The Apple Core

Jason D. O'Grady & David Morgenstern

Review: Livespeakr portable speakers

By | July 12, 2010, 6:04am PDT

Summary: A nice compact speaker package for the iPhone, iPod touch and most smartphones can now be had for around $50 — and the sound is impressive.

Looking for a set of speakers for your summer fun? Livespeakr has you covered. Unlike some other speakers which are individual units, Livespeakr is more like a miniature boom box consisting of one cohesive unit that fits an iPhone or iPod touch perfectly.

The receiving base fits an iPhone 2G, 3G and 3GS perfectly and the iPhone 4 also works but it’s not as snug a fit. I also used the Livespeakr with the much thinner iPod nano and although it didn’t snap in, it worked just fine. Then it’s just a matter of plugging in the audio input and turning the speakers on.

The sound is relatively loud for such small drivers and will easily fill any room. The Livespeakr sounds great at the beach and on the boat, however it’s not designed to rock a large party with lots of people, you’ll need more horsepower for that. My favorite feature is that it’s self-contained. It’s convenient to have everything in one compact unit because there’s less parts to keep track of and potentially lose. The internal Lithium-Ion battery runs for up to 16 hours according to the manufacturer but I haven’t been able to test that claim because the Livespeakr easily outlasted any of my day trips to the beach.

LiveSpeakr can slide open for slightly more audio separation and the iPhone or iPod touch can be oriented in portrait or landscape mode, the latter being best suited for handheld gaming. Rounding out this impressive package is an aluminum kickstand that allows you to view the screen at one of three different angles — great for movie time. I found that the moving parts can get a little tough to expand after exposure to sand, but that kind of comes with the territory. Keeping the speakers in the included pouch helps keep the sand out of its crevasses.

Livespeakr lists for $80 but the black model is currently on sale for only $50 from Amazon.

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Topics

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve
  • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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