(All images are linked to their full size. Just click on em. Yes, I know a few of the pics are terrible.)
So I received this little guy as a Christmas gift. Gotta say, while he has a couple things about him that annoy me, he's really pretty awesome. Lets review him, shall we?
Cool. So the box says he's a USB powered speaker that'll work with anything. Kinda vague tho, and because of that security sticker you can't see much. Either find a review or you won't really know what you're buying. And since this was given to me as a gift, neither did I until I unpacked him. So let's see what's inside.
Little android guy. Cute. iHome branding printed on his belly. At least I hope that's his belly and not his crotch. Let's go with belly....
And it is printed, not a sticker. Shame, that.
And look, his arms move! Nothing else does tho, that's it, his arms. Honestly more than I expected out of a speaker tho =P
His back is pretty bare, only having an on/off switch and a single port - MicroUSB, that's labeled audio/charge. I'll explain that down the line. No, he's not a wireless speaker, sadly. No Bluetooth or anything, you have to use a cord.
Here he is with my Galaxy Note II, for size comparison.
Let's check out the rest of the contents of the box.
So we got the android himself, his cable, an instruction paper that actually has some good info about the product on it, and a cool little drawstring bag with the android logo on it. I will say i find it funny that this is the "robo speaker" because they can't use the android name, but they can use the mascot without so much as an (R). Guess Google doesn't' care. More reason to love em, eh?
My Note II sitting on top of the bag. Little big for the speaker and cord, but w/e. Its a cool, android branded bag. Will definitely use this for something - not holding the speaker tho.
So this is the cable. You'll probably want to click on this picture, even if you don't click on any others.
It starts in a MicroUSB and ends with two plugs - a male USB 2.0 and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The big white thing on it is a clip to hold the cords (surprisingly sturdy construction) and includes a little slider to keep the split cord in check.
Better view of the clip.
So this is how you're supposed to use it - plug the 3.5mm headphone jack into your device and the MicroUSB into his butt, and let the USB dangle.
This is how I personally find it best to use - wrap the cord around his legs and use the clip to hold it in place.
Works like a charm.
Now, I want to say, since this is not an easily replaceable cord (that i can tell), you probably want to only use it to play music. Something like this MIGHT work, but I really have no idea.
Luckily, he charges just fine over a standard MicroUSB.
Now, a note on using this guy - when you have him turned on, his eyes light up blue
I don't know if you can really tell here, but in the dark you can see a line of slight glowing on the bottom of his head, actually where his mouth would be. However....
Don't charge this guy when you're trying to sleep. because his eyes turn red when he charges. That in itself isn't so bad, but that slight blue line I mentioned turns into a demented looking Joker smile. Not conductive to sleeping soundly.=P Which, to me, makes it even cooler - I knew android had some deep, dark, evil secrets in there =P
By the way, yes, you can play music through him while you charge. His eyes will be red if you do this.
Now, I have yet to field run this guy, so I can't tell you anything about battery life yet, but he did come to me with a nearly full charge.
Sound quality is frankly much better (and louder) than I expected. I'm no audiophile but i can pick out the sound of a decent speaker and this little guy impressed.
As far as build quality goes, he's very sturdily built. Strong, heavy plastic, which while is highly reflective does not pick up any fingerprints at all. I don't feel any risk of breaking the antenna, surprisingly. The weak point (because there always is one) would be the arms. For some reason they're made of a slightly different, softer plastic, and there's a little bit of bend to em if you pull them out or squeeze them in - if something breaks on this guy it'll be those, but honestly, I don't really see that happening.
Since this guy was a gift, I have no idea on pricing. I know I could look it up but frankly I feel too lazy at the moment. I do know, However, that they come in multiple colors.
Overall, I really like this little guy. The fact that he lacks a 3.5mm audio-in port confounds me, and the demented smile while charging will frighten small children (though that may be a plus to you). But overall I think the iHome Robo Ri-26 Rechargeable MiniSpeaker is great, and I plan to use it a lot.
