Hasta La Gadget!

The Beats by Dr. Dre badge has usually been attached to headphones and the occasional laptop or smartphone. We’ve never really seen it attached to dedicated speakers, however, and that’s where both an FCC filing and a sighting at UK retailer HMV’s online store raise a few eyebrows. The House that Dre Built appears on the edge of launching the Beats Pill, a Bluetooth wireless speaker with four drivers and a shape that more than explains the medicinal name. While we don’t know just how much of that signature Beats thump we’ll get, we do know from the FCC that the Pill can serve as a speakerphone, carries an aux-in jack and will last for a typical 8.5 hours on its USB-rechargeable lithium-ion battery. There’s also signs of a red version of Beats’ Mixr headphones coming at the same time. HMV has publicly scoured its pages of any trace of a ship date or price for the Pill, but cached copies point to a £170 ($276) price and a release around September 28th — not necessarily trustworthy figures, but they may be in the ballpark. Our only question is whether or not we’ll get a dose of the Pill in the US.

[Thanks, Germaine]

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio/Video

Beats Pill Bluetooth speaker spotted at FCC and HMV: take one and call Dr. Dre in the morning originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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JBL has been on a wireless speaker kick lately — it might as well throw some truly portable models into the equation. Accordingly, two of the three speakers it’s shipping today, the Flip and Micro Wireless, sport Bluetooth audio and a 5-hour battery to cut the cord. The Flip (seen above) is the multi-talented athlete of the bunch: its design can work either upright or on its side to stuff into small spaces, and a built-in mic provides speakerphone duties. The Micro Wireless’ puck shape isn’t as clever, but it fits a standard 3.5mm input jack and space to clip to a carabiner or lanyard. Both these and the Micro Wireless’ strictly wired counterpart, the Micro II, have a bass port to improve the low-end frequencies that are so often missing in this class of speaker. Prices may be the real incentives here: the Flip is the most expensive of the trio at $99, while the Micro Wireless and Micro II are even lighter on the wallet at respective $59 and $39 price points.

Continue reading JBL freshens its portable speakers with Micro II, Bluetooth-toting Flip and Micro Wireless

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio/Video

JBL freshens its portable speakers with Micro II, Bluetooth-toting Flip and Micro Wireless originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Love the look of Razer’s Battlefield 3-branded BlackShark headset that we laid our peepers on back at E3? Don’t want to commit yourself exclusively to one title? Good news: the West Coast outfit has just announced a variant that lacks any game specifics and is clothed in the signature black and green hues. You can expect a unit that wears the same, aviator-inspired stylings as the original — right down to the leatherette-sealed earcups, detachable boom microphone and splitter adapter cable. Sound good? Well, the unit will arrive sometime in September ready to dock your wallet $119.99. For a closer look or a bit more info, consult the gallery below and full PR after the break.

Continue reading Razer unveils its own BlackShark, black and green version ships next month for $120

Filed under: Gaming, Portable Audio/Video

Razer unveils its own BlackShark, black and green version ships next month for $120 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 19:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you looked at the photo above thinking Dr. Martens got into the portable speaker game, you’re not so far off. Jabra’s taken its Bluetooth headset know-how and blended it with a footwear-inspired design to create its first portable speaker, the $200 Solemate. At first glance the shoe theme does seem a bit silly, but don’t let that fool you as this Bluetooth 3.0 speaker packs some notable specs — especially pitted against the Jawbone Jambox. Available inblack or white, the features rubberized casing that’s shock- and water-resistant, and can be supplemented with an included waterproof soundbag (similar to the Braven 625). Taking it a step further, the unit actually has a “heel tab” for carrying purposes and a replaceable sole, which also serves as a storage point for a handy 3.5mm cable.

Moving onto to its less quirky features, at the front you’ll find a duo of acoustic tweeters separated by a subwoofer with a passive bass radiator on the back — all together they pump out up to a whopping 120dB of volume. On top are two volume buttons, along with a multifunction button for commanding calls and enabling its Voice Guidance feature. Lastly, the right side houses two indicator lights (battery and Bluetooth), a power and pairing switch, a 3.5mm jack and a micro-USB input for charging and direct digital audio connection. According to Jabra the unit is “about the the size and weight of a water bottle,” and you can expect to get around eight to ten hours of use per charge. We’ll be giving you our in-depth impressions of the speaker before long, however, the Solemate will be up for pre-order today at the likes of Best Buy and Amazon, and set to release on September 2nd if you’re already interested. Check out the press release after the break for more details in the meantime.

Continue reading Jabra’s $200 Solemate portable Bluetooth speaker wants to kick the Jambox aside

Filed under: Misc, Portable Audio/Video

Jabra’s $200 Solemate portable Bluetooth speaker wants to kick the Jambox aside originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to Engadget’s back to school guide! The end of summer vacation isn’t nearly as much fun as the weeks that come before, but a chance to update your tech tools likely helps to ease the pain. Today, we’re taking our audio with us — and you can head to the back to school hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back — at the end of the month we’ll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides — and hit up the hub page right here!

With all of the studying and on-campus traveling you’re about to delve into, sometimes adding a bit of music to your step can spice up those mundane times in your daily routine. That’s why we’ve rounded up a selection of portable speakers and headphones that’ll not only help you rock out whenever the mood strikes, but also go a step further by letting you take phone calls without skipping a beat. It may not be audiophile-grade gear in the official sense, but it won’t matter when you’re enjoying good sound just about anywhere your smartphone-connected life takes you.

Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide 2012: portable audio

Filed under: Wearables

Engadget’s back to school guide 2012: portable audio originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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