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Instead of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or even a stereo mini cable, iFrogz’ new Boost speaker uses something the company is calling near field audio technology to amplify a given device’s own built-in speaker.
To use it you just place an audio device on top of the boost with its own speaker turned up. The NFA tech, which iFrogz insists isn’t just a hidden microphone, then syncs to the sound coming from your device before boosting it through a couple of 2-watt speakers.
I’d like to believe that iFrogz has stumbled across some radical new way of connecting audio devices, but a childhood spent capturing songs off the radio with a handheld cassette recorder doesn’t give me much confidence in how this speaker sounds. I know there are still advocates of analogue audio, but in this case I don’t think it works to the Boost’s advantage. On the plus side at least the lack of a constant wireless connection will be easier on your device’s battery.
As for the Boost, on a trio of AA batteries the speaker will run for up to 15 hours, but it can also be powered by a USB connection. And if your source device is lacking its own speaker, a line-in jack facilitates a tethered connection, though, that obviously takes some of the novelty out of using a device like this. [iFrogz via iLounge]
Is this not very similar to holding your phone speaker over your guitar pickups?
Does that really work? I thought they worked by magnetic induction, so I suppose the speaker emits a magnetic field. I really have to try this out now.
yeh, when me and the guys are practising, if there is a song i want to let them hear, a little louder, just hold my phone against the selective pickup, its a little tinny (by a little i mean very) but it works
Near field what? You mean it has a microphone and an amp, Which really does nothing for sound quality. FAIL.
like i said, probably not a microphone, probably more like a guitar pick-up, so instead of being an acoustic to electric transducer its actually converts variations in the magnetic field of the loudspeaker, into electrical (still a transducer) but probably yields better sound quality results, but for 2 watts…who cares hahah