Hasta La Gadget!

The fruit of JBL‘s partnership with Espoo, the Power Up wireless speaker and induction charger, has just landed at AT&T and Verizon. Aside from receiving your beats over Bluetooth, the 2 x 10-watt speaker can also charge Qi-compatible devices like the Lumia 920 and the Nexus 4. It uses TI’s latest power chip for an enlarged charging area, and packs NFC for quick pairing. Unlike TDK’s more portable option, the Power Up retains its power cable, but it does come in cheaper than its rival at $250. (Or, for some reason, $300 if you buy it at AT&T.)

[Thanks, Brandon]

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals

JBL Power Up speaker and wireless charger combo now shipping, whimsically priced around $250 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Nov 2012 08:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  AT&T, Verizon, Nokia (full specs)  | Email this | Comments

Outdoor Tech, the folks behind the intelligently designed outdoor centric consumer electronic gear, has just come up with their latest device which you might be interested in – the Adapt. Just what is the Adapt? For starters, all you need to do is clip the lightweight device to your jeans or just about anywhere else and you can then enjoy Bluetooth technology right there and then with your audio products. Not only that, the Adapt comes across as a colorful plug and play device which will definitely not go up against your fashion sense, and it will effortlessly synchronize with a compatible device while delivering hours of audio playtime.

You can more or less say that there is an unlimited number of products that the Adapt will play nice with, ranging from headphones to speakers and home theater systems. Using the Adapt, these products will become wireless and controlled directly from the Adapt. As for the Adapt itself, it comes with an integrated microphone so that the headphones or earbuds sans an inline mic will be more than ready to handle your calls in a crystal clear manner – hands-free, of course.

With Adapt, you can kiss goodbye to the days where you remain tethered to your mobile device, and all your corded accessories can be put up on eBay. Since it comes in such a wide range of colors, it should not be too difficult to find a particular shade that will fit your style and device, and thanks to its built-in li-Polymer rechargeable battery, you can enjoy wireless connectivity for hours on end. Whenever the Adapt starts to run low on juice, charging it up is a snap, thanks to the included micro USB charger.

If you are interested, you can pick up the Adapt from Outdoor Tech for $39.95 a pop, where it will come in black, pink and blue shades.

Press Release
[ Adapt introduces Bluetooth connectivity to speakers or headsets copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

If you only have a cassette player in your car, you probably bought a cassette adapter to connect your mp3 player or phone.  This neat hack by the clever Kipkay will help you keep up with the times without shelling out a lot of money by turning this:

Into… (drumroll, please…) this:

The hack involves taking the Bluetooth transmitter from a (used) Bluetooth headset and connecting it with the electronics inside the adapter:

I wish Kipkay provided an alternative way of making the Bluetooth transmitter’s controls accessible, because that’s an equally crucial part of the hack. Otherwise it seems like a straightforward project.

[via Kipkay]

I kind of understand the need for a keyboard with today’s smartphones, but to be honest, you can type pretty quickly with your fingers on your touchscreen, once you get used to it. If you can’t and absolutely need a keyboard to get things done with your phone, then check out Elecom’s collapsible Bluetooth keyboard.

Elecom’s TK-FBP049E (JP) has a sliding mechanism that will split the keyboard in half, and then folds up. A folding cover doubles as a stand for smartphones, in portrait or landscape orientations.

Its single AAA battery will give you 8 months of use, and the keyboard works with any Bluetooth-compatible device. The keyboard is available in either black or white, but it costs ¥14,595 (~$182 USD), which is almost as much as you probably paid for your phone.

[via PC Watch]

Bluetooth speakers are getting quite common, but it’s only when you use one yourself that you realize how useful they can be, especially if they are multi-functional. The Braven 625s is the company’s rugged version, and I decided that it should be able to survive my backpack, so when I was offered a choice for a model to review, I decided on this one.

First of all, the box it came in was frustratingly hard to open, even with the instructions on how to open it. This is the first mistake. Why do you need instructions on how to open a box? Anyway, after about 5 minutes of grunting, I was finally able to open it up, though not before I thought about taking some power tools to it. The speaker is nicely made, but immediately I noticed something odd. There was a rattling coming from inside the device. It sounded like a screw had come loose. It hasn’t hampered the device’s functions, but if I had paid for this unit, I would have immediately returned it.

The speaker itself is easy to set up, but the myriad of buttons located on both sides make it a bit counterintuitive. You need to switch it on and press the phone button to pair it with your device.

Once it’s paired, it takes but a couple of seconds for the speaker to recognize your device. Once connected, the sound is surprisingly good, especially for a small portable speaker. There is even a bit of bass coming out of the back, and the dual 3-watt-per-channel drivers provide ample sound.

What makes this speaker different from some of the other ones that I’ve seen is that it comes with some interesting add-ons. It can function as an external battery, and while it won’t charge your iPad, it will provide emergency charging for your iPhone. The 1700 mAh battery will charge up most smaller devices and it’s a nice option to have if you lug it around. The battery is supposed to deliver 16 hours of autonomy. It’s close to this number, but if you use it to charge up your devices, you’ll use it up your juice a lot quicker. There’s also a USB light attachment that will turn the speaker into a (rather bulky) flashlight. It definitely comes in handy if you use your speaker in the dark. The whole thing comes in a water-resistant bag, and includes a 40″ long USB-to micro-USB cable for charging and a 3.5mm cable for connecting audio devices without Bluetooth.

Ultimately, I like this little speaker. For its sound quality, it’s not that expensive; it functions well and the additional features make it somewhat unique. What I didn’t like was the box it came in. No device should be this difficult to get out of a plastic box. Also, the rattling is disturbing. I’m hoping that this was a fault of the single device that I tried, but it does speak to quality control.

The Braven 625s sells for $179.99(USD) directly from Braven.