Are you my father?
(To the right: The Official Google Cookie Jar)
Thanks for the review; well done. I got this guy in black as a gift too and I plan on putting it through the paces here over the next week. Glad to hear sound quality is above average, that was my main question heading into things.
Related
I got my Vibrant last week, and I needed a contest entry for a contest over at Instructables, so I hacked up a cheapy iPod dock into an awesome dock for my Vibrant.
The speakers are great for desktop use at work, despite being so cheap.
Unfortunately, I can't post a link to it ... so here are some pictures instead.
Not bad, how do you feed audio into those speakers? Using the AUX jack on the top of the Vibrant im guessing?
Yeah. It's not shown in the pictures, but that speaker set has a built-in 3.5mm cable. You just plug it into the headphone jack on the Vibrant.
NICE! I love instructables.
Is that Sugru for the bumpers? Trying to think of things to do with my samples - neat stuff.
Anyway, awesome dock. Need to keep my eyes open for a cheap dock like that.
Yeah, the Sugru is for the bumpers. I also used it to cover the rough edges of the cut plastic, and to give traction to the feet and stabilize the bottom of the speakers (they liked to rock forward when the phone was placed on the tray).
Those speakers are linked in the Instructable ... I can't post links, but if you search on Amazon for "folding speaker set" and then sort price lowest to highest, you can get those speakers for less than $5 including shipping. They have black ones too.
I happened to get the white set for free from a giveaway. The sugru was free too, so in my case, this dock cost me nothing but a USB cable.
Here -- I think this is your Instructable: http://www.instructables.com/id/Hacking-Cheap-iPhone-speakers-for-Android-Dock/
And the dock: http://amzn.com/dp/B000C8TSCQ
Might need to try making myself one of these too.
Personally, I'm hoping for a rotation mod (like CM has......it'll probably have to wait until CM6 is ported to it) that'll allow for the phone to be upside down. When that happens, I'll try to basically make this, but with a mount for the phone to actually dock into the connections.
If/When I ever get the ambition to do this, I'll definitely be using this instructable as a starting point.
THANK YOU!
Saiboogu said:
Here -- I think this is your Instructable:
Might need to try making myself one of these too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, thanks for posting those. That is indeed my Instructable.
tjhart85 said:
Personally, I'm hoping for a rotation mod (like CM has......it'll probably have to wait until CM6 is ported to it) that'll allow for the phone to be upside down. When that happens, I'll try to basically make this, but with a mount for the phone to actually dock into the connections.
If/When I ever get the ambition to do this, I'll definitely be using this instructable as a starting point.
THANK YOU!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, rotation upside down would be awesome. If that were the case, you'd have to lose part of the tray in this version. But I do have a set of desktop computer speakers that are USB powered ....
Nice
Where did you get the clock app?
It's called Digital Clock, you can get it on the Market. It's a free app.
I also have those speakers. I can honestly say they are very cheap but good for the money. If you don't feel like waiting for shipping just go to wal-mart, they are packaged with some of their shirts for about 7 bucks
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Here's another one that I submitted to Instructables today ... no speakers on this stand.
tekkguy said:
Here's another one that I submitted to Instructables today ... no speakers on this stand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jesus hahahah
Hey bro, what case are you using, and where did you buy it from?
I'm using the Jelly Case by Amzer ... got it at Amazon: amzn (dot) to (slash) aTMvCj since I can't post links
By the way ... voting started today at Instructables, so if you're a member there, I'd love to have the votes!
Sugru substitute
You can use Goop or other similar type instead of sugru. There is also liquid handle sold as well. You can buy it at home depot or other places like that in adhesives section. there area bunch of these poly urethane polymers. Basically all you have to do to form it is use wax paper to create the depression shape desired.
