The app also provides a five-band graphic equalizer that enables customers to fine tune sound or select music by genre.

The Tango TRX is available now for $179.99 US MSRP at www.XtremeMac.com. An Apple store exclusive version (Tango TRX D) includes a separate charging dock which enables users to charge their device while wirelessly playing music to the Tango TRX. The Tango TRX D is available now at Apple for $199.99 US MSRP.

A cool case for the iPhone surfaced from a company called Nuu. The case adds a wireless keyboard to the iPhone. Apple has announced that it’s ready to up producing of the iPad in an effort to meet the demand for the tablet. Apple is looking to build 3 million of the tablets per month, an increase of 1 million units monthly.

Samsung is one of the largest producers of LCDs in the electronics world for smartphones. The company is set to increase the production of screens dramatically next year with 30 million screens per month, up from 3 million per month now. Early in the week we reviewed the Droid 2 smartphone. We figures there are phones with better screens and keyboards out there, but the Droid 2 will make some folks happy.

LG announced that it was set to launch smartphones onto the market with the NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor inside. That dual core processor will make LG first with two cores in the segment and the devices will land in Q4. The current Nintendo Wii is seeing sales plummet and that is usually an indication that it’s time for a replacement. Nintendo’s Yoshio Sakamoto has stated that the Wii replacement will “leave you all with your mouth open.” There is no word on when this replacement should be expected.

Samsung announced it’s new 1GHz Orion Cortex A9 CPU and more early in the week. That new processor promises five times the 3D performance of the current ARM processors. We like watches around here, even if some of us don’t wear them. A cool watch painted in gunship gray called the Gunship collection designed to scratch surfaced this week that was very cool.

Mophie showed off the new juice pack for the iPhone 4 promising twice the battery life for the smartphone. The new juice pack sells for $80. Gaming PC maker Origin unveiled a new gaming computer called The Big O this week. The beast has a price as high as some new cars and has server hardware along with an Xbox 360 inside.

Tutorials for the Blackberry Style 9670 smartphone surfaced this week. The 9670 surfaced in three different videos going over how to use the device. Fans of Doctor Who were excited early in the week when a version of the Sonic Screwdriver surfaced that is a controller for the Wii. The controller is being released alongside the Doctor Who: Return to Earth video game.

Nikon unveiled several new digital cameras this week and among the new offerings was the Coolpix P7000. The point-and-shoot is a camera promising DSLR flexibility in a more compact body. We reviewed the new iPod touch, nano, and shuffle music players this week. These are the best iPod ever offered from Apple, which is saying a lot.

Apple offered iOS 4.1 up for download this week. The new iOS promises to fix a lot of the bugs and issues many had with iOS 4. UK wireless carrier Three confirmed the pricing for the Samsung Galaxy Tab data plans this week. Plans will cost £15 monthly with 300 network minutes and up to 3000 texts. Data only packages will cost £15 for 5GB of data.

The 250GB Xbox 360 and Kinect bundle is set to hit on November 4 at a price of $399.99. The bundle will ship with Kinect Adventures. Details of the ARM Cortex A15 Eagle processor surfaced later in the week. The chip will run at 2.5GHz and have four cores with five times the performance of current smartphone chipsets.

Pentax unveiled a new digital camera this week called the Optio RS1000 that has a skin with Lego-like building blocks on it. The blocks used on the skin are not compatible with Lego bricks. September is an odd month for something like the Egg-Bot to surface, around Easter would have made more sense. The Egg-Bot makes painting Easter eggs an automated process if you like Sharpie colored eggs with straight lines.

If you are the proud owner of a new iPod nano and you want to show it off a watchband has surfaced that will let you wear the thing on your wrist. The band is simple and the nano clips to the band for wear. The band will cost you $19.95. Griffin has unveiled a cool new plush case for the iPhone or iPod touch called the Woogie that is part stuffed animal and part speaker dock. The plush case should protect your iPhone from the trials of being used by a child.

A cool watch concept landed at Tokyoflash that uses words rather than weird lights or numbers to tell the time. The watch has a rectangular face and numbers spelled as words that light up in blue to show the time. Apple is getting iChat Face Time apps ready for both Mac and PC users according to a rumor. That would not be a surprising thing to see happen and would be pretty cool.

Microsoft held a funeral to celebrate the RTM for Windows Phone 7. The funeral was for the iPhone and Blackberry, which a lot of wishful thinking considering the huge portions of fail Microsoft has been feasting on in the smartphone world. Thanks for reading this week’s edition!

Download the app, and you can switch between the SFQ01′s sources – an iPod docked in the speaker itself, the iPad streamed via Bluetooth, an FM radio or an aux-in source – together with remotely controlling the docked PMP or choosing from the iPad’s own audio files.  Alternatively, you can pipe through music, soundtracks or game audio from the iPad, if you’re unhappy with the quality from the Apple tablet’s own speaker.

On the crowded ShowStoppers floor, the SFQ01 certainly sounded loud enough, though we’ll need to spend some proper one-on-one time with it to see if it lives up to the sales pitch.  We’re also cautious about audiophile-style claims, whenever regular Bluetooth A2DP is involved, since the format generally involves plenty of compression along the way.

The SFQ01 will land first in the UK, priced at £199.99.  In the US, the Sound Freaq SFQ01 will launch arrive in mid-October, in time for a November sales promotion in Target.  There it will be priced $199.99.