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Bow Wow Doggy Speakers
by spiritwood
These strange looking dogs from "The novelty gift company" are one set of a few mini portable speakers that we own in the house. My daughter loves technology and so I have started to get her some of her own bits and pieces (mainly to stop her pinching mine!). She is just coming up to 4 so still young, so everything we buy has ... to be hard wearing and able to cope with a bouncy small person.
These were initially purchased for an cheap mp3 player that I got for her but we have used them on a tablet and a PSP as well. Although my daughter was drawn to the cute factor of these, I had to ensure that they would work well before I bought them. The one review on Amazon did not look very promising however we know somebody who had these and we asked her.
MEET THE DAWGS:
Yes they are pink. Very pink. My daughter was going through her "pink phase" and loved these when she saw them on Ebay. Most portable speakers supply you with just the one speaker and cables, sometimes you are lucky and get one with a "buddy jack" so that you can connect two together. In this case you get two pink dogs to start with which is great. Apparently when released, these somewhat disturbing faceless pink canines cost £35! We paid £8.99 for the pair on Ebay but it seems that you can only get them second hand now which is a shame (if you are 4).
These little dogs are 15cm high and 7cm wide so a good size for my daughter to manage and being this size and pink means that they are not easy to lose either which is a bonus. They are made from a shiny plastic and shaped along the lines of a scotty dog. They have hideous white gem clad collars on and more interestingly they seem to have the speaker for a face....
They are USB powered so best used for a tablet, laptop etc of can be used with an mp3/PSP etc with a suitable cable which we have too as it increases their versatility.
SOUND QUALITY:
Bearing in mind that these are a novelty item, I did not expect too much. I have been very surprised by the loudness and quality of some pop up mini speakers, these are no different. Obviously you cannot expect top quality stereo from these but they are plenty loud enough to play music through or to game with. They do not seem to distort even at top volumes and they fill a room easily. You will not be able to hear every nuance of a song through speakers like these but for what they are they are very good.
BUILD:
These have decent enough quality build, the plastic has not scratched or cracked in any places despite being owned by a small child. Neither have the speaker cone noses become indented or torn despite being quite fragile. The speakers themselves are well attached and seem to be very strong for something so small. The cable connectors are equally decent, no pins have bent or broken off despite rough handling.
USE:
These plug into any 3.5 jack. They are USB powered as I stated but it appears that some when released were battery powered. I have not been able to find any of those around though and indeed finding these USB powered ones is difficult now unless second hand. Being USB powered you are somewhat limited to the home rather than out and about like the little pop up speakers available, but this is easy to get around with the right add on cables. You can run the USB from a car lighter socket too with an adapter and this is something that we have done. These speakers work straight from the box and are very easy to set up. Having a pair of them means greater sound quality as you can set them up to be multi-directional. Great fun for immersing yourself in a game.
Summary:
All in all these are a functional novelty item. The sound is surprisingly good and I guess if you like pink dogs with no faces then these would be for you. They are now hard to find... maybe this is a good thing?!
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Sony SRS-BTV5
by kpdude
I actually didn't buy this product out of choice as I got it free from a betting website as part of a loyalty reward.
But never the less, these speakers are awesome.
Technology is moving at a rapid pace and I'm glad I have something like this. First of all and most importantly, the quality of sound is of top ... quality. It's full clear and crisp.
Now I guess what makes these speakers so cool is that it has a wireless feature to it. What that means is that from the touch of a button from your mobile phone, you can programme what songs you want and it will connect via blue tooth to the speakers. I've never had any problems or issues with connectivity.
Guess what else it can do (although I've never done it as I don't like speaking on speaker phone), well if you are listening to music but a call comes through, you can answer it via the speakers and have a chat hands free!
Now last time I checked the price of these speakers on-line, they were retailing for around £55, which in my opinion is well worth the money. The wireless features are obviously a great selling point, but from my view it is the sound quality which sounds out the most.
Now the speakers are equipped with something called NFC support, which apparently boosts the connectivity even more.
Battery life is exceptionally good for something of this quality. According to the manufacturer the batter life is around 5 hours, but we got just over 6 hours when we tried this beauty out at a party.
The strength of the speakers is 1.2 Watt, which is pretty decent for the size.
The speakers that I received are black in colour, although I believe you can also purchase these in white as well, and no doubt Sony will more than likely offer additional colours in no time at all.
When the speakers require more battery, there is a charging facility located underneath, the speaker which takes a micro USB input.
In terms of comparing this product to others of similar size and price, I wouldn't be able to help on this front as I only received this for free so did not have any need to shop around. However I would certainly recommend this for people who like to have small, but powerful portable speakers for al occasions.
I am a student at the moment so I am always being invited to house parties at different locations, and because of how portable the Sony SRS-BTV5 is, it makes life easier as no body wants to carry large sets of speakers around, with countless amount of wires.
According to a friend of mine, if you purchase a Sony Experia T, you can also get this for free. Although this was almost a month ago from the Carphone warehouse, and I am not sure if that was part of signing up to a monthly contract.
I guess with all reviews it would only be fair to take a balanced approach, so if I do have to add a negative point to he review, it would be that don;t expect the volume to blow you away. Although these speakers are good enough for a small gathering, don't expect them to be suitable for a large club night!!
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Lenco High Power iPod Tower
by amy1993
Because Lenco isn't a well-known brand, I was wary of buying this product without testing it out first. I ended up getting from HMV for £100. I'm so impressed with it, it's the best iPod dock you can get for that price. If it had a popular brand name on it, you'd be looking at paying at least twice the price for the same quality. ...
When I got it out of the box, I realised I had to screw the stand on myself. The screws ended up going in a bit bent, but that could just be my bad DIY skills.
The sound quality is incredible. It easily matches up to the bigger brands, which was surprising.
As well as a dock, I can plug a USB lead in, an SD card, and it can be used as a regular speaker. You can charge your iPod in the dock, your phone in the USB, and have your laptop plugged in playing stuff at the same time.
If you need to buy an Xmas or birthday present, or replace your smaller dock which you probably spent the same amount on, you definitely need to get this. The brand is becoming more recognised so I'd suggest getting the products cheap before the price goes up.
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