BTW. You mentioned USB speakers. I have hooked those same speakers up via usb (just strip on end and shove it where the overall + and - of the batteries would be). Take very little electrical knowledge, but I would look it up if you haven't messed around with wiring things up, but I love turning things into USB powered. Although I wanted to put a mini-usb connector on mine and have yet to do it, but just say, for those of you out there, these speakers run off USB just fine.
Well when you buy them from amazon they come with a usb power cord. I didn't get mine from amazon.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Ever since I got my EVO I've been wanting to get a dock, as I'm just a dock sort of guy. Nothing like getting home and not having to fiddle with a cable, just slam the phone down and be done with it. That and being able to see my screen from my chair or across the room is sooo nice. However, I use a case (the innocase surface II,) and have since launch day. I do not like having to take my phone out of my case ever if I can get away with it. Unfortunately, I've only seen one premade dock that works with a case, the innodock jr, and frankly- that thing sucks. It's expensive, ugly, and not even made for this phone in particular. So I've waited, and waited... and finally decided to make my own.
So I built this "thing" on top of some weird folding cradle I got from Bed Bath and Beyond for 10 bucks. Don't buy this thing unless you plan on modding it, it looks cool as it has a built in USB Hub and comes with a micro/mini USB cable, but frankly it kind of sucks as a cradle. It's supposed to have a nonslip surface the phone sticks to, but it doesn't work at all for the EVO with a case, probably because it's so heavy. But since it's not useful otherwise, I used it for my base. Nice thing is it does fold up and have a couple different angles you can set the phone at, which is kind of useful now that the phone actually stays on it at any other than fully folded up.
I then made a shim to hold the charging cable at the right spot out of some aluminum from an old hard drive casing. Nothing pretty here, just hacksaw'd it up and did a bit of filing. Goopy glued the charging cable to it, and epoxied the shim to the cradle. I didn't want to epoxy the cable itself to the cradle in case I want to remove it later, that and I wanted it to have some small amount of flexibility. I used the dock like this for a few days, but the phone didn't like to stay aligned all perfect like, so I epoxied the spacer bit on the other side on earlier today. It's just another piece of aluminum I cut and filed up to kinda fit the contour of the bottom of the case. Phone fits beautifully now, or at least as beautifully as something held together with epoxy can look.
Figured I'd throw out how I made my monstrosity to help anyone else do the same thing if they wanted to.
Good job. Makes me want to build something.
Lol, it is ghetto as advertised.
I'm sure it works great though, and you should be glad you made it!
You pulled off a mcgyver there my friend...
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
apristel said:
Good job. Makes me want to build something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, its actually my second attempt at building a dock. My first time I tried to make it out of lego, but I had trouble getting the microusb connector at the right angle and getting it so the whole thing wouldn't just fall apart when I pulled the phone off.
If I had the equipment to make it, I though up a really sweet dock design made out of bent and folded 1/8" aluminum sheet, but alas I do not. You can find PCB mounted right angle microUSB connectors with a small amount of built in flex that are much better suited for docks than using an actual cable, but using one still requires something to build it into.
Just read this- I can't find it anywhere online yet, but it might be available in store at T-mo.
Link:
http://www.tmonews.com/2010/12/the-mytouch4g-dock-has-arrived/
EDIT: Changed title so as not to get anybodies hopes up.
(OPINION- UNDERWHELMING)
Its does NOT use the dock pins. It uses the microusb port thus does not launch the dock app. Just FYI before we get 10,000 "does it use the pins?" questions. Source.
FYI, there are links in the tmo forum that I linked where you can purchase it but EVERYWHERE is sold out already.
EDIT: Fixed source.
Awesome, thanks for the info...and the save! Lol
Sent from mytouch 4G using Tapatalk
I guess if they did have the pins, it wouldn't be able to rotate the device into the upright position. This would be more secure. When I had the N1 dock, one little nudge and the device would fall to the floor
@Kid Poker, man that's crap,o don't know if it would be practical, buy it would be nice if they make the mt4g dock in a way that it would use the micro usb and the pins, so it would stay in place better than just sitting on a few contacts.
Sent from mytouch 4G using Tapatalk
Sorry I don't have pics, but had some hands on time with the dock. It does use the usb connector and swivels, and has bluetooth. $50 in a T-Mobile store, but buy 2 $3.99 straps with it and you get 30% off. It is a snug fit. I imagine a body skin will still fit, but no case will work with it.
kitsunisan said:
Sorry I don't have pics, but had some hands on time with the dock. It does use the usb connector and swivels, and has bluetooth. $50 in a T-Mobile store, but buy 2 $3.99 straps with it and you get 30% off. It is a snug fit. I imagine a body skin will still fit, but no case will work with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol Oh tmobile, I will never understand your pricing structure- but it's awesome! As far as a snug fit- thats what I kinda figured, I bought a Zagg full skin and a SS realook for the display (a little excessive I know- but hey that 50% off black friday deal from Zagg was awesome) instead of a case, so I could use the docks when they come out. Appreciate the info... but, do you work for t-mo, how did you manage to get access to the dock already???
Why would the dock not use the pins? Can we assume other docks will come out in the future that do use them?
mountainboy said:
Appreciate the info... but, do you work for t-mo, how did you manage to get access to the dock already???
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Click to collapse
Just walked in the store, the downtown Minneapolis store has two of them. If I had been able to split it up on my bill I would have gotten it, but my credit is burned up with the MT4G. I'll have cash on me tomorrow, I'll pick one up and play with it for a while if they're still in stock. I'll post some pics tomorrow night.
wow $50 for a dock that uses the micro usb port, i wonder if you could do better with ebay knock offs. I'm sure you can probably not as nice but it'll cost 1/5th of the price.
What is the point of having a dock like this that DOESN'T utilize the pins on the phone? That doesn't make much sense at all to me.
You missed the "bluetooth" part, I see. Still, should be at least $10 cheaper imo.
kitsunisan said:
Just walked in the store, the downtown Minneapolis store has two of them. If I had been able to split it up on my bill I would have gotten it, but my credit is burned up with the MT4G. I'll have cash on me tomorrow, I'll pick one up and play with it for a while if they're still in stock. I'll post some pics tomorrow night.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, I'll keep an eye out. The pics make it look a little top heavy with the phone in it- I wonder how it balances out- wonder if the base is weighted...
greenstuffs said:
wow $50 for a dock that uses the micro usb port, i wonder if you could do better with ebay knock offs. I'm sure you can probably not as nice but it'll cost 1/5th of the price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah $50 is steep- the other links are showing $38 though- that seems more of a fair price if it's a legit product. I'm thinking I would buy this for use in my office, and wait for the one that makes use of the contacts to use at home.
I'm using it right now. Got it at T-Mo retail. It looks like every store only got two in-stock for some reason? I guess I could take pics, but it would be with my crappy old iPhone 2G camera, which would be really low-res and pointless. :/
So, the quick-n-dirty 'review', for those of you who are as nerdy as me:
Synapsis: Don't bother!
myTouch 4G Swivel Dock
Pros:
Nice, weighted base (where the BT antenna is housed, along with micro USB intput and 3.5mm audio out). It is definitely weighted and nice feeling.
Looks fairly sleek, despite the cheesy 'my' logo on the front of the dock.
Bottom of the 'weight' is rubberized, so it doesn't slide around.
The back of the swivel stand has the same, soft, rubberized material so the back of the phone does not scratch on the plastic.
It serves the purpose of securely (emphasis on this) docking your device. That thing isn't coming out without some force.
No Bluetooth PIN is required to pair (simply pair in BT settings).
Allows you to charge and sync over USB (think 'iPod / iPhone dock')
Streams audio from the phone to the dock, via BT.
Cons:
Does not come with an extra USB cable.
No solution to use the FM Radio without just dangling your headset off of the side (in fact, the 3.5mm from the phone is blocked by the cradle). So, so, so, very lame. I realize I could just buy a cheap FM Alarm Clock, but what's the point of having all of this cool tech in my phone if there's no practical way to use it? Wasted opportunity, if you ask me.
Getting the phone in there at first, you feel like it might be really easy to damage the USB port.
A small amount of 'rattle' to the swivel mechanism, but otherwise, sturdy.
It is somewhat difficult and awkward to seat the device into the dock; this is a really snug fit.
BT audio kind of sucks biggity balls. Highs crack and there is a general layer of compression running through everything. Basically, there's no point in playing files that are encoded at anything above 64KBPS. Listening to music on high-end speakers kind of sounds like ass. So, yeah. Not sure why they didn't just route the audio through the USB port, iPhone-style? It's not terrible, but if you're an audiophile, you will cringe a little bit. Directly inputting to the phone sounds 200x better.
There doesn't appear to be a way to pair the dock with your computer, to try and re-route the audio stream (super nerdy stuff on my part).
T-Mo, in all their wisdom, left out support for landscape viewing throughout most of the OS. Really bone-headed and stupid (same complaint I have with using the phone as a GPS device -- sideways contacts / phone = stupid).
The docking pins are not used in any way, shape, or form (no automatic 'desk mode' / no automatic alarm clock). Lame. So lame. I'm so disappointed by this, because the docking pins were one of the main reasons I went with this phone (assuming super-fancy docks would be coming out).
The 3.5mm audio cables you plug in can very easily be unseated / pulled out from a bump. I don't know if this is because I'm using super-professional-grade cables that have a hefty weight / insulation to them? But if the cable applies any pressure to the dock's input, I get the infamous analog 'BUZZZZZZ!' sound. It's not cheap, I just think the cables are too heavy-duty.
The Dock wraps over the volume and lockscreen keys. Kinda dumb, but I understand why this has to be. I imagine the BT audio normalizes anyway.
They really should've thought out how to integrate their docks with the OS a bit more.
It's not terrible, but it's not mind-blowing. I got it for 20% off, and was able to use credit from a returned accessory. I got it for about $30, and I think that's probably a more reasonable price for what amounts to nothing more than a fancy USB port with lousy Audio Out capabilities. It's a solid and safe way to charge your phone at night, basically. I'll probably keep it, but it is a bit of a letdown, if you were expecting to drop your phone into it and have it automatically launch some kind of cool interface. I think they should've routed the 3.5mm stream from the USB input, and that they should've found a way to include an FM antenna into the device to make use of the super nice FM radio app. The fact that it doesn't automatically go into Desk Dock Mode is infinitely disappointing to me.
Basically, if your only other solution was to have it nervously balance on the edge of your table, sitting on your laptop, with your cat / dog or a child running around the house? This is a much better and safer solution.
If they just built landscape support into Sense, this would be pretty sweet. But I guess that's why they have it 'swivel', right? Lame.
Feel free to ask me any more questions, if you've got 'em.
@Jon C Wow, I'm impressed! Kudos man, I have a hard time typing out a whole paragraph. Excellent review! So, is the bluetooh in the cradle just for you to be able to plug in headphones at the base of the unit, or is there a built in speaker? I like their attention to detail with the rubberized parts you mentioned. So, with the phone being such a snug fit in the cradle via the micro usb- do you think that could cause any issues with the phone potentially being docked and undocked several times daily? I was pretty bummed when I noticed that the volume rocker is covered as while I'm @ work sitting at my desk, I like to put on Pandora with the ability to adjust the volume when I have to make phone calls. I'm thinking I will just continue using my business card holder for my phone stand- it seems to have more of the functionality I'm looking for lol.
@Jon C. Thanks for the write up! I really only want the dock to prolong the live of my micro usb port and for the auto clock function (I use it on my night stand) so I will NOT be purchasing this one. I really hope they come up with something else, total waiste to have the dock pins and not use them.
Man I miss my Nexus dock!
I updated the review a little bit. Not only does the dock block the volume keys, but it blocks the lock button and the 3.5mm out.
To answer your question: No, there is no speaker on the dock, simply a 3.5mm out.
Also, I need to stress how annoyingly difficult it is to actually seat the phone. The dock feels like it was engineered back when the phone was called the 'myTouch HD', and probably had slightly different dimensions (much like the gel cases, which do not fit exactly).
I really have to jam the phone hard against the back of the dock, to line up the USB port. I could easily see the USB port getting damaged from repeated 'misses'. The stupid little USB connector actually put a nice little dent into the side of my soft-touch paint.
Man, how the **** do you mess this up? What a letdown.
Sadly, guys, I don't think we're going to get anything better. That said, I'm really thinking about taking this thing back, based on how impossibly hard it is to even get the phone in there to begin with.
Jeez! Yeah I would take that thing back for sure. That really sucks that the stupid thing dented the side of your phone! They should give you something cool for free ;p...I'm just sayin...
Sent from mytouch 4G using Tapatalk
Normally, my OCD would require that I swap out my current phone for another one. However, with all of the bull**** with the variances in screen quality and so forth, I'd rather not push my luck. Plus, the reps at all of the T-Mo stores around here are kind of pushy / annoying and get angry when you want to swap out phones.
Still, I am pissed. Super lame, T-Mo and HTC. What the hell were you idiots thinking?
I hope a third-party makes a dock with pin support. Odds of that happening? Slim-to-none.
Yeah, I can understand the ocd thing lol! You do have a very sad but true point about a new hit or miss phone. Just to clarify though, who is the manufacturer of the dock- HTC or tmo? You would think that they would come out with some kind of dock to utilize those contacts on the side of the phone.
Sent from myTouch 4G using XDA app
There really seems to be limited choices for desktop docks for our phones. I'm on my 4th android phone (started with the G1), and during the times of having these phones, I've never once had a decent desktop dock. There never seems to be one that works perfectly well. A dock that looks good, activates dock mode, easy in and easy out.
Does this bother anyone else? Or am I the only one? I'm contemplating designing one (with the proper circuitry to activate dock mode) and also looking into a custom usb connector to make sure 'easy in and easy out' is possible. My dad runs his own CNC machine shop, so I have access to several CNC machines. Obviously I don't want to go through all the trouble just to make one, but if there was enough interest I'd start making quite a few of these.
I've already got the idea in mind for the design, but while I work out the internals, I'm wondering if there is anything else I should take into account (ie is having a 3.5mm jack output worth it?)
TIA!
If the price is reasonable I'd buy one. How much are you thinking? It would be a plus to make it adjustable, so that people don't have to take the cases off of their phones. I don't really see the point of a 3.5mm jack unless you were going to make them into an alarm clock/radio docks like the iphone has, which would be bada$$.
|When Emotion Goes Up, Logic Goes Down|
707BeastMode707 said:
If the price is reasonable I'd buy one. How much are you thinking? It would be a plus to make it adjustable, so that people don't have to take the cases off of their phones. I don't really see the point of a 3.5mm jack unless you were going to make them into an alarm clock/radio docks like the iphone has, which would be bada$$.
|When Emotion Goes Up, Logic Goes Down|
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Click to collapse
Wouldn't know pricing right now. It all comes down to material costs, machine time, cost for the usb connector/circuit board, etc.
The adjustable part is almost the biggest thing. 'Most' phones have the micro USB connector at the bottom in the middle, so if they do, then perfect. I'll most likely size the width slightly wider than a note2. There will be a back plate that is adjustable so again, for different size phones, cases, etc. The main reason, is that so when you get a new phone, you don't need to get a new dock.
The only reason I thought about the 3.5mm jack out would be to have it plugged into a amp. Of course these days, everything is going wireless.
Ditchmond said:
Wouldn't know pricing right now. It all comes down to material costs, machine time, cost for the usb connector/circuit board, etc.
The adjustable part is almost the biggest thing. 'Most' phones have the micro USB connector at the bottom in the middle, so if they do, then perfect. I'll most likely size the width slightly wider than a note2. There will be a back plate that is adjustable so again, for different size phones, cases, etc. The main reason, is that so when you get a new phone, you don't need to get a new dock.
The only reason I thought about the 3.5mm jack out would be to have it plugged into a amp. Of course these days, everything is going wireless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But do you have a price range in mind? $50? $60? $70? $80? $90? $100?
It would be nice if I could fit my zero lemon extended battery with case.
Depending on price, you can put me down for one.... Possibly 2 or 3.
|When Emotion Goes Up, Logic Goes Down|
Definitely would keep it under $100
How's your project going? Have you thought about using Kickstarter or IndieGoGo to get an idea of the interest in your product and to get the funds you'd need?
As long as it's a reasonable price I'd be willing buy one, and the 3.5 mm jack is a good idea IMHO
Sent from the S3 with MOAR
So I actually designed quite a bit of the dock (stopped at designing the USB connector).
I wasn't quite sure if I should make it moveable, or not. I know if it's not moveable then it potentially might not fit some phones, which have a off-centered USB port. This obviously adds more the the design, but took a bit longer.
I then had to leave town for over a month for work, and just recently returned. Right now another project has come up that has taken a bit of a higher priority, but that doesn't mean I've left this to burn out. I'll keep you guys updated soon...
Yes I've thought about kickstarter/indegogo, but right now I don't really need a huge amount of funding to start things off, since I don't need to 'hire' a shop to make them. I'd probably start with a low quantity, and if the demand is high enough, then I'll start making larger quantities.
Overview
Bottom line is that the design of these is really clever and very clearly well thought out. Good audio quality and they sit well when used for running.
Unboxing
The headphones were pretty well packed. In the box was the headphones, a micro USB lead, extra ear buds and instructions. The ear buds are folder to fit into the box by hinges part way round the unit. The contents of the box feel well put together and everything has a premium feel to it. The details on the box give a range of <10m, charge time of <3.5 hours, talk time of >18 hours, music time >16 hours and standby time of >300 hours.
The headphones themselves instantly have a premium feel to them with a soft matte feel. The headphones are almost all black apart from a small silver patch on the hinges and a small silver ring on the headphone ring. The headphones are pretty light, weighing in on my kitchen scales at just 65g.
On the right hand side is a call answer button / hangup button with a very small LED status light nearby. On the top right side is the on / off switch along with volume up and down buttons. On the right hand side underneath is a USB charging port with a cover. Also on the top each side is a magic button which I will come to.
Testing
The way these headphones are designed is pretty cool, it sits around your neck with the bulk from the battery rather than being a hindrance actually helps to keep the headphones in place around your neck. The hinges can be used to tighten the fit to sure that they dont fall off, especially useful when running. At the back of the headphones the material of construction is slightly rougher to keep them in place around your neck. The earbuds are on about 20cm of wire which pulls and can be worn quite comfortably.
The things I really like about these is that through the design, the bulk of the weight is around your shoulders / neck and all that is in your ears is the simply ear bud. This makes it really easy for them to stay in place, particularly when running. The earbuds are spring load - remember that magic button I mentioned earlier? Well press that and it retracts the earbud on that side. Pretty cool!
Taking these out for a run I was surprised with how well the headphones stay in place simply through a smart design. The hinge is pretty rigid and after a good couple of miles the headphones were exactly as I set them.
I’ll admit that im not a massive audiophile, but I thought that the sound quality on these was good. All my running tracks came through loud and clear.
So overall a really smartly designed little unit, premium quality and well built. I can highly recommend these.
Amazon link https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/cdp/member-reviews/AKLIJIBJ1T1HR/ref=pdp_new_read_full_review_link?ie=UTF8&page=1&sort_by=MostRecentReview#R1ZAJ4OTCSZOZM
OP, can you please update the experience of using this bluetooth headphone after weeks later?